Parents sharing the process of searching for a school in Greater Philadelphia. What kind of school are you looking for? Charter, public, private, city, suburban?
I was genuinely impressed by the school's desire to pursue cutting edge research in teaching philosophies combined with the traditional values that the school instills in it's students. 
The tuition is much more reasonable than many of the independent schools (and doesn't start climbing steeply after kindergarten), and it still had all the things we were looking for. ![3 Parents Share Why They Chose GFS [School Selection Report]](http://phillyschoolsearch.com/wp-content/uploads/et_temp/aboutindexsept10-82368_200x200.jpg)
Normally, these get posted one at a time, but three survey responses came in at once for the same school.... 
At St. Peter's School, the children learn to be good individuals: tolerant, respectful, honest, cooperative, kind and engaged in their community through service. The curriculum and school are a structured environments: students wear uniforms and civility is expected. The St. Peter's School experience will prepare my child to enter the professional world successfully. 
We were attracted to the reputation for educational quality, particular the emphasis on teaching. We also liked that the values-based education as well the quality of the non-academic programs. 
GFS was always our first choice and we have been extremely happy with the quality of our daughter's education since she began kindergarten in 2007.
I looked around at middle and upper school students and asked myself, “Is this what I want my kids to be like when they get older?” At GFS, the answer to that question was an unequivocal “Yes!” 
We may remember a time when kids just went to their neighborhood school. But this isn’t Kansas anymore. There are lots of options and lots of different application processes for parents nowadays. We started school hunting at the dining room table and finally I threw my hands up...what are ALL the options?! Every time I thought I knew it all, another school popped up! I wanted to have all my options before deciding which schools to look at and which open houses to attend, so here is a brief Elementary School Options 101. 
Len Lipkin
PSS Community