Navigating Private Schools in Miami | An Interview with Palmer Trinity

Welcome to this podcast about Navigating Private Schools in Miami. In this episode of the “Better Decisions” Podcast, David Siddons Meets with Danny Reynolds, head of admissions and external relations at Palmer Trinity. Palmer Trinity is one of Miami’s most prestigious private schools in Palmetto Bay (grades 6-12). David and Danny discuss what makes Palmer Trinity special, and their admission process. Danny also advises parents who are looking for a good Miami school for their kids and discusses where in Miami most students live. Please give us a call for more information or to be put in contact with Danny Reynolds.

CHAPTERS IN THIS EPISODE:  00:50: About Palmer Trinity, 02:50: What makes Palmer Trinity Special?, 04:58: Sense of Community at Palmer Trinity 09:10: The Admission Process 12:40: Advice to Families that would like to apply 17:40: Palmer Trinity Feeder Schools 18:25: Where to live to be close to Palmer Trinity? 23:45: Cultural Change 27:55: Getting into the right school 30:10: Attrition rate at Palmer Trinity, 37:00: Where do students go after Palmer Trinity? 39:45: Migration from Latin America, 42:10: Last advice for families

Navigating Private Schools in Miami | What Makes Palmer Trinity Special?

Palmer Trinity in Palmetto Bay is one of Miami’s top private schools. The prestigious institution stands out for its academics, small class sizes, sense of community, and travel/study abroad opportunities. The school is very international, and students have very diverse backgrounds. Half of the kids speak three or more languages, and 75% are bilingual. Last but not least, students at the school love to give back. Additionally, Palmer Trinity offers an English as a second language program, which helps non-English speakers to learn the language. The school engages extensively in community services, and 75% of the students participate in this 100% voluntary program.

Sense of Community

The word community keeps coming up when we talk with the parents of Palmer Trinity and Danny. The school is very accepting, and families feel very at home at Palmer Trinity. Palmer Trinity provides each new family with a mentor family. This helps the new families with the transition into the new school. This sense of community is also experienced in the morning when the school serves breakfast. 80% Of students have breakfast at school. Tutors and teachers are available half an hour before and after school. This is a moment everyone gets together. The children of our Operations Director go to school at Palmer Trinity, let us know if you would like to ask her a few questions.

Tutoring

We often hear migrating families worry about whether they can compete and keep up or afford tutors. In the case of Palmer Trinity, the hard part is to get into the school. Once you are in, you will notice the school is not all about competing. Palmer Trinity offers tutors, and they also have college counselors. The college counselors can guide them whether the students inquire about domestic or foreign colleges. The school takes care of its students. Teachers are available half an hour before and after class. Some schools in certain cities might be very competitive, and tutors are needed, but not at this school. Most people don’t feel they need to do it. As Danny states in our podcast: “We take care of our students“.

The Admission Process at Palmer Trinity

One of the challenges these days is getting into private schools in Miami. More people are coming into Miami, and fewer families are leaving. People are establishing themselves in Miami. While schools are expanding, they are not growing at the same rate as migration is happening.

Early Admissions

Palmer Trinity offers an early admissions program. Early admission means you apply by November 1, and the schools decide on who they accept by December 1. Much like a college approach. When applying during the early admissions process, the advantage for parents is that they have better chances while the school knows how many students it will have at an early stage. In the early admissions stage, Palmer Trinity does not look at numbers or space, but rather at whether a family or child is a good fit. Of course, to some extent grades are taken into consideration, and family members of alumni or siblings will have an advantage.

In the second round of applications (January), they look at whether they even have space left in the grade. After re-enrollment and early admissions, some classes might not even have space. Whether you have a sibling at school or good grades does not matter. When a class is full, the school no longer accepts applications. For 6th grade, for example, PT has 90 spaces, while 100s of applications come in. During early admissions, 78 students are enrolled. The school receives the same number of applications for regular admissions, with just 12 spaces left. You need to start your research early, visit all schools and make a decision. It is good to know that not every school in Miami is running early admissions.

Navigating Private Schools in Miami | Advice for Parents when applying

Be honest, transparent, and authentic. According to Danny, you need to be honest about what you look for in a school. You do not have to pretend to be someone you are not. Tell us what you want for your child and be honest on your application.

Palmer Trinity does not have standardized testing. The scores are too different depending on the time a child takes the test. Internally they found out that when they stopped with standardized testing and did the internal benchmark test, the level of kids they admitted did not change. The school prefers to look at fundamentals like math tables, writing skills, and geometry.

Danny advises parents to visit schools and meet the people. Miami, however, has so many great schools you will find the right one for your children.

Where to live to be close to Palmer Trinity in Palmetto Bay

Children attending Palmer Trinity come from all over Miami, although 90% of the children live south of Brickell and around 50 families come from Key Biscayne. Half of all the children come by bus. The neighborhoods best located for Palmer Trinity are Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, Coral Gables, South Miami, and Ponce Davis.

We write an entire article about where to live to be at a 20 minutes driving distance from all the best private schools in Miami.

Where do Kids go after Palmer Trinity?

Students of Palmer Trinity will go all over the US or abroad. About 8% to 9% will go to an Ivy League school, and then many students will go to schools like Stanford, Duke, UM, Georgetown or MIT. Even though parents tend to think differently, the school does not only look at the name of the school. Palmer Trinity looks for the right fit, rather than looking at a name. Palmer helps students choose the right school, and they help with applications for US-based or foreign institutions.

Schools and Miami’s Growth

Danny tells us that fewer families are moving out of Miami. We drew the same conclusion during our interview with Debbie Lichtner of St Thomas. Several years ago, there were expatriate families moving from one part of the world to the next. These days companies are settling in Miami, and schools notice that fewer families are leaving while more and more families come in.

Large corporations from around the country and abroad are sending HR Executives to speak with Palmer Trinity and other top schools to get to know the schools. Most families are now coming from Chicago, NYC, San Francisco, and London.