Boarding School weekends

Prep School Admissions Prep School Parents
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  1. How are weekends managed (looking for first hand parent/student experience at the schools listed below) -

    a. off-campus weekend activities

    b. on-campus weekend activities

    c. weekend dorm supervision

    d. visits with local students’ families

  2. In your experience, what have some of the favorite weekend activities been for your boarding school students?

  3. How does the school reduce scaffolding of weekend rules or give privileges to older students (if any) from first year to senior year?

  4. Any advice regarding aspects of good weekend management to look for in a school on revisit days, or ask about as a parent, is greatly appreciated.

Schools:

Cushing Academy

New Hampton School

Brewster Academy

Proctor Academy

Holderness School

Kimball Union Academy

Frederick E. Gunn School

Millbrook School

Thank you in advance for sharing your experience and wisdom, CC community!

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I can’t help with any of these schools, but at revisit days, you may want to ask to see what activities have been scheduled for the weekends ytd. Also ask how the list is put together (i.e., is there student input?) Are there special weekends? (There was always a long weekend trip to VT to ski from our Mid-Atlantic school, for example.) You can also ask what kids do on weekends on their own. Go into town? Use the athletic facilities? Take the train to NYC?

I’d ask kids about their favorites and also what they wish they had. (This can also help you deal into vibe.)

You might also ask how permissions are handled. I recall that when DS was starting at BS, there were certain things for which a blanket permission could be given, or you could ask that parents be contacted each time for permission. These could be updated, but included things like “leave campus in a car driven by faculty “ and “leave campus in a car driven by another student’s parent”.

If you can connect with current parents (who are often at revisit day), they will be a great resource. You may hear about situations you hadn’t imagined….

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Check each school’s Instagram. They might list their weekend activities. The Parent/Student handbook (almost all are available online) should explain visiting off-campus friends for the weekend, when they are allowed to leave campus on their own and what the procedure is, and if their is any scaffolding of privileges. .

Our son looked at many of these schools, so I’m going to assume they do something similar to what his school did. There is an online pass program where the kid has to fill out a pass to leave campus overnight, and it must be signed by the parent, the dorm parent and whoever is responsible for the student during the time they are off campus (if not the parent).

If they are just leaving campus for a school activity, they are signed in and out. If they are going off campus on their own (going downtown) they sign in and out with the on call staff.

I know my son’s favorite thing to do on weekends was to just hang around the rec center or walk downtown with his friends. He liked to catch up on laundry and to have a bit of piece and quiet. He liked when the campus was quiet on weekends.

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