Totally unsolicited, but if you’re taking your kid for a good meal, I’ve got to recommend Gibbet Hill or Forge and Vine. Both are excellent.
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Maybe I am asking too many questions piece meal (sorry!): does anyone know about Groton tennis? The team seems to be very strong and they have 8 indoor tennis. But the indoor courts get converted to an hockey ice rink in winter - the time that these indoor courts would actually serve a purpose otherwise you can always play outside. No decision hinges on this - but curious if this is the case?
That’s correct. No one is playing tennis in the winter. It’s not a tennis academy. Most tennis players play squash in the winter.
New England weather is nothing to brag about when the spring term / season starts in late March and April. The indoor courts get plenty of use then, and also during rainy days throughout the rest of the season.
Groton’s boys tennis team has been a perennial powerhouse in New England. The boys train outside of school at local clubs in the winter but also play other sports. John Conner has been the coach for 40 years, and you could not ask for a better mentor for your child. Tennis has been Groton’s strongest program for both girls and boys over the past decade.
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One of the ways to differentiate between the elite boarding schools (besides housing, size, and location) is the amount of structure. Groton is one of the most structured schools of its peers. There are rules about lights out, when you can use your phone, when to study. The roots of that structure go back to the early days of its founding, and some kids really thrive in that. The flip side is that the structure can feel oppressive, and it means that there are a lot of ways to get into trouble.
One argument against so much structure is that kids need to learn to structure their own lives. Our DS went to boarding school and initially did what we feared – stay up too late watching YouTube videos. That went on for a couple of weeks before he learned that losing sleep was hurting every part of his experience. So, after 2-3 weeks, he got control, and I think the experience has prepared him more for college and life overall.
Parents love lots of structure, but it helps to think about whether your kid really needs the structure of Groton or whether they will grow more at another school. I’m not saying one approach is better than the other – the answer will be different for every kid.
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Hello, may I ask about the roommates’ pairing? When will we receive the room survey or something?
The website states that the second-form students stay in single rooms, and the third form and up mostly stay in double rooms.
True to a point. But let’s not overstate the degree of structure and supervision at this school.
8th and 9th grade are heavily structured for sure. 10th grade starts to regress towards the boarding school mean, and 11-12th seem to be mostly the same as peer schools.
So the argument, in my view, should be “if you don’t want to be heavily supervised in 8-9th grades, don’t go to Groton (at least not for those grades)”.
But there’s plenty of opportunity for kids to learn independence there in 10th, 11th and 12th.
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I don’t recall there being much in terms of student preferences during the roommate assignment process.
All 8th graders live together, albeit separated by sex. All rooms are singles with curtained doors.
All 9th graders are in the same building and split between four dorm heads (two each for boys and girls). All rooms are doubles with doors, but most have walls that don’t go all the way to the ceiling.
10-11th grade students can choose their roommates and can opt for singles (which are scarce), doubles or triples.
12th grade students are dorm prefects, so they’re attached to younger students’ dorms and help the adults maintain order.