The Fessy Den Blog

How to Prepare Your Son for His Junior Boarding School Interview

For middle school boys, the prospect of being interviewed for admission to a junior boarding school can be nerve-wracking. If your son is in this position, he might be thinking about how much is riding on the interview—your expectations, his future—or how intimidating it will be to impress an adult or several adults with his...
Read More

Avoiding the ‘Silver Spoon’ Effect at a Private School for Boys

Many parents who visit our independent private school for boys have a common concern: that their son will be too coddled at a private school. He’ll be treated too preciously; he’ll be sheltered from the realities of the outside world; he’ll emerge from school lacking in real-world experiences. Movies and TV shows often portray a...
Read More

Learning Outside the ‘Box’: The Advantages of an All-Boys Pre-K

Boys in Willy Wonka play

Is pre-kindergarten too soon to start your son at an all-boys private school? Parents throughout the Boston area ask us this all the time. These parents usually have two common questions: How will my son learn to socialize normally if there are no girls in the classroom? Would a smaller, standalone pre-K be better for...
Read More

Private School ‘Fit’: How to Tell When It’s Right

Families often make a decision about a private or independent school based on two things: intuition and logic (the heart and the head). As with most important decisions in life, we rely on reason and emotion to guide us. Your perception of school “fit” likely is affected by both of these elements, so it’s important...
Read More