Parents of preschool-aged children are subject to daily, hourly, and even minute-by-minute questions. Queries about what things are and how they work can be heard from car seats, at the dinner table, and in the morning, afternoon, evening, and night. If you find yourself growing tired of answering so many questions—sometimes the same question three...
Read More
When considering a junior boarding school, most parents and students review academic, athletic, and artistic programs under a microscope. Beyond the core programs, people often evaluate the facilities during a campus tour, ask about faculty-to-student ratios, and glance at a typical boarding student’s schedule. But what actually happens outside of the classroom? It’s important not...
Read More
Like most private elementary schools in the Boston area, at The Fessenden School, our process for creating a pre-kindergarten class involves interacting with our young applicants as well as their families. So the time you and your spouse spend on our campus is extremely important to us. This is our best chance to get to...
Read More
Fourth grade is a critical year in a student’s academic journey. As children become some of the oldest students in elementary school, they find themselves caught between two worlds: a warm, nurturing environment and an increasingly stimulating setting in which they encounter rich social and academic adventures. Fourth graders still need hands-on support and guidance,...
Read More
At the Fessenden School, one of the most important steps in the kindergarten admissions process is the small group visit. This critical visit gives our team the best chance to see what your son is like in a classroom setting. As your son makes his way from activity to activity, what are teachers and admissions...
Read More
In a world where technology is ubiquitous, games and entertainment are available at our fingertips, and attention spans are shrinking, is there a sweeter sight than your child engrossed in the pages of an actual book? Fourth grade is one of the most critical years for your developing reader, and this year can make a...
Read More
Given how radically the world of information has changed in the past decades, and how it will continue to change, your child can’t expect to spend much of his time pouring through the indexes of densely-printed books, jotting down notes quietly on index cards, compiling them and rewriting them in his own words. If this...
Read More
What do boarding schools and marshmallow-powered jetpacks have in common? Resources and innovation. Just ask Fessenden alumnus Charlie Schlager, a self-proclaimed tinkerer. As a child, Charlie liked to take things apart to see how they worked. And, as much as he liked to break things, he was driven to create. “I wanted to build things,...
Read More
If you’ve started searching for a private kindergarten for your son, you’ve probably already realized, the differences between schools are not always very clear. Most private kindergartens have strong academic programs, especially those that are part of larger elementary and middle schools. So academics can’t be the only area you look at when you compare...
Read More
When people think about boarding school, they often think of structure. Wake up. Eat breakfast. Attend classes. Play sports. Study. Sleep. Repeat. While this is true of most schools, and there is great value in providing structure to young learners, there is also great value in adding a little mystery to children’s lives. According to...
Read More