Are you hoping to get your son into one of the most selective boarding schools in the U.S.? Even with most impeccable resume, you and your son will have your work cut out for you. Every year, elite secondary boarding schools like Andover, Exeter, and Deerfield admit only a fraction of the hopefuls who apply. There are many qualified candidates who boast high test scores,...
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Listen in on any playground conversation in the city of Boston. They’re all asking the same question: “Can we stay in the city and find the right school for our children?” One Boston parent, a South End resident, told us she and her husband started weighing educational options for their first child when he was only two. This, she said, is by no means uncommon...
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If you hope to get your son into one of the most prestigious secondary boarding schools in the country, you should start planning as soon as you know that’s what you want. As Scott Duddy, Associate Director of Placement here at The Fessenden School said in a recent article, “I always encourage parents to explore the world of independent education as early as they are...
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Top boarding schools like Exeter, Andover, and Groton offer an excellent education with high-quality facilities and some of the world’s best high school educators. They enjoy sterling reputations and many of their graduates go on to first-rate colleges like Harvard, MIT, and Brown. But, these top boarding schools don’t accept just anyone. Exeter, for example, turns away 81 percent of its applicants, ...
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Every winter, families from Back Bay to Beacon Hill, from the North End to the South End, go through one of the most confusing rites of passage for Boston residents: Boston Public Schools’ school choice program. While Boston’s school assignments are not entirely random, there is an element of chance that frustrates many families. Here are some of the concerns that Boston families have about...
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Ninth grade is not always the most fun year of high school. It can be a jarring transition from the top of the middle school pecking order to a new school dominated by students three or four years older than you. Ninth graders almost everywhere experience this humbling rite of passage, at public schools and private schools, boarding schools and day schools. The one place...
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Literacy is the foundation upon which your son’s academic future will be built. When children learn to read, they gain the key that will open up the doors of learning in every other subject area: language, math, science, social studies, the arts. This is one of the reasons why a high-quality academic program in kindergarten is so important. It’s when children— guided by their teachers—really...
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We say often at The Fessenden School that play is a child’s work. Children at play aren’t just having fun (although they are!), they’re learning. Play is how young children process new information and start to make sense of the world around them. Play is the pre-kindergarten teacher’s most powerful tool. In fact, in a well-structured pre-K classroom, play and academics are one in the...
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A few weeks ago on this blog, we interviewed a Pre-K teacher here at The Fessenden School about how high-quality pre-kindergarten programs help prepare boys to succeed in kindergarten. She told us that Fessenden’s Kindergarten teachers report back to her that students who come out of our Pre-K program shine in their classes. Does a good pre-K program really set the stage for kindergarten success?...
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Is there any good reason to wait until your son is in tenth grade to enroll him in one of the nation’s top secondary boarding schools? After all, most schools accept students starting in ninth grade, so why wait? If your son is in junior boarding school or you plan to send him to junior boarding school, there’s a very compelling reason to have him...
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