The start of each new year often comes with a pledge to accomplish those things we have struggled to conquer in the past. The tradition of New Year resolutions requires us to reflect on our weaknesses and focus on how we can overcome them. Typically, we recycle our pledges each year, hoping to get the better of those foibles we seem unable to conquer. How...
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Each holiday season, a favorite tradition for many of us is a viewing of the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life. Frank Capra’s beloved story about the fictional town of Bedford Falls, and of George Bailey’s despair over his meaningless life, does more than merely warm our hearts during its yearly showing. It prompts us to reconsider our own disappointments and reflect on what has...
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We recently asked Dan Kiley, one of Fessenden’s most beloved and longest-tenured faculty members, to share his thoughts on the start of the 2016-2017 academic year. For me, the opening of a new school year always conjures feelings of excitement mixed with trepidation and anxiety. After nearly forty years of teaching, I still get “butterflies” before the first day, anticipating meeting new people, making new...
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In Massachusetts, children must begin school in September of the calendar year in which they turn 6. But most elementary schools — public and private — allow students to start earlier than that. For example, Newton Public Schools allow children to begin kindergarten if they have turned 5 by Aug. 31. At The Fessenden School, we give them an extra day to turn 5, until...
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“Raise your hand if you would like to go to the iLab.” Throughout the Schoolroom, hands dart into the air, each boy hoping to secure one of the ten available slots that will allow him to spend the next forty-five minutes in our popular iLab Makerspace. The opportunity to collaborate on a new project or invention with a classmate is exciting. Why is the iLab...
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Fessenden is the best educational fit for my son, but I still have to get my daughter to school. Wouldn’t it be easier if I was bringing them both to the same place? We get this question a lot. And, luckily, we have information to help alleviate your concerns. The Power of an All-Boys Education First, it’s important for you as a parent to understand...
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The value of play in providing a positive and productive learning experience can never be overstated. For this reason, active learning and play is intricately incorporated into our Pre-Kindergarten program at The Fessenden School. In this post, Greta Sanborn and Sari Pogorzelski, two of our Pre-K teachers, explain how they facilitate learning through structured play. Decoding the World through Play At a young ...
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Athletics participation is an integral, foundational, and, yes, usually mandatory part of the junior boarding school experience. And for some families, that’s a big reason they choose boarding school for their middle school-aged sons. Junior boarding schools tend to provide better facilities, a wider range of sports, and a higher level of competition than other schools. Some families worry their sons aren’t ...
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This week Lower School Head Stephen Billhardt share’s his perspective on why family-style lunches are a unique and important part of the overall Fessenden experience. I would venture to guess that at 10:55 a.m. most people are thinking about things other than lunch! But in the Lower School, that is the magical time when boys in Grades 1-4 transition from their homeroom and specialists classes to...
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Diversity of the student population is an important consideration when exploring junior boarding schools, or any school for that matter. While some parents value the opportunity for their sons to live and learn with students from different backgrounds and viewpoints, others are more concerned that their boys have the company of local classmates, fearing that they’ll otherwise be left out if international ...
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