Why is Exeter’s location superb?
2 Likes
very cute town
1 Like
Really nice town and is a short 20 to 25 minute drive to Portsmouth.
1 Like
Here is another view of it that I observed…After having kiddo at Deerfield for a few years, I would share with you that EVERY student I know there considers NO SATURDAY MORNING CLASSES a positive.
The students are exhausted from a busy week of studying and activities. Also, many students involved in athletics and EC/clubs use Saturday mornings for team/club breakfasts. Some students use Saturday mornings SAT/ACT or AP prep. As noted above, Saturday mornings are when many athletic teams get prepped and pepped for travel to other schools. We have seen how tired opposing teams look after their Saturday morning classes, getting organized, and then driving 2-3 hours to get to campus for games. Works well for us. Attention all other boarding schools: Please keep your Saturday morning classes!
.Because Deerfield is 90% boarding and is pretty remote, almost everyone stays on campus all weekend.
What I would like to see is more varied options for Saturday night activities…and more organized outdoor activities when the weather is nice in the autumn and spring.
3 Likes
Location & presence or absence of Saturday morning classes may help OP differentiate among the four options.
Also, I believe at least one boarding school has Saturday classes every other Saturday.
Cate did away with every other Saturday this year due to pandemic, not sure if they’ll go back.
2 Likes
On campus, my kid likes Saturday classes for the reasons Publisher mentioned above. However, when virtual he abhors Saturday classes. He needs the break from Zoom.
1 Like
Huge plus of not having Saturday morning classes is the ability to sleep in a bit more. The days can be grueling anyway because all the away games with longest drives are scheduled for weekends so every other weekend it is 6-7 hour exercise. Not having to wake up at 7am for classes and instead sleeping till 9 or even 10 is a big deal for a lot of otherwise sleep deprived kids.
Also Friday night is an opportunity for campus events of all kinds, because unlike on Saturday almost everyone is on campus all day. In winter there is often one big game scheduled for Friday night - either basketball and hockey - and lots of kids come out and cheer. There are club events and all sorts of other things. Or kids head to town for dinner or just hang out at a coffee shop, but since there are games on Saturday people are not leaving for the weekend.
1 Like
Is the attendance at boarding school athletic events really that high ?
Not overall, but the Friday night games get very good attendance. Especially in winter for hockey and basketball. Standing room only and loud. And school does stuff to entice students - bringing food down, good deserts etc. Normally on Saturdays everyone has their own stuff so the attendance is abysmal, a few parents and handful of friends. JV team if they played right before. Sometimes opposing team fans outnumber ours.
1 Like
For us (have Saturday classes) they make sure to schedule at least one Saturday night game for every sport and they tend to be packed. Huge numbers of students cheering. Rest of the time not a lot of attendance because everyone else also has a game or an after school commitment.
1 Like
Our kid approves!
Our school has late start Saturdays and Wednesdays. Don’t get me wrong, the kids love a no class Saturday, but I think mostly it’s because it feels like a treat. While there IS school on Saturdays, in practice they have every third or so Saturday off.
1 Like
How do Saturday classes give you more time for theatre rehearsals? Our productions often have rehearsals on both Friday night and Saturday. And while shows run Thursday/Friday/Saturday for the most part again Friday night is generally when the students go to see their friends, so they get more audience this way too.
Many of the overachievers use Saturday mornings for meetings of all kinds, to jam more stuff in before athletic competitions. And yes some kids do extracurriculars or other activities elsewhere, or occasionally leave for the whole weekend. Which may be a nice option particularly for the upperclassmen.
1 Like
Because the students are on campus for the entire weekend typically.
Which they would be anyway if they had theatre rehearsals. Your argument for Saturday classes is a strawman IMO
1 Like
Not an argument; it is a preference.
Saturday classes: hard NO from my kids. And I concur.
Also, I would agree to call the locations of the schools different, but I would not necessarily agree with the adjectives applied to the various locations above 
1 Like
I believe there is some variability on sports & theatre attendance by school. At some schools, boys Varsity hockey tends to be on Saturday nights - in non-COVID times it draws a big crowd at many schools. Same with football on Saturday afternoons. Deerfield has a huge crowd for hockey, basketball and football games on Saturdays. We have been to games at PEA, Hotchkiss, and PA that have good attendance. IMHO when schools have more boarding students and more rural the area, the sports seem to draw kids for social interaction. Even if your student isn’t that into athletics, chances are they will find the atmosphere really fun at boarding school games. If you really don’t like crowds, you can always join us to watch a golf match 
As exciting as watching paint dry. I don’t mind playing the occasional round, but I would rather have my fingernails pulled out one by one than stand and watch it. 
2 Likes