The tiny town of Deerfield has three boarding schools.
Two are junior boarding - Eaglebrook and Bement.
Bement school has boarding as young as 3rd grade!
Eaglebrook is boys only and is grades 6-9.
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Wow… that seems crazy to me… but to each his own, I guess.
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The junior boarding schools that start so young usually only take a small handful, and a significant number of the younger kids at junior boarding schools (the 3rd-6th graders, say) have parents who are stationed outside the US, in places where there aren’t great options for American-style schooling.
My oldest went to a junior boarding school in 7th, and many kids were there for the sports this school specialized in. I hate to say it, but a disproportionate number also came from dysfunctional families, parents going through divorce, or other situations where someone made the executive decision that the child would be better off out of the house for half the year. I don’t think there are the majority of kids, but there’s definitely a contingent.
I think all of the junior boarding schools also have a large international contingent. They want their kids in a US school, learning English fluently, before high school.
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Recently, most of the kids I’ve known at JBS were foreign students acclimatizing to a new culture and perfecting their English. (That’s not to say they are the majority, just the ones I’ve known.) I’ve also known kids who have been able to live with family of friends in the States for a year or so in order to do the same, but that requires connections not everyone has.
This is also an option for expat families, especially ones who end up in places without decent schools or places that are unsafe.
While I certainly understand why so many parents recoil at the idea of having a 6th grader at JBS, it should be noted that JBS are not set up like college dorms (or some Oliver Twist horror), but are designed for the younger kids who are there and to create family/community.
There were a couple of families here a while ago who had JBS kids who seemed to have had very positive experiences.
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Nothing to freakout about. Plenty of boarding school kids succeed or fail irrespective of the school they attended. More often, it’s about the complete environment and opportunities a kid is presented AND learns from, not necessarily masters. So don’t freak out kids. It’s just one of the steps in life.
I have a son who went to JBS for 7-9th grades. I was reluctant to send him at such a young age, but it was just the right decision to send him to Rectory School. I’m happy to answer any questions.
Rectory is in the northeast corner of Connecticut, and the campus is adjacent to Pomfret School.
The Orton Society (which later became the International Dyslexia Assocation) used to have it’s headquarters at Rectory. My son had a one-on-one tutor for those 3 years who helped him with dyslexia and strengthened his executive functioning skills.
@gardenstategal is right about how family-oriented the set up is. Many of the boarders are international students, but not all.
There aren’t that many JBS. Fessenden, Eaglebrook, Hillside, and Cardigan Mountain are all-boys. Fay, Bement, Rumsey Hall, Indian Mountain, Rectory, and North Country School are co-ed. We toured many of these and had a tough time deciding.
It was truly a game-changer for my son.
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Out of curiosity, the international students who come to study in grades 3-8, they are still considered international after being here 2-5 years when applying to 9 or 10? Seems so weird that students who would be living the whole time in the home countries are at a disadvantage to these students (especially from countries with large applicant pools).
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Ive applied too taft and the gunnery, im very nervous but quite excited, anybody been too either of these schools that could help me choose? im just not sure which i like more
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The one that accepts you.
If you get accepted to both, weigh the pros and cons of each. If you’re still struggling after that, then reask the question listing your pros and cons.
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My daughter applied to Gunn. It is her first choice but has another school in a very close second (only because of the distance, Gunn is much closer to home).
If you are accepted to both, you should try to take advantage of the re-visit days. As I am sure you know, the schools are very close to one another.
They are also very very restrictive, as my ex-JBS friends have told me.
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ah, i did not know about the revisit days, thank you!
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My son was not a standout athlete or musician - he is a very good writer, had good scores/grades and recommendation letters -but he also is a “I’ll try anything kid!” and I think that came through in his application materials and interviews. Yes schools need stars for their sports teams and orchestras, but they also need kids to just fill out the swim team and other activities. I got the impression that in addition to their “spikey” kids, they also want/need kids who are willing to step in and play other roles (like someone else said - the “glue” that keeps the school going). Now that being said, I do think my Jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none kid had a bit of a shock when he arrived at the school and felt a little intimidated - he often says that “pretty much everyone at my school is REALLY good at one thing”… a nationally ranked tennis player, a national champion whatever… I do think at times it can be tough to be the regular kid at one of these places, but he seems to handle it fine (most of the time). Just something to keep in mind.
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Me and your son are twins! Where did he get in?
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Was admitted to Kent, Hotchkiss, Hun, Berkshire. Waitlisted at a few others, no rejections. There is hope for the well rounded students out there! Maybe not the same kind of options as the star cellist or recruited athlete, but schools do seem to want at least a few non-spikey kids. Especially I think if you give off the vibe that you are willing to try new things and want to make a contribution to the school community.
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I believe that they are still considered as international as they will need visa support, are unlikely to go home for short vacations, and will apply to college as international – all things the school will need to manage.
I suspect it’s like everything else - nobody is just one stat and they aren’t clearly getting an advantage for a single thing, in this case, assimilation pre-matriculation. If there were two absolutely identical foreign applicants (already, we’re testing the limits of reality), one might speak better English while the other might bring more cultural diversity. One might already be an awesome lax player and displace an American recruit. Or maybe, the one in the American system would not have had the opposite to accelerate in math as much as the one in their own country’s system. Which is preferable depends on what the school needs most.
Certainly, many foreign students attend American BS because they feel it positions them better for American colleges. And the colleges seem to be happy with the arrangement. This is a version of the same. But it’s not all about being competitive – it’s also about the students having a successful, minimally traumatic experience being dropped into what is arguably a very challenging situation. (I can speak from experience on this - going to school in your non-native language is exhausting at best for quite a while)
Anecdotally, I know families who sent their kid to JBS assuming it would smooth the path to a school they’d heard of only to have their kid "redirected " to an excellent, but unknown to them, school (Blair was one real life example.) But yes,the student succeeded and ultimately thrived, which is what everyone wants.
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For those who applied to schools that are rolling, when did you receive your decision?
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My daughter applied to 2 with rolling admission one last year (for this school year): we heard within 2 weeks, decided not to attend. The one she applied to earlier in the school year , this year, was within a few days.
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We have not heard anything yet from most of our schools - one of them says it is rolling but then says on another part of their site we will hear on M10, so nothing yet.