<p>I was one of those kids with Saturday classes and mandatory chapel on Sunday mornings (Kent class of 1985). And with choir, it was even a longer and earlier day than the rest of the students. I loved Saturday classes, as there was little to do in town and it kept us busy. My eldest daughter is now at a school with about 50% day students and no Saturday classes (Tallulah Falls School) and I think that she feels left out and bored with nothing to do all weekend, but study and hang out. They have no town to go to at all, so they are campus bound all weekend. When it comes to kid #2, I think I am looking for a different mix of things.</p>
<p>No Saturday classes at Andover. Wednesday is still a shortened day for sports. The Andover first trimester schedule has also been adjusted so the grades are available for senior college applications.</p>
<p>^^Then they did make some changes recently. There used to be a few (a couple in a term?) Saturday classes. The new calendar with fall term ending before Thanksgiving break is good, IMO. It’s no fun to have a Thanksgiving break knowing that once it’s over all the finals will come right along. And yes, it’s helpful to college application too. Many peer schools have had their calendar that way all along, and I don’t know what took Andover so long to catch up on that!</p>
<p>By way of background, I have 2 kids in boarding school and taught for 6 years at the high school level.
If possible, I would consider only boarding schools that have classes six days a week.
Reasons:
1. There will be more behavioral issues, e.g. substance abuse, at schools that have classes only 5 days a week.
2. More kids will leave the school if there are 2 day weekends, reducing the spirit and dynamic of the boarding community.
3. Relative to other industrial countries, the USA has a very low number of days in class. As boarding schools are more widely established globally, the best international students will gravitate to the schools with the longer school year.</p>
<p>My son is a 9th grader at a BS with Saturday classes. I just asked him last weekend how he felt about Saturday classes, and he felt strongly that it was better than having a 5 day schedule (and that most of his friends felt the same). Because they have Sat. classes, they have a few more free periods sprinkled throughout the rest of the week than they would otherwise, and he thought it was more useful to have free periods during the week, to help with time for homework. Because of the Saturday classes, and Wed. half day for sports, he ends up only having 2 classes on Wednesday (and one is an art class). He really likes having that breather during the week, and very little homework to do on Tuesday nights, so he gets a bit of a break.</p>
<p>+1 on all of the advantages of Saturday classes that people have mentioned. This is especially true for schools that are way out in the sticks where there’s not much in the way of constructive activities to keep kids busy! My daughter’s school cancels Saturday classes for SATs, etc so they end up having several Saturdays each term with no classes, which seems to hit a good balance.</p>