Ten Reasons Why It's Great to Be a Boarder at Fay
Choosing a boarding program for your middle schooler is a big decision. Would private school be a good fit? Will there be enough academic, social, and emotional support? Will your child get the tools that he or she needs to find success in secondary school and beyond?
Middle school boarding programs offer many benefits for adolescents. Within the safety and structure of a well-designed program, students can immerse themselves in learning while also developing life skills and interests that will last a lifetime, in a community where teachers, coaches, and mentors are there to provide support, guidance, and care.
Here are just a few of the reasons why Fay students and their families love our middle school boarding program.
Preparation.
Our boarders are ready for the next step. Each year, our graduates move on to terrific secondary schools where they embrace academic challenges and pursue the interests they developed at Fay.
Structure.
After classes, our structured days include time for homework, athletics, music, extracurricular clubs and activities, and extra help with teachers who know their students in and out of the classroom.
Independence.
Our boarders rise to the challenge of living away from home and become more responsible, well organized, and independent.
Dedicated dorm parents.
Our dorm parents are second to none. Dedicated members of our faculty and staff, they care deeply about the students in their care and are trained to provide expert support and supervision. Ask our alumni, and they’ll tell you that some of the most meaningful relationships they develop at Fay are with their dorm parents.
Leadership.
Our boarders learn to be leaders. They live and grow in a community where it is cool to be smart, and where their mentors and peers care about challenge and effort.
Fun on the weekends.
Weekends at Fay are fun! Each weekend, our Residential Life Coordinator plans activities on and off campus that take advantage of our proximity to Boston as well our beautiful surroundings in rural New England.
Great after-school options.
Our after-school options offer students the opportunity to explore new interests and develop new skills, including athletics, music, drama, dance, and robotics.
A global perspective.
Our boarders develop a broader and more nuanced understanding of the world around them as they build lifelong friendships with their classmates, who come from across the United States and around the world.
Our amazing campus.
Our boarders make the most of our state-of-the-art facilities, which include our 30-acre athletic campus, theater, music practice rooms, dance studio, art studios, gym, tennis courts, rock climbing wall, library, and Innovation Lab.
A focus on all aspects of adolescent development.
Our boarding program is specially designed for adolescents and includes evening and weekend programming that focuses on mindfulness and making smart choices.
Close-Knit Community
Our middle school boarding community is a close-knit, caring group of students, faculty, and staff who live, work, and play together on our beautiful 66-acre campus.
Our students live in homelike dorms that are just a short walk from the Dining Room, classrooms, and playing fields. Our dorms are separated by gender, and each dorm includes faculty apartments, so our dorm parents (who are middle school boarding experts!) are always on hand to provide supervision and care.
What are you doing this weekend?
Weekends at Fay School are a time to rest, recharge, connect with friends, and have fun! An important part of the Fay program is what our students learn outside the classroom—and with 150 boarders on campus each weekend, there are plenty of activities and adventures to make each weekend special. Whether it’s a pickup game of basketball, a kayak excursion on the Charles River, a trip to a Broadway show in Boston, or a cozy meal with floormates and a dorm parent, boarders have many ways to connect with their classmates and school community.
Because we make sure that all our boarders get involved each weekend, Fay’s Residential Life Coordinator plans each weekend at Fay to include a range of activities to suit everyone’s tastes. Early in the week, a poster goes up in the Dining Room listing featured activities for the weekend, which typically includes a balance of at-school and off-campus options, all hosted and coordinated by Fay’s faculty and dorm parents.
Boarders design their weekends by signing up online for activities. Most options are open to all students, with no signup limits, and students can discuss plans with their friends before making final decisions. Sports, arts and crafts, trips, and community service projects are just a few of the options available each weekend. Fay’s unique location provides a host of opportunities, and our boarding staff takes advantage of Fay's proximity to Boston and Providence as well as the natural, rural beauty of New England.
Weekend activities are also an opportunity for our talented dorm parents and residential staff to share their own interests, whether it’s knitting, skiing, or a cappella singing. The art studios in the Picardi Art Building are also open some weekends for students to work on independent or faculty-directed projects. Boarders also have opportunities for downtime in their rooms to rest and relax.
Our weekends also include Sunday morning study hall for all students on campus, a thorough dorm and room cleanup each Sunday evening, and numerous residential programs designed to strengthen community ties and foster social and emotional growth.
Five-day boarders are welcome to stay overnight at Fay on weekends to enjoy all that our boarding program has to offer.
Students with visiting or local parents occasionally depart campus on weekends to spend time with their relatives or are invited to spend time with day students and other local families. Fay encourages families to invite boarding students home for the day or weekend to build a sense of community and to enable boarding students to share in a family experience.
Boarders at Fay have the unique opportunity to become a true citizen of the world. That’s because our international boarding community is composed of students from across the United States and 22 countries. Our boarding students live with and develop enduring friendships with other young people from a huge range of backgrounds: in truly authentic ways, our students learn to understand and embrace a wide range of cultural experiences and viewpoints. Throughout the year, numerous social and cultural events, field trips, dances, dinners, and other school programs celebrate the authentic diversity that makes Fay’s multicultural, international boarding school community enriching and welcoming to all.
International boarding students are able to enjoy the many benefits of a Fay education, regardless of their level of English proficiency. Fay supports international students in all aspects of their boarding school experience, from assistance with immigration documentation and travel arrangements to academic scheduling and secondary school placement.
International students who are not yet fluent in English enroll in English and American history classes in our English Language Program (ELP) as well as some mainstream academic courses at the appropriate level, such as mathematics and science. The program ensures that students continue to progress academically while they become proficient in English. Our ELP classes emphasize grammar, composition, reading comprehension, and speaking and listening skills. As students become more proficient, the program offers the foundation to allow students to transition into mainstream Fay classes. The goal is to prepare international students to participate fully in the mainstream Fay curriculum when their language skills are established—and to make a successful transition to a boarding school in the United States if they so desire.
Mid-winter break at Fay takes place over five days in February, and instead of heading home for this short vacation, many Fay boarders take advantage of the Mid-Winter Break trips that we offer every year.
These faculty-led trips are a unique opportunity for our middle school students to experience new sights and new cultures, and to connect with other students.
For the past few years, our Mid-Winter trip destinations have included Washington, D.C. and Québec, on a trip that includes a walk through the Latin Quarter, a visit to the Ice Hotel, snow tubing, dinner at a “cabane à sucre,” a visit to Martello Tower, and a dogsledding adventure!
Fay offers a five-day boarding program for seventh, eighth, and ninth grade students. This program is capped at ten students per school year. Five-day boarding can be an attractive private boarding school option for students and families for a number of reasons.
Preparation for Seven-Day Boarding Seventh, eighth, and ninth graders who are considering attending a private boarding school for secondary school may want to “try out” boarding life at Fay. Five-day boarding at Fay offers a comfortable transition between day student and seven-day boarding life.
Time: A More Deliberate Pace The school day for seventh, eighth, and ninth graders at Fay (or any school) can stretch from before 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or even later on days when student-athletes participate in away games. Many busy families appreciate five-day boarding for its convenience and its promise of a more deliberate pace to the week for students and parents alike. Valuable time is gained by eliminating the morning and evening commute between home, school, and afternoon/evening sports and other activities.
Structure From the moment they “rise and shine” at 6:45 a.m., boarders’ days are structured to help them excel personally and academically. All five-day boarders take part in supervised study halls each weekday evening after dinner, when they can work independently as well as get extra help from teachers. Regular “lights out” times ensure that five-day boarders get plenty of rest.
A Close-Knit Community Fay’s dormitories are intimate, home-like settings that are conducive to building a campus family. Dorm parents, who are also teachers and coaches at Fay, live with their own families in apartments in each dormitory. They are on hand before and after class hours to provide supervision, guidance, and support. Dormitories are within close walking distance to the dining room, classrooms, and playing fields, and each dorm includes common spaces where students gather and socialize informally.
Practice Independence, Connect with Family Five-day boarding is an excellent option for parents and students who seek all of the academic and personal benefits of private boarding school, but also want to connect as a family and participate in hometown extra-curricular activities on weekends.
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