Figure 1.--Boarders do not get to see much television. Thus a video is a real treat. Here the boys at this prep school are watching a Saturday night movie video. |
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The weekend is one of the major differences between day and boarding schools. Saturday at most boarding schools begin like the other school days. Normally there are classes Saturday morning, but after lunch the schools shift to a more relaxed schedule. The weekly boarders go home after lunch as well as the children with excheats. There are commonly exeats (leave weekends) when boarders go home for the weekend. This varies from school to school. Most schools rotate exeats. A few schools have a fixed exeats in which all the children go home. Many of the older children are involved with games in the afternoon, both fixtures at the school and at other local schools. The younger children enjoy the free time to persue favorate activities with friends. The afternoon at boarding schools is often devoted to games, or sports competitions. This is especially true for the older boys on the school teams. The other children are often encouraged to cheer their team on. Parents often come to watch these hames. The day children at boarding schools commonly stay for games in the afternoon, especially the older boys who are team memnbers. Other day children may also stay if they are interested in the afternoon activities. But most of the day children go home after Saturday morning class unless they are on one of the sports teams. Those children involved in sport or other school-based activities will be kept busy on Saturday, but not all boarders have the skill to be heavily involved in school sports. A range of activities are available on Saturday on a routein basis. Most children not involved in games fixtures have a good bit of free time on Saturday. Often a movie video is shown in the evening. Normally the headmaster or other senior master selects the film. Here action films are popular at boys schools. At some schools depending on the location, the boarders may be allowed to go to town and buy things. Weekend school activities may seem unimportant because after Saturday morning there are usually no classes, but the weekends have an important role in the life of the school. And free time to play with friends is one of those benefits. During the weekdays such free play is more limited as it has t fit in with the various scheduled activities. On Saturday and Sunday thee are larger blocks of times for the children to persue their favored activities with friends.
The weekend is one of the major differences between day and boarding schools. The morning, however, is not unlike the regular school day. Most boarding schools have Saturday classes, but this is not common at day schools. It was more cimmon at one time, but now not common at all. Day children at boarding schools have to attend the Saturday classes. Saturday classes are held in the morning only. Of course the day children have to attend Saturday morning classes along with the borders.
There are commonly exeats (leave weekends) when boarders go home for the weekend. This varies from school to school. Most schools rotate exeats. A few schools have a fixed exeats in which all the children go home. Normally exeats begin Saturday afternoon. A few schools have a fixed exeats beginning Friday afternoon once a term. The standard procedure, however, is to begin exeats Saturday afternoon. Almost all schools have Saturday morning classes. Exeats allow the parents to pick up their children for the weekend together. Usually the children are picked up about 1:00 pm after the morning classes. Many schools allow the children to put on their refular clothes for their exeats, but some schools insist the cgildren stay in their school uniform. Sometimes there are complications such as afternoon games with other schools which parents also often attend. Schools vary as to the numbers of exeats allowed. Some schools allow 2-3 exeats per term. A few schools allow the children to leave any weekend, which is essentialy "weekly boarding". Families vary on how much they take advantage of the exeats. Most parents who can pick up their children, often planning some kind of special activity together. Some parents are outside the country, so the children can not take advantage of their exceats.
Some schools have taken excheats a step further and introduced weekly boarding. Normally the weekly boarders also go home after morning classes and lunch on Saturday.
The afternoon at boarding schools is often devoted to games, or sports competitions. This is especially true for the older boys on the school teams. The other children are often encouraged to cheer their team on. Parents often come to watch these hames. The day children at boarding schools commonly stay for games in the afternoon, especially the older boys who are team memnbers.
Other day children may also stay if they are interested in the afternoon activities. But most of the day children go home after Saturday morning class unless they are on one of the sports teams. Those children involved in sport or other school-based activities will be kept busy on Saturday, but not all boarders have the skill to be heavily involved in school sports. A range of activities are available on Saturday on a routein basis. This depends on the grounds and facilities. One of the most popular during war weather is the swimming pool. Special activities such as action adventures/outward bound experiences. The younger boys often get involved with their dens, paying with friends. The older boys are more likely to be involved with sports. The less sports inclined pursue a range of other activities. There are also special school events like sports days and fetes.
Most children not involved in games fixtures have a good bit of free time on Saturday. At some schools depending on the location, the boarders may be allowed to go to town and buy things. Weekend school activities may seem unimportant because after Saturday morning there are usually no classes, but the weekends have an important role in the life of the school. And free time to play with friends is one of those benefits. During the weekdays such free play is more limited as it has t fit in weith the varioys scheduled activities. On Saturday and Sunday thee are larger blocks of times for the children to persue their favored activities with friends.
Often a movie video is shown in the evening. Normally the headmaster or other senior master selects the film. Here action films are popular at boys schools. The selection may be more diverse at coed schools. Often the older children find the selection somewhat boring as the tastes of the younger children have to be taken into account, as well as suitability. The older boys often lobby for certain films. We recall at onle school that they managed to convince the headmaster to get "The Blues Brothers" which he was not familiar with. They assured him it was a great film and suitable for the school. He was quite displeased when he watched it with the boys and even more so when he got complasints from parents. He resolved never again to choose a video he had not seen before. At some schools only the older children watch the Satuday video, after the younger children are put to bed. Here the purpose is not only a reaonable bed time for the younger children, but also to create some perks or special benefits for the older boys that the younger boys can look forwards to.
