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The weekend is one of the major differences between day and boarding schools.
Younger children are happiest when they have planty of recreational activities to compement their academic studies. And their free time provides a apporopriate balance between relaxation and structured activities. Modern boarding schools understand that it is important for the children to get involved in activities outside the class and academic program. The weekend activities at the schools reflect this understanding.
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. Faculty members continue to be involved with students on the weekend, but in a less intensive way.
Of course there are major differences between Saturday and Sunday activities. Most boarding schools have Saturday classes, but this is not common at day schools. Day children have to attend the Saturday classes. Saturday classes are held in the morning. The afternoon is devoted to games, activities, and free time. The day children 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. There are also excheats which allow the boarders to go hime for the rest of the weekend. Schools vary as to how often the children are permitted to go home. Often a video is shown in the evening. Sunday is devoted to church in the morning. There might be a letter writing period before or after church. Most schools have some religious affiliation. Most chikldren attend the services at an afiliated local church. Provision is made for children with special religious needs. There are a range of activities and freetime in the afternoon. Occassionally trips are organized in the afternoon. While weekends can be a busy time for boarders there should also be time for the children just to relax.
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 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.
Most children are not good letter writers. Some children would go a whole term without writing home. Thus virtually all if not all boarding schools require each child to write home at least weekly. Schools have found these best way to approach this is simply to schule a time each week when the children set down a write their letters. Thus the school can be sure at least one letter goes home to parents each week. In ersrlier tgimes the headmaster monitored what the children wrote, but ascfar as I know this is no longer done. The children can say ehsat ever they wantb in their letters--as long as they write a letter. Schools vary as to just when this is done. Sunday morming before or after church is a common time, but this varies from school to school. I'm not sure how the computer era and e-mail has affected this. We suspect that there is still a required letter writing period.
Sunday is devoted to church in the morning. There might be a letter writing period before or after church. Most schools have some religious affiliation. Most children attend the services at an afiliated local church. Provision is made for children with special religious needs.
There are also sports fixtures on Sunday, but usually not as many as on Saturday.
Occassionally trips are organized in the afternoon. These are normally done on Sunday rather than Saturday afternoon because on Saturday so many of the children are involved with games. These trips are varied. There may be trips to historical sites and here Britain is covered with fascinaating castles, palaces, Roman ruins, and much more. There are interesting sites available with only a short drive from any school. There are also many interesting museums. Local festivals are also popular as well as special events like steam railroad events and aviation exhibits. There are a wide range of other interesting attractions to visit, such as zoos and wildlife parks. Trips are also arranged for theatrical performances and concerts.
