Day Students
When Buxton moved from its first home, in Short Hills, New Jersey, to its current home in Williamstown, it changed its focus. What had formerly been a local grammar school became a boarding high school. In making this change, Buxton’s founder, Ellen Geer Sangster, was fulfilling a progressive dream: to create a learning and living community that would educate students both inside and outside of the classroom. Having students live at the school helped make this mission complete: they could be an ongoing and integral part or the shaping and maintaining of the school, learning as much from their responsibilities to the shared life as from their role as students.
Game of Four Square
But from very early on, Buxton was able to draw day students into this consuming and intentional life, providing them with, in some ways, the best of both worlds. Our day students are involved in every aspect of Buxton life, from academics to extracurriculars, from Work Program to Rec. Committee. They can experience the hands-on lessons of organizing the all-school trip or making snacks for 100 people, but they can also stay connected to their families on a day-to-day basis. Buxton has enabled local families to give their children the humane, experiential, and child-focused education they crave while allowing them to “hold on” to their children just a little bit longer.
Because of the consuming nature of boarding school in general and Buxton in particular, being a day student here can be somewhat demanding. We expect day students to be here as much as possible, experiencing as much of the Buxton life as they can. Day students arrive at the school at 8:00 A.M. for the class day, and stay here until at least 3:05, when classes end. During the fall soccer season, day students stay through the afternoon sports practices and come to dinner with the rest of the school. Once soccer ends, students may go home between 3:05 and dinner, but many choose to stay to take advantage of the many afternoon activities that crop up to take the place of soccer. Day students take their turn as “waiters,” just as boarding students do, so their attendance at lunch and dinner is essential (those meals are also when we have our all-important twice-daily announcements—our primary means of communication!). We do allow day students one night out of the dining room per week. After dinner, day students are welcome to stay for evening study halls and/or activities. Depending on how a particular student’s academics are faring, we may decide (with parents) to require attendance at evening study halls for a period of time. Day students are also welcome to hang out with other students during our evening “snacks” time, from 9:00 until 10:00 P.M.
On weekends, we ask that day students attend Friday night Recreation Committee events as often as possible, and their attendance at Saturday morning Work Program is essential. After that, day students are free to spend their weekends either at home or with us. We all come back together as a community on Sunday night for a formal dinner and a weekly “Senior Service,” something day students will certainly not want to miss!
Yes, our day students spend a lot of time at Buxton, and not as much time at home as they would were they attending a public high school or typical day school. But experience as shown us that our day students thrive in this kind of committed life, and that families quickly adapt to a new rhythm. Having students that are connected to the local community is a huge boon for Buxton; having Buxton in the community has been a lifesaver for many local families.
For more details about day students at Buxton, please be in touch.