School life, between the linesBy Admissions Diary
School stories, admissions adventures, and the things parents talk about on the way home.
School portraits · Boston, Massachusetts
In 2023–24 a Boston school's student officers decided school life needed more excitement. They founded a bureau, and then an agency.
School portraits · Dedham, Massachusetts
A Massachusetts school serves lunch in a building called the Castle. The tour is about the architecture. The students are thinking about the tortillas.
School portraits · Milton, Massachusetts
At Milton Academy's graduation, diplomas go out in random order. For once in a senior's career, being last is the prize.
School life · Washington & San Antonio
Each October schools bless the animals for the feast of Saint Francis. One school report and one school's attendance policy explain what happens when the congregation has four legs.
Parent life · Texas
A Texas homecoming mum starts as a corsage and keeps going. One school district's reminder to families covers what happens when it arrives in a second-grade classroom.
School life · British primary schools
Some English schools make children earn the right to write in ink. At one of them, the application is a handwritten letter.
School portraits · Oakland, California
At an Oakland school, the entire senior class puts on a Shakespeare play every spring. The head of school went to see Twelfth Night and came out with notes.
School portraits · Hillsborough, California
At a Hillsborough school, one day a year the juniors plan everything and the seniors are not told where they're going. I am the man the seniors need a break from.
School portraits · Palo Alto, California
A Palo Alto girls' school gives its seniors decorated cars on Opening Day and a destination they can see from the start line.
Parent life · At the school gates
Schools raffle and auction trips, dinners and signed jerseys. The prize parents actually want is a painted rectangle near the front door.
Boarding-school life · Middletown, Delaware
In May 2023 the senior class at St. Andrew's School in Delaware snuck into the head of school's house at 1 a.m. and went to sleep. She found them at 6, in her bathrobe.
School portraits · Los Angeles
Four months into the job, Sarah Beck took the stage in the Windward School's faculty improv match in Los Angeles. She was nervous. The students chanted her name in rehearsal.
