School life, between the linesBy Admissions Diary
School stories, admissions adventures, and the things parents talk about on the way home.
School portraits · Los Angeles
Every year the senior class at the Los Angeles girls' school chooses a mascot that represents them. In 2023 it was a chameleon from a Disney movie. In 2025 it was a bear with a marmalade sandwich.
School portraits · Los Angeles
In 2021 the Los Angeles girls' school let sophomores cross Sunset Boulevard at lunch for the first time. Each grade gets a little more of the other side of the street.
Parent life · The weekend rota
An English infant school put a weekend sign-up sheet for its hamster on the classroom door. One parent online dreaded the whole idea for a very specific reason.
Parent life · The school bake sale
A parent new to British school bake sales asked Mumsnet how they work. The advice covered pricing, packaging and nuts, and one reply was firm about the lid.
Admissions theatre · Los Angeles and beyond
An admissions interviewer in Los Angeles asked a girl what she'd do with a fish and a slingshot. Her answer was a question. Another applicant, elsewhere, needed a break for hot chocolate.
School portraits · Lakeville, Connecticut
A 2016 retreat at Hotchkiss's farm was about building trust and community in the dorms. Then four of the fifteen pigs got out, and the curriculum changed.
School portraits · Watertown, Connecticut
A Connecticut boarding school publishes a glossary of its own slang. The best entry is the one that schedules the hour before homework.
School portraits · Deerfield, Massachusetts
At a school where dinner is assigned, served and cleared on a schedule, a senior started a club for people who were still chewing.
Parent life · The school stage
British school Christmas plays run on kitchen linen. One mother set out to beat the supermarket's £8 shepherd costume and kept the receipts.
Parent life · The parent group
Parents at one English primary school wrote their own etiquette for the class group chat. Every rule on it has a story behind it, and most parents could supply one.
Parent life · Across the country
The school flour-sack baby is meant to teach teenagers responsibility. One mother in 2002 read the instructions and found out whose responsibility it was.
School portraits · Dallas
A Dallas boys' school has sent its rising freshmen into the New Mexico wilderness for over half a century. One teacher remembers the early equipment list.
