School Fit
Decide whether Groton fits your student
Look past selectivity to the daily life of a boarding and day school.
Checked against Groton's published admissions pages on November 5, 2026.
School fit
Is Groton a fit?
- The school
- Groton School is a boarding and day school for grades 8 to 12 in Groton, Massachusetts, committed to inclusion, affordability and belonging.
- Class size and courses
- Courses are taught in ten departments, with an average class size of eleven students.
- Schedule
- Classes follow a six-day color block schedule, with half days on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Chapel
- Four mornings a week, the school community gathers in St. John's Chapel for quiet reflection, music and readings.
- Afternoon activity
- Every student commits to an afternoon activity each term.
- Clubs
- Students can join and lead more than forty student-run organizations.
- 01
Ask your student what kind of classroom they want, and let them answer honestly.
- 02
Visit or take a virtual tour, and ask what a typical week looks like.
Boarding life
What boarding and day life ask of a student.
- Boarding or day
- Boarding and day school
- Dorm heads
- A faculty member, known as the dorm head, lives in each dorm alongside the students.
- Study hall
- Study hall is structured and supervised for students in the Second, Third and Fourth Forms.
- Parlor
- Parlor is a casual Thursday-night get-together with students and the Headmaster and his wife.
- Weekends
- Nearly every weekend offers several excursions off campus.
- 01
Talk through the routines your student manages without reminders, such as sleep, study and laundry.
- 02
Decide how you will handle distance, weekends and check-ins, then ask the school how it handles them.
- 03
Choose boarding or day before you apply, and ask the admission office what changing later would involve.