Culture of Holton-Arms

[Anonymous]

Would appreciate any thoughts on the student and family culture of Holton-Arms.

[Anonymous]

We were skeptical of all girls, but it really is empowering and supportive atmosphere. We have not experienced any mean girl behavior; while I’m sure kids group up I think everyone gets along.

Families are very friendly, though most keep to themselves and socialize with circles outside of school.

[Anonymous]

I have met some great families and we get our lower school kids together for play dates. The school community is tight knit, with a focus on collective well-being beyond rigorous academics. The live well learn well lead well (physical and mental health) program is very good. We wanted all girls so it was an easy choice. The school is proving to be what we hoped it would be for our family.

[Anonymous]

Holton has been a great place for my daughter (and for our family). My daughter is biracial and she was welcomed by her classmates from her first day of lower school. It’s nice starting in lower school because there are many more opportunities for parental involvement. As the girls grow and social groups shift, things can get a little bumpy- but there are all kids of girls at Holton and everyone finds their place.

As with any rigorous/competitive school, things get tense starting in junior year (between the students and between the parents). She’s a senior now so I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Choosing Holton was one of the best decisions we’ve made. Many opportunities for leadership and academic growth.

[Anonymous]

Holton is THE BEST for an empowering academic environment for girls. Socially however, it is hit or miss grade by grade. There are mean girls and not so nice elitist families. that part was hard for us. the poster above is right - most families socialize only with their out of school social circles.

[Anonymous]

We've been at the school since lower, my daughter is now in the upper school near graduation. We loved the lower school and middle school as well. Upper school is a different story.

Upper school is a great fit for many girls, unfortunately, it has not been a great fit for my daughter.

If your daughter is off the charts smart, Holton is fantastic academically and I don't think you can find a better school.

On the most part, the teachers are exceptional.

Socially, the girls are extremely cliquey - if your daughter finds her clique, she will thrive - if not, she's going to be very lonely because it's difficult to make really close friends outside of school unless your daughter is on a team sport outside of school or has other resources to meet friends. And the amount of homework and test preparation in upper school is insane, so she's not going to have a lot of extra time.

Culturally, the school is extremely liberal and the girls are intolerant of girls who do not follow the same ideology. If your daughter/family is moderate or conservative, it's going to be a rough road for your daughter.

I hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

In LS/MS, all group projects — individual competency checks don’t exist. No more honors math in 7th/8th. Smart girls sit around and wait.

Maybe the girls who do well in US enter in 9th?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In LS/MS, all group projects — individual competency checks don’t exist. No more honors math in 7th/8th. Smart girls sit around and wait.

Maybe the girls who do well in US enter in 9th?

Interesting, thanks. This misguided approach hasn’t been good for our high achiever kid at another school. Lots of spinning wheels and lack of progress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've been at the school since lower, my daughter is now in the upper school near graduation. We loved the lower school and middle school as well. Upper school is a different story.

Upper school is a great fit for many girls, unfortunately, it has not been a great fit for my daughter.

If your daughter is off the charts smart, Holton is fantastic academically and I don't think you can find a better school.

On the most part, the teachers are exceptional.

Socially, the girls are extremely cliquey - if your daughter finds her clique, she will thrive - if not, she's going to be very lonely because it's difficult to make really close friends outside of school unless your daughter is on a team sport outside of school or has other resources to meet friends. And the amount of homework and test preparation in upper school is insane, so she's not going to have a lot of extra time.

Culturally, the school is extremely liberal and the girls are intolerant of girls who do not follow the same ideology. If your daughter/family is moderate or conservative, it's going to be a rough road for your daughter.

I hope this helps.

I agree with all of this. Holton is a fantastic school academically, faculty is amazing and they really care about the girls. But it is a lonely place for the girls who do not find a tight group. My daughter had a great experience in LS and MS. Then her friendship group blew up and she never quite found another, even though she played two sports and participated in the arts. She does not remember her HS years fondly, even though she excelled academically and in other areas. It makes me sad because overall I think so highly of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've been at the school since lower, my daughter is now in the upper school near graduation. We loved the lower school and middle school as well. Upper school is a different story.

Upper school is a great fit for many girls, unfortunately, it has not been a great fit for my daughter.

If your daughter is off the charts smart, Holton is fantastic academically and I don't think you can find a better school.

On the most part, the teachers are exceptional.

Socially, the girls are extremely cliquey - if your daughter finds her clique, she will thrive - if not, she's going to be very lonely because it's difficult to make really close friends outside of school unless your daughter is on a team sport outside of school or has other resources to meet friends. And the amount of homework and test preparation in upper school is insane, so she's not going to have a lot of extra time.

Culturally, the school is extremely liberal and the girls are intolerant of girls who do not follow the same ideology. If your daughter/family is moderate or conservative, it's going to be a rough road for your daughter.

I hope this helps.

We are in Upper School now, and I agree with this poster that US is very challenging. Girls have their cliques and are not open to changing them. The US is a huge pressure cooker though, too. Be prepared for girls to get competitive and mean about it. The girls are all mostly over achievers so it creates a toxic environment. They are definitely not supportive of each other. Its quite the opposite of what we thought would happen in an all girls school. It is cut throat. Not diverse at all, too. The school is liberal but there is definitely a lack of diversity especially for this area which has been disappointing.

The administration is okay, not great. They don't listen to the girls complaints and just tell them that if they don't like it they can leave. The HOS is leaving which is great. I don't know anyone that is a fan. It will be interesting to see who they bring in. It will take time for any meaningful change to occur.

The families are mostly super wealthy. A lot of designer stuff being used/worn. We're probably on the high end of the annual incomes for the families that attend but I try to keep my DD grounded. No need for her to have a Louis Vuitton bag in high school!

LS is fine. MS gets bad. And US is toxic. If you enter is LS plan to leave for middle and high. It's just not worth it for the mental health of your child. I wish we had left but it was too late as we were in too long and too deep at that point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've been at the school since lower, my daughter is now in the upper school near graduation. We loved the lower school and middle school as well. Upper school is a different story.

Upper school is a great fit for many girls, unfortunately, it has not been a great fit for my daughter.

If your daughter is off the charts smart, Holton is fantastic academically and I don't think you can find a better school.

On the most part, the teachers are exceptional.

Socially, the girls are extremely cliquey - if your daughter finds her clique, she will thrive - if not, she's going to be very lonely because it's difficult to make really close friends outside of school unless your daughter is on a team sport outside of school or has other resources to meet friends. And the amount of homework and test preparation in upper school is insane, so she's not going to have a lot of extra time.

Culturally, the school is extremely liberal and the girls are intolerant of girls who do not follow the same ideology. If your daughter/family is moderate or conservative, it's going to be a rough road for your daughter.

I hope this helps.

We are in Upper School now, and I agree with this poster that US is very challenging. Girls have their cliques and are not open to changing them. The US is a huge pressure cooker though, too. Be prepared for girls to get competitive and mean about it. The girls are all mostly over achievers so it creates a toxic environment. They are definitely not supportive of each other. Its quite the opposite of what we thought would happen in an all girls school. It is cut throat. Not diverse at all, too. The school is liberal but there is definitely a lack of diversity especially for this area which has been disappointing.

The administration is okay, not great. They don't listen to the girls complaints and just tell them that if they don't like it they can leave. The HOS is leaving which is great. I don't know anyone that is a fan. It will be interesting to see who they bring in. It will take time for any meaningful change to occur.

The families are mostly super wealthy. A lot of designer stuff being used/worn. We're probably on the high end of the annual incomes for the families that attend but I try to keep my DD grounded. No need for her to have a Louis Vuitton bag in high school!

LS is fine. MS gets bad. And US is toxic. If you enter is LS plan to leave for middle and high. It's just not worth it for the mental health of your child. I wish we had left but it was too late as we were in too long and too deep at that point.

I agree that US is a heavy workload. The rest, however, doesn’t match my DD’s experience. She regularly studies with friends and isn’t competitive with them. They all want to do well, but they help each other out. And while we can afford it, no Louis Vuitton bags here. Nor do any of her friends have them. There are roughly 90 girls in each grade. Like any school, you will find a variety of kids and personalities, most of whom are nice, supportive, and down to earth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've been at the school since lower, my daughter is now in the upper school near graduation. We loved the lower school and middle school as well. Upper school is a different story.

Upper school is a great fit for many girls, unfortunately, it has not been a great fit for my daughter.

If your daughter is off the charts smart, Holton is fantastic academically and I don't think you can find a better school.

On the most part, the teachers are exceptional.

Socially, the girls are extremely cliquey - if your daughter finds her clique, she will thrive - if not, she's going to be very lonely because it's difficult to make really close friends outside of school unless your daughter is on a team sport outside of school or has other resources to meet friends. And the amount of homework and test preparation in upper school is insane, so she's not going to have a lot of extra time.

Culturally, the school is extremely liberal and the girls are intolerant of girls who do not follow the same ideology. If your daughter/family is moderate or conservative, it's going to be a rough road for your daughter.

I hope this helps.

Parent of an upper school girl at NCS and I could 100% write the same thing.
Girls thrive if:
1)they are super, super smart and driven. This is probably 50% of the class. The other 50% struggles at some level. They may be super smart but not happy with the 3-4 hours of homework a night. Or maybe they're bright but not quite as bright as the rest of the class.
2)they find their people. This is probably 50% of the class as well. The other 50% really struggles socially. Girls aren't mean, they just aren't inclusive and/or they don't have time to make new friends. There are lots of lonely girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I agree that US is a heavy workload. The rest, however, doesn’t match my DD’s experience. She regularly studies with friends and isn’t competitive with them. They all want to do well, but they help each other out. And while we can afford it, no Louis Vuitton bags here. Nor do any of her friends have them. There are roughly 90 girls in each grade. Like any school, you will find a variety of kids and personalities, most of whom are nice, supportive, and down to earth.

We are a family with a senior and I would agree that much of that does not match my DD's experiences at all. I'm not even sure I would call the workload heavy - just rigorous. But the sequence of expectations and coursework build to it over the years so there has never been a time when she would have said unmanageable (even with a club sport and plenty of social events).

I feel as though the clique issue is there, but very subtle. There are very few girls in my DD's class that she would describe as lonely. Sure, a group of girls might be tight and only hang out with each other, etc. but those groups are throughout the grade and looking at the friend groups, she would say there is a group for everyone that wants one. The school also does a very good job with scheduling so if you find that there is too much homework, the student is likely not using their study hall time wisely. I will say that I've heard that other grades are better / worse than the current senior class, and it would be hard to figure out which type of class mix you would be joining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In LS/MS, all group projects — individual competency checks don’t exist. No more honors math in 7th/8th. Smart girls sit around and wait.

Maybe the girls who do well in US enter in 9th?

Interesting, thanks. This misguided approach hasn’t been good for our high achiever kid at another school. Lots of spinning wheels and lack of progress.

I love the non-differentiation is middle school. They have math challenge groups for those who need it and do subtle differentiation the classroom - it is not labeled as such but it is there. Girls can pick harder problems, for example. There was a graphing project and those who wanted to be challenged graphed way harder pictures, for example. My daughter will end up in multi-variable calculus (and I believe there might be 1-2 girls who do independent study who are maybe doing number theory? Not sure). So I balk at the idea that girls are not challenged or don’t end up in high-level math. And, when things have been easy for my daughter, she uses the extra time to do other activities, which feels mentally healthy. Not a problem in my book.

[Anonymous]

How many girls take geometry during summer before grade 9?