The Fenn School
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Fenn School |
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Motto | Sua Sponte In Your Hands |
Established | 1929 |
Type | Private |
Faculty | 60 |
Students | ~302 |
Location | Concord, Massachusetts, USA |
Campus | Suburban; 16 acres (1.5km²) |
Colors | Blue and gold |
Website | www.fenn.org |
The Fenn School is an all boys private school in Concord, Massachusetts serving grades 4-9. Founded in 1929 by Roger Fenn the school has been educating boys from in and around Concord with various artistic, athletic, and academic programs, known as the "3 A's" in school nomenclature.
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[edit] About Fenn School
Created as an alternative to the local public school system, the Fenn school offers courses in Math, Science, Foreign Language, English, Social Studies, the Arts, and Computer Studies. Sports are required during all 3 seasons along with a required elective art class. Students begin taking foreign languages from grade 6 onward, and may choose between Spanish and Latin (French was replaced with Spanish beginning in the 2001-2002 school year). The student body is divided between the Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools--referencing grades 4-5, 6-7, and 8-9.
[edit] Mission Statement
The guiding principle of The Fenn School is to educate boys in grades four through nine for a lifetime of learning, leadership, and integrity. Inspired by the School’s motto, Sua Sponte, each boy is valued for his unique qualities and is challenged to accept responsibility for his own learning and development, and for the well-being of others.
A balanced program of rigorous academics, athletics, and the arts enables boys to discover and expand their own talents in a personal and diverse community. Boys embark on their adolescent and secondary school years with confidence and knowledge. Honesty, respect, empathy, and courage are the moral underpinnings of the School and provide the foundation for each boy’s growth toward becoming a responsible adult.
[edit] Academics
Students in the Lower School, grades four and five, have a daily curriculum of Math, Science, English, and Social Studies.
During grade 6 students begin taking a foreign language. Students take one semester of Latin and one of Spanish in grade six before selecting a language to study from the 7th grade on.
In the Middle School, English and Social Studies courses are combined into a single class, know as Integrated Studies (IS), which meets twice as often as a single one.
The 9th grade social studies program is devoted exclusively to Middle Eastern studies; this is a new course replacing the previous Russian History course. The decision to phase out Russian History, long popular with Fenn seniors and former students, was based in part on the attacks of September 11th, and also with a desire to modernize the curriculum (Russian having been implemented as a response to the Cold War).
[edit] Sports
Fenn competes in athletics against other local private schools and occasionally scrimmages with the Concord Public Middle Schools.
Fall
Winter
Spring
The school also has a sports alternative program to allow students to fulfill their sports requirement without participating in the sports programs offered through the school. The athetic director of the school is Bob Starensier, a coach of youth soccer, baseball, and basketball, whose inspirational leadership is featured in the film "Climb the Mountain".
[edit] Arts
Fenn offers art courses in Web Design, Drama, Photography, Digital Music, Rock Ensemble, Woodshop, Oil Painting, Steel Drums, and Debate. There are also extracurricular arts such as the various school bands and choir. The band is directed by Miss Lien. There will soon be a gallery opening, exhibiting students work in December. The Oil Painting, Woodshop, Photo, and more will be participating in showing work in the Kane Gallery. Fenn students produce a yearbook called The Lantern during extracurricular time.
The school puts on four major productions a year: an Upper School fall drama, a fall play for the Middle School, the winter/spring musical (jointly performed with the Nashoba Brooks School), and a spring Upper School comedy. The Upper School pieces, with the exception of the musical, are actually part of an arts elective you can choose to sign up for. The parts are then assigned by audition.
Past musicals have included:
- Good News(2007)
- Working (2006)
- Oklahoma! (2005)
- Honk (2003)
- Fiddler on the Roof (2002)
- Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (2001)
- My Fair Lady (2000)
- Brigadoon (1999)
- Bye Bye Birdie (1998)
Previous Middle School Plays include:
- Treasure Island (2007)
- Tom Sawyer (2006)
- The Comedy of Errors (2005)
- Steal Away Home (2004)
- Toby Tyler (2001)
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1999)
- Columbus (1998)