Choosing to send your child to boarding school is a significant family decision. Finding the right fit, identifying the right campus community, and making sure your child’s goals align with what the school does best all require careful consideration. For many families, however, there is another factor that can be just as important: the emotional challenge of having a child live away from home.
Being away from home is an important part of the boarding school experience. It encourages students to develop maturity, independence, resilience, and the ability to advocate for themselves. Those are among the qualities that make boarding school so valuable. At the same time, creating that independence does not mean parents should feel disconnected from their child’s experience.
The right boarding school understands this balance. It gives students the space to grow while creating meaningful opportunities for parents to remain informed, involved, and engaged. The best boarding schools work intentionally to create a family environment, whether a parent lives a short car ride away or is separated from campus by a long-haul flight.
At Oak Hill Academy, we believe strong communication is one of the most important ways to bridge that distance.
FACTS SIS Keeps Parents Connected to Academic Progress
At Oak Hill Academy, we place a strong emphasis on allowing students to take ownership of their experiences and solve many of their own problems. Learning to advocate for yourself is an important part of growing up.
That does not mean parents should be left out of the process.
Parents remain important partners in their student’s education, and staying informed helps them recognize trends and patterns that may not be immediately apparent from a single conversation or assignment. An accessible grade portal, combined with regular teacher feedback, helps solve one of the practical challenges created by distance.
Oak Hill Academy uses FACTS SIS, formerly known as RenWeb, to provide families with access to academic and school information. Through the platform, parents can monitor grades, attendance, and other aspects of their student’s school experience.
Our families consistently tell us that having access to an open gradebook, along with narrative feedback from teachers, allows them to have more productive conversations with their students about academic performance. Just as importantly, it helps maintain a direct line of communication between parents and teachers.
When an academic concern arises, parents can better understand not only that there is an issue, but also what steps are being taken to address it. That creates an opportunity for parents, students, and teachers to work together toward solutions rather than allowing a concern to become a surprise at the end of a grading period.
Good communication should not simply tell parents when something is wrong. It should help families understand the process of addressing it.
Parents’ Forum Calls Keep Families Connected
Oak Hill Academy has experienced significant growth in the percentage of international students within our community. We value the perspective, culture, and experience these students bring to campus. In fact, the opportunity to live and learn in a truly global community is one of the reasons many U.S. students choose Oak Hill.
That global community also presents a unique communication challenge. Our families live across multiple time zones and, in some cases, thousands of miles from campus. Keeping everyone informed and connected requires both flexibility and intentionality.
Our monthly Parents’ Forum calls provide one way we address that challenge.
These informal Zoom meetings give parents an opportunity to hear about recent school news, upcoming events, and important developments while also providing a forum to ask questions, offer feedback, and share ideas. Just as importantly, they allow parents to connect with one another.
Over time, those conversations have helped families find common ground and build relationships despite the distance between them. Recording the calls also allows families in different time zones to participate when a live meeting is not practical.
This has become one of the most productive and appreciated parent-engagement practices at Oak Hill Academy.
Open Weekends Create Opportunities to Reconnect
Boarding school is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week experience. Because of that, breaks and opportunities to reconnect with family become an important part of the rhythm of the school year.
Like most boarding schools, Oak Hill Academy observes major breaks around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, and Spring Break. We also recognize that smaller opportunities to reconnect can be valuable, particularly at a school where Saturday classes and activities are part of the regular schedule.
Throughout the year, Oak Hill schedules monthly Open Weekends during which students do not have Saturday school and receive either a Friday or Monday off, creating a longer weekend for families to spend together.
When parents come to campus to pick up their students, we also provide opportunities for parent-teacher conferences. These smaller points of connection can be just as meaningful as the major breaks, allowing parents to spend time with their children while also staying connected to their academic experience.
Parents’ Weekends Make Family Connection Intentional
Twice each year, in the fall and spring, Oak Hill Academy schedules a dedicated Parents’ Weekend.
These weekends are intentionally designed around the partnership between families and the school. Parent-teacher conferences provide an opportunity to discuss academic progress, ask questions, and strengthen relationships with the adults who work with students every day.
But some of the most meaningful moments happen outside the conference room.
We intentionally schedule athletic competitions, plays, art shows, and other campus events that give students an opportunity to showcase their talents, interests, and passions for their families.
Parents are often surprised by how much their children have invested in these activities. Seeing a student compete, perform, create, or lead on campus provides parents with a much richer understanding of their child’s experience than a phone call or video chat ever could.
These moments remind families that boarding school is not simply where their child goes to school. It is where their child is building a life.
Broadcasting Club Brings Campus to Families at Home
One of the more recent developments at Oak Hill Academy has created an entirely different way for families to stay connected.
With more than 75 home athletic events each year, our campus provides countless opportunities for students to participate in and experience school spirit. Our social media and branding class and videography class, both popular electives, have helped give rise to a student-led Broadcasting Club.
Students are involved throughout the production process, both in front of and behind the camera and in the production booth. The result is more than simply a way to stream athletic events. It has become an authentic student experience that combines technology, communication, creativity, and school spirit.
For families who cannot be on campus, however, there is another significant benefit.
They can tune in and watch their sons and daughters compete in real time.
Whether a parent is sitting in a home across Virginia or watching from another country, seeing a student walk onto the field or court and compete in an Oak Hill uniform creates a connection that can be difficult to replicate from thousands of miles away.
It bridges the miles in a very real way.
Distance Does Not Have to Mean Disconnection
Boarding school asks families to embrace an important transition. Students need the opportunity to grow beyond the immediate presence of their parents, while parents need to feel confident that they remain connected to their child’s development and experience.
Those two things are not contradictory.
With creativity, consistency, and intentional communication, a boarding school can give students the independence they need while ensuring that families remain important members of the school community.
At Oak Hill Academy, we believe choosing a boarding school should be a family decision, and that partnership should continue long after the student arrives on campus.
Distance may be part of the boarding school experience. Disconnection does not have to be.
If you are considering boarding school for your student and would like to learn more about the Oak Hill Academy experience, contact our Office of Admissions at admissions@oak-hill.net. We would welcome the opportunity to begin the conversation with your family.
- Schedule a call with our Admissions Office: Click here to choose a time
- Email us: admission@oak-hill.net
- Call us directly: (276) 579-2619
Let’s start the conversation about how Oak Hill Academy can help reshape your teen’s future.