At the core of the Putney experience are the strong relationships that form between students and teachers.
On a campus as open and interactive as ours, connections between students and teachers are constant and familial, with faculty taking on a range of mentoring roles as classroom teachers, coaches, dorm heads, and activity sponsors. Most of our faculty and some staff also work closely with students as advisors, helping them and their families, navigate the trials and triumphs of life at Putney. The advisor-advisee relationship is important at Putney, often lasting far beyond a student’s time at the school.
Advisors and advisees meet regularly, sometimes just casually to check in at lunch or assembly, sometimes with a focused agenda during our weekly advisory block. As the primary link between the school and the family, advisors are quick to call or write home with updates.
Communication goes both ways; parents and guardians are encouraged to contact the advisor to check in on their student’s experience. Advisors write an official summation and reflection twice a year to “compare notes” and encourage parents to stay connected to the arc of their child’s journey at Putney.
Students are encouraged to build meaningful, substantive relationships with their advisors. Although we sometimes make perfect matches from the start, students are invited to change advisors if they wish to do so.
Furthermore, students do not generally stay with the same advisor for their entire tenure at Putney. After an initial period at school, students are encouraged to approach teachers with whom they feel they can learn and grow most from, and to establish an advisory relationship with them. As students and alumni alike will tell you, the advisor-student relationships at Putney are real, substantive, and lasting.
