Calendar

Transition from Trimesters to Semesters
Beginning with the 2023-2024 school year, Winchester Thurston will follow a two-semester academic calendar, moving away from our current three-trimester academic calendar.

As you can see in the calendar for next year, this change will not affect the dates or length of the school year. The introduction of semesters will have minimal impact on the students’ daily experience, but it will still provide benefits to your student and family. First and foremost, a semester calendar moves conference days later, which allows our teachers more time to get to know our students while they are transitioning into new classes and routines. Semesters also allow teachers to do more formative work with students in the early weeks of the semester in order to provide feedback for student growth before moving into formal assessments.

This change will provide for greater flexibility in how we offer our courses to meet the needs of our students in all three divisions. For example, in the Upper School, the semester model will also allow academic departments to explore how they might expand elective courses. The semester model will also help with athletics and other extracurricular activities as post-season team competitions and performance dates will be less likely to happen in conjunction with the end of a grading period for our students.

For Lower School parents, please note that both conference days will take place over 1.5 days. Optional enrichment activities will be provided and more details will be shared closer to the days.

Please contact your division director if you have questions about the calendar.