Next year, the schedule will change. Darlington has been working on a new schedule almost all year, and it was unveiled to the students on the morning of March 1. The point of the new schedule is to allow students a chance to slow down and reduce stress. By only having classes every other day, it will allow students to have more time to do homework.

Next year, the Upper School will be on an eight-day rotation. There will be eight 70-minute class periods, plus a lunch period. On the “even” days there will only be even-numbered periods, and on “odd” days, there will only be odd-numbered periods. Also, there will be no bells.

Chapel, assembly and office hours will now be in the middle of the day and after the first period of the day. Also, if a student has the first period free, he or she may sleep in as advisee will be removed as the first period of the morning. On Mondays, there will be assembly after first period, on Tuesdays and Fridays, there will be advisee time after first period and on Thursday there will be chapel. Chapel’s move to Thursday also means chapel dress will move to Thursday. On Wednesdays, there will be a “late-start”, when school begins at 8:45 a.m. Office hours will be a 45-minute period after assembly, advisee or chapel. Also, the school day will end at 3:15 p.m. to allow students more time to get ready for sports.

“I like the new schedule,” freshman Kathryn Chunn said. “I’m excited about the breaks and the time to relax, where I can sleep or do homework.”

Each day, there will be an “I-period”, which is time carved away from each day to allow students to explore interests outside of school. A teacher will sponsor these periods, but there will be no grade attached. There will be artistic, athletic and intellectual activities offered.

“I think the new schedule will be fantastic,” junior Gracie Padgett said. “I love that there will be more free time, and the “I-period”, where we can do work experience and creative activities that we can fit into our class schedule.”

Also, starting with the class of 2018, graduation requirements will change. Four years of math will now be required instead of three. Also, since there will now be eight periods in the day, students will be required to take six periods each year for all four years (in the old schedule, six periods were required for freshman and sophomores and five periods for juniors and seniors).

The school calendar will change, too. There will be no more winter mid-term exams. However, a teacher may still give an assessment of some kind (a test, project, paper, etc.).

Later this week, Darlington plans to release more information about the schedule. On March 15, the list of available courses will be released. On April 4, there will be the annual course fair; however, students will attend by grade-level. From April 4 to April 15, students will submit their course choices on the Darlington websites. Students find out their courses for next year at the end of the year.