Activities at Canterbury School | Explore Student Life

Activities at Canterbury School | Explore Student Life
Skip To Main Content
Student Activities
Memorable Traditions and Exciting Activities
When it comes to getting involved in everything Canterbury has to offer, the sky’s the limit. Follow your passions, develop leadership skills, and share your interests with peers through a wide variety of clubs, activities, and leadership opportunities.
Spring Carnival
Engineering Boat Race
International Week
Family Weekend
Pink Out Volleyball Game
Sixth Form Rock Painting
Ringing the Victory Bell
Past & Present Concert
Lessons and Carols
Commencement
School Meeting
In the heart of Canterbury, Maguire Auditorium becomes a focal point for the community three times a week. These school meetings serve multiple purposes—celebrating individual accomplishments, previewing upcoming athletic games or artistic performances, and even marking special occasions like birthdays.
Friday meetings are a different experience altogether. Helmed by the Sixth Form Council, they infuse a sense of vibrancy and spontaneity into the proceedings. You'll witness moments of dance, shared laughter, and perhaps some creative silliness that have become cherished parts of the Canterbury tradition.
In sum, these school meetings are not mere formalities. They are vital cultural events that reinforce the fabric of our community, giving you a chance to celebrate, to learn, and most importantly, to belong.
Fall Preseason
Family Weekend
Spirit Week & FGS Day
Lessons & Carols
International Week
Nelson Hume Speech Competition
Pink Out
Holiday Dinners
The Carillon
Varsity athletes return to campus a week before classes begin to train in preparation for the athletic season. Athletes on all of the fall teams—football, field hockey, soccer, cross country, and volleyball—arrive to campus before the rest of the student body for these preparatory sessions. In addition to getting in training time, teams scrimmage with nearby competition to get in extra playing experience before the regular season begins. Team bonding—such as frozen yogurt at Tasty Waves in town or hiking up to the Pinnacle in Washington, Connecticut—are melted into the mix of weeklong activities as well as dorm nights and advisory meetings.
Family Weekend, traditionally one of the final weekends in October, brings family and friends to campus to experience “life on the hilltop” with their students. During the two-day event, guests are able to attend classes on both Friday and Saturday as well as athletic practices, play rehearsal, dorm nights, and more. Visitors meet with their student’s teachers and also have the opportunity to conference with their student’s advisor. The weekend concludes with athletic competitions out on our fields on Saturday afternoon—a sun-soaked and spirited way to end the weekend before the classless Monday that accompanies the event!
While the competition between our School and The Frederick Gunn School (FGS, formerly The Gunnery) has always been strong, it is now cemented even further through the Canterbury-FGS Cup, awarded annually to the school who wins the highest tally of total athletic competitions throughout the year. While the competition is year-long, the rivalry is particularly noticeable during the final week of our fall athletic season, dubbed Spirit Week, and the final Saturday of the regular athletic season, dubbed FGS Day. Each day of the week, students (and faculty!) are encouraged to dress in spirited gear, from “Twin Tuesday” to “Saints-wear Friday” to get hyped for Saturday’s games. The week culminates with a pep rally and bonfire on Friday evening before Saturday morning’s games between our soccer, field hockey, and cross country teams.
Lessons & Carols gathers students and faculty together to ground our community’s collective spirit before departing for the winter holiday. The event, held in the Chapel of our Lady, includes seven readings from Scripture and a variety of holiday carols in the spirit of Advent. Varsity Voices, the student a cappella group, leads the community in song between each reading, oscillating between traditional Christian hymns and popularized Christmas songs. Traditionally, the evening concludes with the Hallelujah Chorus sung by the Community Choir, a group of students, faculty, and staff—and family members of students, faculty, and staff!—who spend several weeks rehearsing to lead the congregation.
International Week showcases Canterbury’s cultural diversity and celebrates the heritage of our international students. Throughout the week at School Meeting, students are invited to share pieces of their background, whether it’s to explain their favorite family meal or display traditional dress. The event culminates with International AfFair on Saturday evening, one of the most anticipated (and tasty!) events of the year in which students prepare and serve dishes from their home countries to their peers. The week encourages our community to grow in our collective understanding of those around us.
All students enrolled in an English course participate in the Nelson Hume Speech Competition, an opportunity for students to strengthen their oratory as well as writing skills, during the second semester. Over the course of several weeks, students work with faculty members one-on-one to determine a topic of significance and to prepare their remarks. Students then deliver their remarks to their individual classes with one student from each class selected to speak in front of the community at School Meeting. The Competition is a time-honored tradition at Canterbury for students to practice writing, editing, and effective presentational communication skills.
A time-honored tradition on our hilltop that rallies the entire school community—dressed entirely in pink—in the fight against breast cancer.
The entire School community gathers for meals throughout the year, but the most highly anticipated meals are right before our holiday breaks when the dining hall hosts family-style dinners.
The carillon is a musical instrument that consists of at least twenty-three cast bronze bells in fixed suspension that are tuned in chromatic order and are capable of concordant harmony when sounded together. Canterbury has the unique honor of housing one of Connecticut’s eleven carillons. Located in the bell tower in the Chapel of Our Lady, Canterbury’s Jose M. Ferrer Memorial Carillon was installed in 1931, making it one of the oldest in Connecticut, as well as the smallest, with 23 bells.
Established in 2018, Canterbury's Carillon Guild is one of only five high school Carillon Guilds in the country. Members of the Carillon Guild climb up the tower of the chapel and play the carillon everyday, performing a mix of classical and contemporary arrangements. Visit our
Carillon Guild
page to learn more.
Engineering Boat Race
Form Retreats
Past & Present Concert
Grandparents & Friends Day
Ringing the Victory Bell
Sixth Form Dinners
Spring Carnival
Rock Painting & S’mores
Commencement
Fifth and Sixth Formers taking the Engineering Fundamentals elective have the opportunity to apply their learnings in an innovative and fun way. Their final project involves designing and building boats out of cardboard to carry them across the pool to the cheers of nearly the entire school!
Each Form at Canterbury partakes in an annual Form Retreat. The Retreats serve as a way to bring each class together for reflection, unity, and contemplation, often off-campus. Learn more about our retreats
here
.
Canterbury’s annual springtime concert invites alumni to join the stage with current students. Our returning alumni have shared the stage with musicians such as the Rolling Stones, Weezer, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, Rick Ross, Joe Perry, Richie Sambora, Orianthi, George Benson, Ne-Yo, and countless others. It’ll be sure to get you out of your seat!
The day is a wonderful opportunity for family and friends to become familiar with life at Canterbury, attend classes, enjoy performances, experience lunch in the dining hall, and cheer on the Saints at athletic contests.
When you hear the Victory Bell ring outside of the Field House, you know you’ll find some happy Saints! It’s tradition for our teams to ring the bell after winning a game.
Following the first academic day, Canterbury honors Sixth Formers with a special formal dinner. Students and faculty join together to celebrate the year’s convocation where “diehard” students—those who have been at the school for all four forms—are acknowledged for their dedication to the School.
Head of School Rachel Stone addresses the rising senior class, and Sixth Formers conclude the dinner by shaking the hands of and hugging all faculty members—symbolic of the same tradition to close out the year following the Commencement celebrations.
Open to the entire Canterbury community, the end-of-year Spring Carnival takes place on beautiful Sheehan Field and is complete with food trucks, face painting, lawn games, water slides, a dunk tank—for students and teachers alike—and all sorts of inflatable amusements.
A more recent addition to Canterbury’s traditions, painting the rock near the turf with their initials is a way for our Sixth Formers to leave their (literal) mark on campus before they leave. Taking place on their last night as current students, the rock painting is followed by s’mores around bonfires outside the dorms.
The week leading up to Commencement—celebrated historically on a Friday—is the culmination of our students’ time as Saints. While our Sixth Formers are preparing to graduate, the week is an opportunity for all students to create lasting memories of their years on our hilltop. Prom is Tuesday while Wednesday brings the spring food truck and field game celebration as well as the Sixth Form tradition of painting the rock and roasting marshmallows together by the Sheehy Family Turf Field.
Commencement celebration begins Thursday night with Baccalaureate Mass celebrated in the Chapel of Our Lady. The spiritual reflection is followed by a procession of faculty and soon-to-be alumni on to the Sheehan lawn and the morning’s traditional Commencement ceremony. Our graduates are reminded of their initial days on the hilltop and the memories that have shepherded them between their first and last moments as students. The final Sixth Form prizes are awarded, and the class valedictorian delivers a congratulatory and reflective address. The celebration concludes with the traditional handshake line along the back wall of Sheehan, a moment for the newly minted alumni and faculty to embrace and share a final thank you before goodbyes.
Student Clubs & Organizations
While the list of clubs may vary from year to year depending on the interests of current students, the following is a representative sample of recent and/or active organizations. Or, feel free to start your own club with the help of a faculty advisor!
AHANA (Students of African, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American descent)
Canterbury Business Association (CBA)
The Cantuarian
, Canterbury’s yearbook
The Carillon
, the School’s literary magazine
Chicken Keepers Club
Digital Art and Innovation
Esports Club
Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA)
Jewish Student Association (JSA)
Mental Health Committee
Model United Nations
Pizza and Prayer
Robotics Team
Student Events Committee (SEC)
Student Government (Form Councils)
Sustainability Club
The Tabard
, the School newspaper
Women of Canterbury
Weekend Activities & Special Events
There’s never a dull moment on our hilltop! Activities often include:
Sunday Sundaes
Trips to the mall and local shops
Movie nights at the theater or out on the lawn
Plays or musicals in New York City
Game Show Nights
Hypnotist Shows
Form Wars
Hiking trips
Pool parties
Beach volleyball and corn hole tournaments
Fieldhouse Fun Nights
Visits from the ice cream truck
Six Flags trips
Trips to sporting events
Canterbury Games
Spirit Week
FGS Day (formerly Gunnery Day)
Pink Out
Dorm Decorating Contests
Jack-O-Lantern Jamboree
International Week
Prom
Spring Carnival