You’ll never be bored at boarding school

Written by Rudi Eliott Lockhart

Boarding school is a popular option.  Whether it’s due to the ‘Harry Potter’ effect, with children keen to go away to boarding school after reading about Hogwarts, or due to the efforts made to advertise the wide range of school fee assistance offered by many ISC schools in the form of bursaries and scholarships, there are now over 67,000 pupils at ISC member schools who are boarders: on a like-for-like basis this represents a 0.4% increase on 2007.

While pupils might not get to study charms and potions or get to play quidditch, the range of subjects and activities at ISC boarding schools is impressive.  Pupils can try their hand at anything from orienteering to pottery while studying subjects as diverse as Mandarin, astronomy and medieval history.  Different boarding schools cater for different needs, and the diversity of schools is one of the great strengths of independent boarding schools: whatever a child’s interests, there’s probably a perfect school for them within the ISC.  But for all this variety, all of these schools have a common care and concern for each individual child, and a commitment to their happiness and to nurture their talents.

One of the great things about boarding schools is that everyone is on site all the time.  It means there are no long journey times to and from school each day, so no time is lost, and it means that it’s easy for any pupil to join in with anything that happens after hours.  So whether it’s a sport practice, orchestra rehearsal or preparation for a play, all the pupils are on the school grounds in the evenings to take part.  Living together on the school site also helps to foster strong friendships among pupils, many of which can last a lifetime.

Most boarders are at secondary schools, although there are still over 22,000 children aged 13 or under who board at ISC schools.  Younger boarders at preparatory schools are likely to find themselves sharing a large bedroom with half a dozen or so others, but they will have their own private space as well, probably with a wardrobe and locker and perhaps a built-in desk.  This combination of private and personalised space and company is at the core of boarding school life: children are able to build their sense of independence and yet learn to belong to a large and supportive community.

Sixth form boarding is very popular: by this age parents may be more confident that their children are less dependent on home and family while the children enjoy the ‘half-way house’ between home and university.  At a boarding school there’s plenty of support from teachers and other pupils, but there’s also every encouragement for children to take care of themselves and take responsibility for their own actions to a much greater degree than at home.  Children leave boarding schools with greater self-confidence and increased maturity, ready to take advantage of every opportunity to come their way.

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Related posts:

• ISCias Information Officer – Helping parents find independent day and boarding schools
• London Borough School Search (Independent schools)
• The School Open Day Season is upon us!
• School League Tables
• Keeping up the good work

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 1:57 pm by Rudi Eliott Lockhart and is filed under Boarding Schools, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.