The
words boarding school seem to stimulate deep emotions within all parents. Some
look upon the concept positively and will vigorously defend their decision why
they have chosen to ‘send’ their children away to school, while others strongly
proclaim they would ‘never’ make this choice, as they want their family to
remain close, with their children at home. This strength of feeling, one way or
the other, usually comes from personal experiences of boarding, from hearsay or
a lack of knowledge and understanding of exactly what modern boarding is all
about. I challenge parents to put aside their own personal experiences for a
moment and take an open-minded view towards evaluating boarding as an option,
by taking time to investigate what kind of educational opportunity boarding
offers now in 2013.
Home Comforts and Communication
Gone
are the days of bare floorboards, curtain-less windows, reciting poetry outside
the houseparents’ office after lights out and cold open-plan showers. Modern
boarding schools provide extremely comfortable living accommodation, often with
power showers, internet access and personal study space in cosy dormitories as
well as common rooms with flat screen TV, squashy sofas, beanbags, pool tables,
Wii, and kitchens for toast and hot chocolate before bed.
Mobile
phones, email and Skype make regular communication with home easy. Parents are
actively encouraged to engage fully in their child’s education, as schools
welcome parents to see their children regularly through attending concerts,
sports matches, house social events and plays. This is one of the reasons why
many UK based parents tend to look for boarding options that are no more than
one hour from home.
Parent
portals or intranet and online reports keep parents fully informed of their
child’s educational progress and the Housemaster or Mistress gives an
additional pastoral support system for boarders, in addition to the tutor or
form teacher.
Working parents
The
current financial climate means many more parents are finding that they both
have to go to work. This can often lead to a constant juggle between work
commitments and the school runs, after school clubs, sports practices and
fixtures, getting the homework done, birthday parties, cooking supper and getting
the children to bed. Often parents feel like the local taxi service, taking two
cars in different directions to cater for different children’s interests and
commitments, which leads to the question, where is the quality family time
anyway? Think also of the cost in terms of food, fuel and your time!
For
those in this situation, it must surely be worth considering the increasingly
fashionable option of weekly boarding, where the focus for parents and children
alike is work in the week, freeing up quality family time at home at the
weekends. Boarding gives your child after school access to the library,
computers and assistance from both peers and teaching staff, while they are
working on their homework, coursework or projects. A far more cost-effective approach
than paying for home tutors or
becoming an expert in the GCSE History syllabus or Latin vocabulary yourself
and far better than dealing with conflicts at home, to push to get the homework
done! Those studying art or design and technology benefit from access to school
facilities to continue their work in the evenings. Early morning starts to drop
off at school in time for pre-school sports practice or choir rehearsal or
early evenings sitting in the car outside school waiting for the coach to return
from ‘the match’ become a thing of the past.
In
short, rather than spending time on the school bus or in the car to and from
school, your child can be studying, taking part in a breadth of
extra-curricular activities or just relaxing with friends, while you gain hours
of additional time to get the chores done in the working week, freeing up time
for fun at weekends.
Flexi-Boarding
More
and more schools are offering the opportunity for day pupils to board on an
occasional basis. For young school children in particular, this can be a very
good way of practising staying away from home on one or two nights a week, if
parents are considering whether they might be suited to weekly or full-boarding
later on. Many children find this a far more exciting option than a babysitter.
For parents, it can mean a lie-in without the school run, after a late
finishing dinner party too!
In
conclusion, 21st century modern boarding is about access to a breadth of
opportunity, building confidence, leadership skills and independence, learning
a sense of community and cultural understanding, as well as full parental
involvement through communication and a partnership between school and parents.
Far from ‘sending’ their children away to school, parents who ‘choose’ a
boarding school education are making a decision to invest in the opportunity to
release their child’s full potential.
For
advice on choosing the right boarding school, please contact us on +44 (0)1525 240502 or via email consultants@independenteducationconsultants.co.uk
Why not visit the Future Schools fair in Sept 2013 for a FREE opportunity to talk to boarding schools face-to-face? More details www.futureschoolsfair.com
