Boarding at prep school

John Baugh, headmaster of The Dragon School, Oxford, says prep school boarding is “bouncing with health”

For many people, it may be surprising that such a concept as living at school from the age of eight persists at all in the 21st century. Readers of this guide are, of course, among the well-informed and imaginative parents who clearly do appreciate that not only does it flourish but, in today’s boarding world, things really have changed. For those not yet in the know, the very word ‘boarding’ can still have dire associations with banishment from home and punitive regimes. Many parents looking fondly at their sweet young offspring today could no more contemplate choosing a boarding school for them than sending them on an SAS survival course. That is, of course, until the children reach the age when their individual interests and needs, and the exciting experiences of their friends and peers who have tried living at school, start presenting the very surprising notion that boarding is an active, modern choice which a child might thoroughly enjoy and the whole family appreciate.

The best intentions of parents, our cultural concern with good parenting and a belief in ‘quality time’ with children can all make traditional boarding a hard ‘sell’, even to the busiest, multi-career families who may later find it the ideal answer to both their education and childcare dilemmas. When we – schools offering boarding to boys and girls of preparatory age – present ourselves as a successful answer to real family needs as well as an outstanding educational experience, we can become a very attractive and holistic schooling proposition. Give children the chance to try boarding for themselves and little more persuasion is needed.

Glance through a guide like this and you will see any number of attractive institutions. Despite the addition of all sorts of impressive modern learning, arts and sports facilities, many still have a reassuringly traditional air. Schools may indeed look similar to years gone by – but what happens in them has certainly changed beyond recognition. The life led by a boarding child today bears no relation to the sad stereotyped and outmoded image of preparatory school boarding, with its hard beds, poor food and lonely weekends.

While the dark arts and Quidditch are not on most school activities’ programmes – and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry is certainly not an advert for modern, hotel-style facilities – Harry Potter has certainly had an influence, with its clear message of the freedom and excitement that living away from home presents. Boarding offers a breadth of things to do with friends under the supervision of friendly adults and, often, teenage gap-year helpers. This is what can so attract children who may lack siblings, or friends nearby, or safe places to play, or parents at home when they finish their day at school. Of course, what a good preparatory school does – provide an excellent education and preparation for entry to and life in senior schools – remains its great appeal for parents. Add boarding to this and a special dimension to learning is created with any number of additional opportunities to form a demonstrably enriching experience of school.

In our experience, it is often the children themselves who ask to board and who convince their own parents to let them try it. Parents then come to see the benefit of practical things like the supervision of prep, extra help from teachers and a safe place to be after five in the afternoon. The philosophy of thriving and sought-after boarding preparatory schools, that boarding parenting is a productive partnership of home and school, underpins all that we do. Teachers, houseparents and parents work together to create an educational and life experience that suits modern family life rather well. Busy careers, frequent travel, difficult school runs through heavy traffic and the demand for after-school activities can all make day school a logistical nightmare for some families. The family itself has changed and single parents, only children and those whose work takes them abroad also find much in boarding to improve their lives. School can provide stability, care, fun and lasting friendships when it is one of your homes.

Other heads tell me that demand for preparatory boarding is strong. The long decline in boarding numbers during the latter part of the 20th Century now seems to be over and numbers in boarding schools, including preparatory schools, have stabilised and have even grown a little in recent years. As the head myself of a long-established but very modern prep school, I see no sign that boarding is the dying art that some interpreters of the statistics have suggested. What I do see are characterful, highly individual, happy and enquiring pupils with strong relationships and a mature approach to life. They come from all kinds of families and all kinds of places: at half-terms and holidays some of them have a five minute walk and some a day’s plane journey ahead of them. It’s all part of modern preparatory boarding which encompasses an extraordinary range of backgrounds, abilities and lifestyles – and which has an enduring appeal around the world.

Where demand is high, so of course are expectations – levels of care, contact and service must be high to meet the needs and expectations of those new to British boarding. The statistics show that over half of all boarders are ‘first timers’ with no family experience or tradition of going to boarding school. The overseas market continues to grow significantly as new economies present new choices to their citizens. All of these parents are looking for a quality educational experience and are prepared to pay if it is outstanding. As Adrian Underwood, former Director of the Boarding Schools’ Association, has often been quoted to say: “I am quite sure that boarding is becoming a specialist arm of education, like everything. And you’ve got to do boarding very well these days to attract boarders.”

Boarding pupils are noticeably independent and responsible according to their teachers. Not in a preternaturally grown up way, because they’ve been “sent away” to school (a phrase to be avoided and rejected by any right thinking boarding school that intends to attract a single pupil or pass an inspection), but because they naturally learn to manage themselves and get on with those around them. Perhaps that was always the benefit of a boarding education but in today’s preparatory schools it is the outcome not of tough discipline and emphasis on self-reliance but the product of a warm community life. A modern preparatory boarding school must of course offer an excellent education; all successful and healthy ones offer just that, but it must also provide genuine care, support and co-operation with and for pupils and parents. Given that my school and many others keen to attract young boarders endeavour to do just that, I would suggest the state of preparatory school boarding is bouncing with health.