Now you have your big-picture motivations noted down, you can start to get more specific.In Step 3, you are going to prioritise both your basic and detailed boarding school requirements. This process will help you narrow down the options from over 300 senior independent boarding schools in the UK.
Now you have your big-picture motivations noted down, you can start to get more specific.
In Step 3, you are going to prioritise both your basic and detailed boarding school requirements. This process will help you narrow down the options from over 300 senior independent boarding schools in the UK.
We’ll break thisdown by first mapping out the basic considerations, then move onto the finer details.
We covered this earlier. What entrance point are you targeting? How old will your young person be when they start? When will you need to get the ball rolling?
Co-ed or single sex? The debate will rage on until our AI overlords render humanity a monogendered species.
To cover it briefly for now, one of the main arguments in favour of single sex schools is that they lead to better academic attainment.
The reasoning lies in the widely accepted conclusion of biologists and neuroscientists that typical male and female brains and bodies are wired differently. Boys and girls develop at different times and learn in different ways.
SLE has spoken with students of both genders who claim their single sex school offers a calmer, more focused, and less self-conscious environment. According to them, they all get along better with each other when the other gender is absent!
The argument in favour of co-ed schools is simple. A mixed environment is more representative and reflective of real society. It gives each gender the opportunity to develop their empathy and interactions with the other.
Many parents and students already know whether they want single sex or co-ed boarding schools, and it’s not uncommon to “mix and match” (e.g single sex school from 11-16, then co-ed sixth form at 16+.) Some schools even adopt this model and you will hear it referred to as the “Diamond Model” – that is co-ed for prep or junior schools, single sex classes for senior schools, then co-ed again at 6th form.
Michael Gurian’s “Boys and Girls Learn Differently” or Steve Biddulph’s “Raising Boys” and “Raising Girls” offer more expert yet digestible insight on the subject.
There are only a tiny number of schools which are exclusively full boarding (meaning all students board at the school 7 days a week.)
The vast majority of boarding schools will also have a proportion of local day students, and also offer “flexi” (ad hoc) or “weekly” boarding (usually 5 nights a week.)
Pay attention to whether each school has compulsory Saturday classes, followed by mandatory sports fixtures on Saturday afternoons. This could be the difference between your child coming home on Friday afternoon, or being delayed until Saturday afternoon. Most boarding schools will want them back by Sunday evening.
The type of boarding you choose is naturally linked to location.
If you are considering weekly boarding, then location will obviously play a major role for logistical reasons. We’d recommend up to 2 hours being a reasonable each-way distance.
Your school’s location can also have an influence over the fees. It won’t surprise most of you to hear that school fees tend to be higher in London and the South East, and a few other pockets across the UK where land and wages tend to be higher.
A final word on location: Some schools (especially 6th form colleges) are located in or around city centres. Some schools are on the edges or even in the centre of old market towns or sleepy villages. Some are based on expansive grounds in isolated rural estates. You will have your own preferences, and the implications this will have on experience and environment are fairly obvious.
Irrespective of your child’s current age, you need to understand the different curriculums and stages so you can plan as far ahead as possible.
Up until the age of 16, the majority of English boarding schools work within the framework of the English National Curriculum, leading to around 10 GCSE exams in Year 11 (when students are aged 15-16). Exam boards differ and some schools choose iGCSEs over GCSEs depending on their preference by each subject but, as parents and students, there is little on this to read into or concern yourselves with.
There are a handful of boarding schools which offer alternative niches like the French or American curriculums, and also the International Baccalaureate’s Primary and Middle Year Programmes. Many Scottish schools offer the Scottish Curriculum, and/or the English.
However, these are very much the minority. Most of you will be looking at the English curriculum up until the age of 16.
Diversity of curriculum mostly arrives in 6th form at age 16+, when students can choose A-levels, IB Diploma and/or BTECs (or similar qualifications).
A-levels are more traditionally academic and most subjects end with intense 2-3 hour sit-down exams at the end of the 2 years.
The International Baccalaureate Diploma is a highly respected alternative to A-levels, though is more well know by parents and students with experience of international schooling, than by UK residents. That said, there are nearly 50 independent boarding schools here which offer the IBDP in 6th form, and it is a wonderful option for students who are academically capable “all-rounders.”
BTECs focus more on “learning by doing” and allow students to build their grade cumulatively over the 2 years. BTECs are therefore often favoured by students who, for whatever reason, learn better by doing, and/or do not perform so well in one-off exams.
Please remember that even if you are considering boarding for one of the earlier entrance points (7+, 11+, 13+, 14+) you must still anticipate your target 6th form curriculum . Whilst A-levels are widely available in most English boarding schools, any student who might be better taking one or more BTECs, or the IB Diploma, would be better off identifying this early. If not, you may have to change schools at 16+.
As you move through the ages and stages, schools take more differentiated approaches to academic selectivity. Let’s quickly explain:
At age 7 and 8, children’s brains are still forming and developing at different rates. Schools therefore tend to be less selective about a child’s current academic level. Potential can still be tapped.
At the 11+ and 13+ entrance points, many schools have become more selective. They will set their own entrance tests and the bar can be very high indeed. Alternatively, some schools are proudly non-selective and may also have a greater level of learning support for dyslexic students, or other students who may be suited to a less rigorous focus on exam results.
By age 16+ entrance, the “selectivity spectrum” has grown even wider. Some boarding schools may even just specialise in particular subject areas, such as STEM or Performing Arts.
We will later look in more depth at how to gauge your young person’s academic level within the context of British boarding schools. For now, it would be useful if you have an idea of how “academically-selective” you’ll want the school to be. What will be the likely Goldilocks Zone if you have to choose between “Top of the class”, “Above Average”, “Average”, or “Needs Support.”
Which of these categories would best fit your young person?
Take time to go through the boarding school factors above, and note your preferences. If possible, start to prioritise them.
At this point you could start to play with our school filter. You can enter your key requirements to bring up suitable schools, then look through each school’s data and description to start making a shortlist.
There are over 300 senior boarding schools in the UK. A short cut is to just tell SLE what you are looking for and we will be able to recommend suitable schools. Please just get in touch to arrange a free initial call or video consultation.
Just don’t start calling schools yet! You still have a little more work to do first…
This is where things can start to get a lot more fun, and where you can really begin to refine your preferences and priorities. Remember to let your imagination run free. At this stage, there’s no such thing as being too picky!
Older students will be narrowing down their subject choices so it’s useful to identify their favourite subjects, with particular emphasis on the areas they might follow for further study or as a career. In particular, you can check your favourites against SLE’s subject-specific exam result league tables.
Identifying favourite subjects will also help focus your attention. Do you need a school with a £multi-million new science centre, or is science now completely irrelevant to your young person? What about Art, Music, Drama?
For younger boarders, going for a good breadth of provision is usually best. But of course you should still take their favourite subjects and hobbies into account.
Boarding schools offer a wealth of these to keep young minds and bodies occupied. For your young person, these provide a much-needed opportunity to let off steam outside of the classroom, to follow their passions, discover new interests, and to hang out with friends. The extra curricular options are one of the things that set boarding schools apart from all other schools, and contribute to a student’s transformational experience.
So make some notes about your young person’s sporting, creative and scholarly interests, and to what extent they wish to pursue these. Debating? Athletics? Dancing? Programming?
What kind of things would they like to try? Hiking? Volunteering? Robotics?
Consider that some schools will take particular sports very seriously, with dedicated coaches, academies, and links to local professional clubs. Some have Olympic swimming pools, or equestrian centres. Some schools might offer a greater provision of performing arts clubs and activities than others. Some schools will be big on debating, or maybe coding, or robotics. Anyone for Calligraphy?
Do not think that any interest is too niche or “out there”, you’d be surprised at the depth and breadth of options.
It’s worth considering whether your young person prefers a community where everyone knows everyone, or if they’d enjoy the buzz of something with a bit more scale. Needless to say, the larger schools will usually have a greater range of facilities and activities, though it then becomes more of a challenge to maintain that village feel.
We’ve covered the size of the school already, but it is worth drilling down to weigh up the demographics.
In particular, do you have preferences or requirements regarding:
Minimum number of boarders to make things interesting?
Number of boarders where it might get overwhelming?
Day / boarding student ratio?
Full / weekly boarding ratio?
Under 16 / over 16 ratio?
Boy / girl ratio?
International / domestic student ratio?
Your answers to these questions will be influenced by the age or stage you are joining at, and of course your young person’s personality and previous experiences.
Whilst the British population is less religious than ever before, most boarding schools in the UK retain a Christian heritage.
Whilst the more committed religious schools will give preference to those of the same religion, all schools will consider students “of all faiths or none.”
If your family is not religious, you would be wise to still consider schools that are religious. Going for completely secular schools really narrows down your options too much, and a lot of the Church of England feel quite nominally Christian.
Most schools use their religious foundation as the cornerstone of their values, but these are usually common humanist values such as respect, compassion, integrity, generosity, courage and gratitude. They are not really what you would call “religiously-exclusive” or controversial.
But for younger students, it is particularly important that a school shares your family’s religion or values. After all, a boarding school acts in parentis locum and will influence and mould your young person’s values. Students over 16+ tend to be less malleable, but the minimum requirement will be for them to respect those beliefs the school needs to uphold.
This all brings us to a school’s ethos, which can be related to religion but incorporates more besides. It’s easiest to illustrate with examples:
Some schools will be heavily focussed on academic success and be very competitive, stressful environments. Other schools will be less pressured academically.
It is the same when it comes to sporting or extra-curricular achievements – all schools will want to compete, but some will take it more seriously than others!
Some schools will be more conservative or traditional, with others being more liberal or progressive. Some schools offer strict disciplinary interventions, whereas others lean more towards guidance than punishment. Some schools have a more diverse, international vibe than others.
Some schools can have a somewhat entitled air about them, whereas plenty of schools are more down-to-earth.
Most professional advisers will know schools’ personalities well but, for a newbie, there are still things you can do. Keep an eye on each schools’ social media posts, and see if you can sign up for their newsletters or bulletins like this one from Queen’s College Taunton.
The application procedure can sometimes tell you a lot about the school’s character and ethos. The way the Admissions office presents or communicates the process may well be reflective of how the organisation operates as a whole. Some schools are strict and standoffish, and can be almost too cutesy. Most are polite and welcoming.
Some schools openly base their offer-making on entrance exam performance, whereas others will put equal or more emphasis on the person. There’s no harm in asking the admissions office their stance, and a professional adviser should also be able to offer insight.
Above all, the application procedure can indicate where the schools sits on the scale of selectivity. Ask yourselves the following:
Are we up for a highly competitive entrance procedure of assessments, interviews, and possibly groupwork assessments?
Do we prefer a school which puts more initial focus on personal-fit, and offers fairly unchallenging academic entrance assessments?
Essentially, you have to think about your young person and what kind of application procedure best fits their character and motivations. How well your their academic goals from STEP 2 match with those of the school?
Ownership is rarely mentioned, but you may want to keep it in mind and do your due diligence.
Most independent boarding schools in the UK are run as charitable trusts. Profits are reinvested in the school, and a proportion is set aside for scholarships and means-tested bursaries.
An increasing number of schools are proprietary and for-profit. The past couple of decades has seen more Private Equity entering the market, including more overseas players. Some overseas players have links to nation states.
So do your diligence and weigh up what kind of influence ownership has over management and the classroom.
Mapping out your boarding school requirements is crucial. You are writing the recipe for your perfect school.
Make sure you’ve detailed your preferences for:
Location
Gender
Curriculum
Academic Level
Type of boarding
Favoured subjects
Favoured interests/hobbies
Size and student demographics
Religion, ethos and values
Then prioritise them and create a school search spreadsheet.
SLE shares a school search template with families who book an initial consultation, and can even help you populate it with suitable schools and specifics on how they match your requirements.
You are nearly ready to start reaching out to schools. There’s just one more preparatory step to go before submitting your boarding school applications…