The best of today’s boarding schools are a welcoming, stable home from home, says Fergus Llewellyn – but with opportunities that home might not offer
‘I f schools are what they were in my time, you’ll see a great many cruel blackguard things done, and hear a deal of foul bad talk. But never fear. You tell the truth, keep a brave and kind heart, and never listen to or say anything you wouldn’t have your mother and sister hear…’
— Tom Brown’s Schooldays, 1857
For many, the term ‘public school’ conjures up a host of pejorative images: a little boy shedding a discreet (he hopes) tear as his self-absorbed parents step away to their rediscovered freedom; disturbingly strapping sixth-formers awaiting the new contingent of quaking third-formers; severe, buxom Matrons administering spoonfuls of evil medicine; and terrifying masters ready to pounce with their cane at the slightest wrongdoing.
The reality nowadays, of course, is quite the opposite. It is not the child shedding a tear; far from it. He or she
has rushed off, eager to start an exciting new adventure, giving only a cursory glance to Mother and Father and
promising to ring them when memory allows. Now it is the mother who sheds a discreet (she hopes) tear, as her young offspring leaves to grow up ‘far too fast’. She forgets the fact that she’ll see her child in six days’ time at the rugby match, the school play, the variety show, the careers talk, the house weekend barbecue, the chapel evensong…
With modern family life as busy as it is, boarding schools can provide a much-needed sense of stability,
routine and companionship. Supervised study sessions with other pupils not only make group projects that bit
easier and provide valuable help when stuck; they also ensure that prep really does get done. Resident housemistresses and masters, tutors, matrons and even gap year students all provide pastoral and academic support outside classroom hours.
A good boarding school can also be an excellent ally in the constant parental battle against the teenage
addiction to Facebook. House life is invariably spent sociably; pupils can usually be found in one of the
many kitchens, making endless toasties while discussing the selection of the C team as if it had international
importance.
A really good independent school offers far more than classroom education; it prepares pupils for life
after school. In a boarding environment, learning does not end with the ringing of a bell. Lunchtimes, evenings
and weekends are filled with activities, ranging from academic societies, trips and sports fixtures to socials,
hobbies and important downtime.
In recent months at Cheltenham College, for example, a team of 16 prefects executed an unprompted
24-hour charity relay run, raising in excess of £5,000, a Year 10 girl had a dialogue with a rabbi in a synagogue,
a Year 12 boy delivered a paper on legalising euthanasia, a Year 9 girl recorded a single for Help
for Heroes, a team of sixth formers hosted a variety show with acts from all year groups, a team trekked
across Nepal while another built a classroom for an orphanage in Kenya and a group of budding eco-
scientists presented their biodiesel project to Manchester University. The skills and confidence gained
are immeasurable.
Gone too are the days of forced separation or inflexible weekend leave arrangements. Good boarding (and
day) houses are open and welcoming homes, where parents are not silent partners in the process, but integral
figures in their child’s development. Parents nowadays are inundated with options; day, boarding, day boarding,
flexi-boarding and weekly boarding. For day pupils in particular, the ability to tap into the vast array of activities
that only a boarding school can offer is the best of both worlds.
At schools such as Cheltenham, day houses operate in the same way as boarding houses, with resident
staff on hand at all times. Day pupils are fully integrated into school life, often staying late or overnight to
participate in school play rehearsals, lectures, matches or exam clinics.
If any lesson should be learned from Tom Brown’s Schooldays, it should be perhaps to look carefully at what exactly is on offer and choose wisely. If full boarding is an option, it should be in a school that does it properly; boarding school houses resembling deserted ships at weekends provide little fun for those pupils left rattling around within them.
Weekend and activity programmes are crucial, as are opportunities to mix and work with the opposite sex. Indeed it is the great range of 24/7 opportunities for which excellent boarding schools are truly renowned and which enable pupils to grow into accomplished, self-confident and wellrounded individuals.
Whether a child boards, day boards or is a day pupil, the best 21st century boarding schools provide a world
defined by strong values, support and community; a world of adventure, excitement and opportunity. Boarding
school is no longer a decision shrouded in guilt; it is a decision based on the benefits for all.
Fergus Llewellyn is a housemaster at Cheltenham College
Comments