to think boarding schools are no longer ok...

If you think an individual is cold and emotionally detached (Starmer doesn't seem like that to me at all) then OK, but the point surely is that he wouldn't be improved by boarding.

That's so mad. There's nothing about working in a boarding school which makes you a "professional" when it comes to bringing up children. Apart from anything else, you will almost always be dealing with several children, even if you are something like a house mother in a boarding house; and you will only actually see them for around half the year, so you will never develop the sort of relationships that good parenting requires.

Unfortunately it illustrates the sort of upbringing Rachel Johnson had when she didn't experience any sort of normal parent/child relationship because of her mother's illness and her father's distance.

My grandma in the 1920s was (apparently) sent by train from Scotland to London to Boarding School aged 3. My Dad was sent in the early 50s aged 6/7 I think. My grandma was a formidable woman who overcame many tragedies (stillbirth, fairly early widowhood etc), and my Dad was loving and caring but also had his own tragedies (lost his dad and also had a few cancers).

i was desperate to go to boarding school (Mallory Towers, St Clare’s) but wasn’t allowed, Now, with my own children, I fully understand why I wasn’t allowed.

That doesn't mean it's okay? Children can express their feelings in a way a 12 month old baby cannot

Any links to the student death.
I can only find the story about a mum dieing after being hit by a car on site. A 19yr old employee practicing driving apparently ?!

A million per cent not comparable to boarding school.

I just knew someone would attempt to make this (bullshit!) point. Not remotely comparable.

It's not a "social experiment" either. It's perfectly normal and has been the case for very many years now. Perhaps we shouldn't send our children to school either, if that's how you look at it?!

You may be right but I think one would be hard pushed to find someone more detached and cold fish-like in how he comes across than Sir Keir Starmer.

One thing to mention about boarding schools is that they can be essential for some parents because of their work.

There are also State boarding schools.

I so agree. I don't believe any child genuinely loves boarding school unless there is something quite seriously amiss with their home life or there are other problems going on or developing. I went to boarding school, and I remember to this day the sheer misery of homesickness. Over my dead body would I have sent to my children to one.

I felt like that at 18 when i went to uni 4 hours away from my family home. You might call me a wet wipe but honestly i cannot ever imagine sending my kids to boarding school at a younger age. They are far too precious for me to miss a moment away from them as they will one day fly the nest when ready. They are at school everyday anyway and then clubs, the last 2 hours I spend with them each evening after spending a busy day at school and me at work and hugging them and kissing them regulating their emotions is the best thing ever.

I'm in my 50s and dating a man similar age. He went boarding from prep school. He's a lovely man, but I can tell that he's emotionally damaged. He very seldom shows any vulnerability, but he has told me how he would beg to stay at home and go to the local indie rather than being sent to boarding school. He finds it difficult to trust, he's admitted. And he's also said that he'd never send his DC boarding. I think it's the conflict between knowing the money his parents spent on a great education and how grateful he should be for that, and remembering the emotional pain he went through at the same time. He's previously been drinking a lot, have had problems with relationships etc.

I'm only still with him, because it suits me to take it slowly right now, and we are moving forward as a couple. But I probably won't be able to deal with it longer term.

It makes me sad to see how badly this has impacted him. I've got no doubt that it is boarding from such an early age, that's impacted him this badly.

I'd have loved to have gone to a boarding school, - it really wasn't wonderful at home.

I think Rachel Johnson saying bringing up children should be left to professionals tells you everything you need to know about Britain's elite really. Why have children if you are just going to use "professional services" to bring them up-what are you having children for?
Several people have made the point that some children thrive at boarding school- this is true, but they are probably well balanced and would equally have thrived at home.
My own father was sent away to school at 7, and is emotionally stunted because of it. IMHO 7 is far too young- if a 13 year old likes the idea-why not try it, but otherwise I think people should bring up their own children, parents are rarely perfect but it is extremely rare for them to be so awful an alternative is preferable.

I agree. Babies not being collected by parents until 6pm five days a week - how could this have become normalised? I know both parents often need to work to make ends meet and I’m not apportioning blame to them, but this way of raising children feels like a dangerous (and sad) social experiment to me.

But everyone is saying it’s all different now,like hell it is as this has proven sad all round just sad

But it was alright to be sent but you won’t isn’t that a bit telling and not buying I’d miss them to much.

have you asked your parents if they missed you and why if military did they send you as most of the mums were stay at home as a lot couldn’t work without the countries work visas unless mum was military too which is rare.

There was another boarding school documentary made at a similar time to the one you linked, @BaklavaRocks , called Britain's Youngest Boarders and filmed at Sunningdale School.

The documentary has now been taken down because one of the boys died in 2020 aged just 19 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00txn31

I can’t imagine anything I’d have found more stressful than “a sleepover with my friends every night” even in my later teens. Even when I enjoyed sleepovers I found them to be a pretty high stakes social situation, especially in a group. Doing it every night would have killed me off. I have to say I always thought my friends with the less satisfactory home lives were keener on staying over at other people’s houses than those of us who were going home to loving/present/stable parents. I can see why, extending that out, boarding school would be a preferable option for some teenagers.

However, I would suggest that anyone who proposes to send their eight year old to live elsewhere voluntarily be locked up as a precautionary measure, because they are not emotionally healthy enough to be in society with the rest of us, and they definitely, definitely can’t appropriately safeguard that child.

I don't know. I had a very happy childhood and loved my parents, but I have to admit that from the age of 13-14, my evenings after school were boring. I didn't want to say goodbye to my friends at 3.15pm and pre social media, just do homework/watch rubbish television. Yes I chatted to my parents, but in all honesty at that age, they were "second best" and I often used the "landline" (after 6 pm mind!) to phone the friends I'd just said goodbye to.
A weekly boarding school from Monday morning to Friday evening would have been the best of both worlds.

I didnt love boarding school but my parents were highly abusive and it was better than being at home with them.

My daughter is a day girl at a boarding school.

So I often hear about what her friends are up to at the weekend/evenings.

While I'd never want to send DD away, I must admit having now had experience of a modern boarding school it's very very different to how I'd imagined it.

The boarding staff are so sweet and motherly and the boarders have really lovely evenings and weekends. Movies, pamper parties, outdoor activities, shopping trips, baking etc. This weekend was bowling and cinema yesterday and baking Christmas cookies and making decorations today.

Much less screen time than most children these days.

I'd still not want DD not living with me, but it's changed my opinion quite a bit. Certainly for secondary age anyway.

@corkindigo during covid the infirmary at my boys school was fit to bursting.
No one went home as most lived abroad and couldn't travel.

My brother went to one at 11. Now in his early 40s he’s going through a lot of emotional reflection and is struggling with the damage he feels has been done due to being sent at a young age.