I work in a boarding school -AMA

[SkygardenTower]

I know this is a topic of interest for many. I am a teacher at a boarding school and happy to answer and (polite and reasonable) questions.

Not my place and I wouldn’t really know unless it was one of my tutees. I don’t think it is a big problem for the domestic students.

Yes we try but there will be some we miss who don’t tell us. There are full time pastoral staff who the students can speak to as well as nurses and librarian and matrons.

So they would still have access to their victims and be allowed on the premises?

Boarding school now are very different places from boarding schools 20 years ago. Children can have bad experiences any where and boarding school is no exception.

Good point. Thank you very much for your measured responses, and for respecting others' genuine queries and concerns.

The adults have a separate flat with an entrance inside the boarding house. There is a doorbell that the students can ring if they need an adult after lights out.

Additional safeguards: there is a roll call before lights out and all the exits are alarmed so the house parent knows if anyone tried to leave.

This is a very tricky area often involving v venerable students who need to be treated with kindness.

We have lots of gender neutral toilets already (fully individual cubicles with sinks and dryers). Boarding and sports is segregated by sex. But it isn’t an issue that has come up in the 6 years I have been here.

Youngest ones are 13,
I wouldn’t call them “little ones”

How does it work with introverts? I know that I struggle being around people for more than a certain amount of time so I think that I would be rubbish at being a boarding school student (or teacher!)

Hey 👋🏻 just to add another perspective- in some cases it is child who wants to go to boarding school, not the case of “parents not wanting to live with a child”
I went to boarding school at 15, and I loved it. Found my best friend there, have lots of good memories. It
Always been very independent and I did not want to live at home. I found school ( specialised subject) that required either very inconvenient long commute or boarding.
( although worth mentioning that was not innIK, so boarding was very cheap and no one cooked for us!)

The 13 years old do seem little compared to the hulking great 18 year old that leave the school.

Just to say, my DD1 boarded 20 years ago and I don’t think there’s been a huge change. We chose the school very carefully and expected the highest standards from staff. I think over the years we did see dc who were not suited to boarding but it was for a variety of reasons. As long as everyone listens to the child, issues can be resolved. My DDs loved boarding and found it fun, especially living with friends. A second home. They actively wanted to board.

There are some places they can go - the library is popular. And even in a large boarding house there are quieter rooms. Some go and just sit on matrons sofa. I suspect they also don’t weekly/fully board and go home a few times in the week to decompress.

Why would you work these hours and not just work in a state school? Is the pay considerably better?

Also, do you think the quality of the education the students get is substantially better than a state school?

Thanks! A different perspective. Glad to read it! 😊

How long do the pupils get to go on their phones?
Does everyone end up with similar accents by the end?

I'm trying to imagine why a parent wouldn't want to live with their child. It seems contrary to me.

Well...

By chance I was talking about this to someone I know from school only last week. Her mother had had severe mental health problems, something I had not realised. Even back then there were often good reasons why kids went away to school. As a teenager I was too dim/self absorbed to fully understand but even back then I recognised that some of my peers were vulnerable.

Yes. I can see that it could be a refuge for some children.

The department I work in is fully funded so I don’t have to work without the equipment I need. I get to teach in specialty rather than in state I would have to be a science teacher. We have small class sizes so can offer the support I want to as a teacher. While teenagers will be teenagers everywhere we have less behaviour management issues. All of these means I can be the teacher I want to be with less compromise.

i also enjoy the community feel that the school has and like the Saturdays. Plus I got a fee remission for my own students to attend the school (though they have both left now so that is finished).

They are not supposed to be on their phones during the regular school day but we know it happens. The phones are removed for evening prep and before bed but we do get dummy phones handed in. We try to limit phone user to healthy levels.

The phones thing must be a nightmare, especially when they've gone to bed!

What is the pay like compared to the state system? And just generally, what is the pay and how many years have you been teaching? I'm teaching in Ireland so interested in the comparison. I work 9am-2.40pm Mon-Fri so v different.

Are parents more intense because they’re paying for the education?

Hard to say. Some are very intense but then I hear from others they get those in state as well. Most are lovely.