Boarding School realities

[Historicalroad]

Just wondering if anyone who attended Boarding Schools between the 60s and 90s would be willing to share their experiences?

So as to not drip feed, I'm attempting, though failing miserably so far, to write a novel. Purely fictional. I have my characters and a storyline but it works best set in a boarding school.

I've never stepped foot inside a boarding school. I've no idea what they're like but I want to keep it as realistic as possible. I've trawled the internet to try and get an insight into what life is like at boarding schools but I'm struggling. I don't think the plot would fair as well if it was set today, hence why I'm looking at some time between the 60s and the 90s.

Well - current experience is obviously mostly second-hand through the teen in the family - though obviously experiencing the school, house and staff first-hand.

I do think you’ll need to decide exactly what sort of boarding school you intend to depict. But I’ll stop there and re-read the thread properly so I don’t just repeat things already said.

I was a boarder in an all girls school in the mid/late 1980s.
Junior Houses were for 3rd form, Lower IV, Upper IV, Lower V and Upper V. Dorms were for 8, 2 from each year 3, LIV, UIV and LV. LV girls were head's of dorms. UV were in single, double or quad rooms.
The day started with bells. One LV girl, on rotation, had to get up early and run round the house ringing a hand bell at three different times. Basically if you got up at 3rd bell you just shoved your uniform on, first bell time for a shower, second bell something in between. (At my DS's coed school the girls wear almost full length shirts and they apparently keep their pajama bottoms on underneath in winter, they like the long skirts because of this apparently).
Breakfast, I can still remember this as it was the best meal, of the day, Monday and Friday was weetabix, yoghurt and toast. Tuesday and Thursday was bran flakes and hot French stick with golden syrup, Wednesday was weetabix and something hot eg boiled eggs (worst), I can't remember Saturday, but Sunday was cornflakes, banana and hot brown rolls with marmalade. We all sat in house groups in a big Harry Potteresque dining room. Each table ways mixed years, including VIth form. The youngest on the table went to collect the food and cleared up afterwards.
Lunch was the formal meal, staff were in attendance and we had to rotate round the table so that everybody had to talk to the staff. How popular this was depended on the member of staff in question. The head sat on a massive throne at top table a d again girls rotated each day.
The favourite pudding was cherry pie and cream. Once I was on a table of 3, but we collected a our for 12 and scoffed it super fast. The table of 12 were not impressed.
Water fights, ink fights, food fights were all quite common occurrences.
Some girls used to sneak out onto the roofs to smoke.
Teachers didn't smoke in classrooms, but every time the staff room door opened clouds of smoke billowed out. We were never allowed in.
Teachers were often spinsters, often with interesting pasts. Male teachers were the subject of frequent crushes.
The houses were always cold, I used to wear thermal long johns to bed, and chilblains were common.
The school day was: breakfast, collect post, tutor time, assembly, lessons, break, lessons, lunch, lessons, free time, tea, prep, free time. Matches were Wednesday and Saturday afternoons and school was also on a Saturday morning. Sunday was church then free time, which was actually quite boring, very rarely was a house outing arranged.
In the evenings loaves of bread and a spread of some kind was taken by a girl up to house for everyone to make toast before bed.
One teacher used to march up and down his classroom and if he thought you were not laying attention he'd throw a board duster at you. We adored him.
Midnight feasts were held at the end of each term. Not actually allowed, but tolerated. We'd go shopping, everyone responsible for a different item, then sneak down to the rec at midnight with our duvets and sleep in the red and get back to the dorm before first bell. Each dorm had theirs on a different night.
Is this the kind of details you are after?

Christ's Hospital School in Horsham has its own museum, though it's a rather unusual boarding school in terms of history.

Ampleforth in Yorkshire is also, I believe, readily visible - I went there once and discovered they had their own gift shop Rather unusual, however, in that it's run by monks.

@Parkinssheet yes, yes, yes! That's perfect. I found myself quite entertained reading your comment and couldn't help smiling a little. Especially the throwing board dusters and the "we adored him" part!

These are the little details I live for!

@TeenTimesTwo Would love to hear more about this scary physics teacher!

Dd is at one now and loves it but it was her choice. I think things have changed too as she has her own room with en-suite. As it's sixth form it's more like supervised university halls than the austere dorms if yesteryear and her classes are similar to her sisters state day sixth form, just fewer students per class. Lots of hidden booze still!

So my 1970s girls boarding experience was pretty much exactly as everyone’s described. Boredom and lack of privacy were the worst thing one generally experienced. Nothing actually bad. The main difference now is the emphasis on making sure children are happy. Particularly at prep level.

What age range are you thinking of? Prep or senior school? Girls? Boys Mixed. And where in the pecking order would you place your school? Could the parents be confident that it would always appear in the Tatler Best Independent Schools guide or is it a quiet, unheard of place? Urban or rural with masses of green space to disappear into? Authoritarian or anarchy? Selective or ‘couldn’t get in anywhere else’? International or a local school for local families? What’s the drugs profile? Do they win all their matches? Is there a constant buzz of Oxbridge preparation and success or more modest or alternative aspirations? Globally famous speakers /alumni visiting every week - or ... the vicar and the local long retired MP? Is the school in the papers every day or once a decade when a murder happens? All makes a difference to what might go on in the school!

I boarded in the 80s
Eating disorders were rife and became normal because everyone was doing it.
We felt very separate from day pupils .
Awful racism , really shitty behaviour that would horrify you.
Unpleasant attitude towards any staff that weren't teachers , the cleaning staff etc
I came from a very unhappy abusive home , so I loved it anyway

Isatis - did you go to Queen Anne's Caversham? The cloak was the only good thing about the whole school! I hated every second of the three years I was there and refused to return after 'O' levels

Boarding school sounds horrific

I was a boarder at a co-Ed school 1990-1999. It was, in the main, an awful lot of fun and we got an excellent education to boot. A lot of people smoked and there was a fair amount of alcohol drunk too. In the 6th form we were allowed to go to the local pub on the weekend (local police turned a blind eye to the underage drinking) but had to be back home by 10.30pm. We had parties at the end of term where we were allowed a set number of cans of lager/glasses of wine, depending on your year group. Obviously we used to supplement these with our own supplies! Drugs almost non existant. So long as you behaved and got your work done, teachers turned a bit of a blind eye at minor misdemeanours.

I went to a girls boarding school in the 90s. I loved it. A typical day was different depending on what form you were in - I & II girls shared rooms of 6 girls. III and IV shared rooms of 2 or 3. V had their own tiny study bedrooms in the attic, and LVI and VI lived in a separate block with their own study bedrooms with a wash basin.

In the mornings there was a rising bell, a dressing bell and a breakfast bell, roughly 10 mins apart. If you got up at the rising bell there was time for a shower but not if you waited for the dressing bell. Each form had its own bathroom area in the boarding house, usually with communal showers, about 4 showers to 20/30 girls.

After breakfast, there was about 30 mins in which to pack your bag, tidy your room and take your washing to the laundry room before lessons. You weren’t allowed back up to the boarding house until 4pm once you left.

At 8:15 there was registration in your form room, where you were joined by the day girls, then assembly for the whole school at 8:30. Lessons began at 9, and you had lessons until lunch at 12:50pm, with a 20 minute mid-morning break where tea/coffee and biscuits were served in the dining hall. You queued for lunch outside the dining hall, supervised by prefects who checked your uniform, and looked for illicit nail polish and jewellery. After lunch, lessons ran through until 4pm when there was tea and buns, and then most people went to clubs or to sports practices, except on Wednesdays when there were matches against other schools and if it was a home match, you were either playing or you had to go out and support. Supper was at 6pm, then prep at 6:30. Lower School (I, II, III) sat prep for an hour, split across the two biggest form rooms, supervised by a school prefect, on rota. Upper School were allowed to do their prep in their own rooms, and it was 90 mins. After prep, the common rooms and kitchens were unlocked - a lower school one, and then the IV and V had their own ones, so you could watch tv, play table tennis and make tea, cocoa and toast. Then there was a bedtime bell, staggered according to year group, and a lights out.

On Saturdays, there were excursions to places of interest, and on Sundays it was church in the morning and then quiet study/volunteering/music practice in the afternoon.

I was at a mixed boarding school in the mid 90’s. Half our school had been under renovation, and the other half hadn’t, so my boarding house was modern light and airy with small rooms (I shared with 3 other girls, you had your own room or 1 other roomie when you went to 6th form) The other boarding house for girls was Victorian, cold and draughty - very run down and had I think 8 girls to a room.

Day started by a bell, but we used to get up before this to have a shower and do our hair. House mistress would come round to each room after the bell to say good morning and make sure everyone was up. We would then go up to the dining room for breakfast, and a roll call was taken on the door. After breakfast the day students would start arriving(they had their own houses) and we would all goto Chapel for a a short service in place of an assembly, and then the normal school day would begin.

Lessons were as Normal - my house mistress didn’t take any of my lessons, but other members of staff were. Male teachers were creepy rather than perved on, my dad refused to let me go on one school trip because he didn’t trust the Male teacher taking it. He was later prosecuted for child abuse, so his instinct was right!

After normal lessons we would have prep in the houses again. I think this was until 5:30pm but I can’t remember totally. It had to be in total silence and the teacher would sit at a desk in the middle of the room with our desks all around the outside. We used to pass notes to each other over the top of the cubicles and generally piss about. After prep was supper back in the dining hall where the register was taken again. I HATED the dining hall at the end of my time there - i felt totally institutionalised and even at uni I always avoided eating in halls as it reminded me of school so much.

We used to have free time in the evenings and one of the houses would have an open common room. We used to hang around the corridors / school phone box together though ususally. Alcohol was common place (snuggled in to our house by the house mistresses daughter - which meant if we got caught she wouldn’t tell us off because it was her daughters fault!) we used to request to walk to the local shops sometimes but mostly used to smoke and drink in the corridors or in the local fields.

We would have to be back in the houses for 9pm. Housemistress would come and turn lights off and make sure we were all there. We would then sneak out the windows, smoke, go into each other’s rooms. She had a flat at the end of the corridor and if we had a problem we could knock on her door, but essentially we were left to our own devices.

We all en mass snuck out in the middle of the night and stole the cover off the swimming pool to use as a sledge, and one of the international girls I shared a room with didn’t come back to school once. She had flown into Heathrow from China, and decided instead of getting on the train straight to school to basically have a holiday in London first. She literally went missing and then climbed through the window into our room a week later. As a parent I am now horrified, but at the time we thought this was hilarious and were very jealous.

My son is a day pupil at a boarding house now, it looks like they all have an amazing time - but he’s definitely not boarding as I got up to far too much mischief and I would hate for him to be in some of the situations I was.

Boarding school made me very resilient, you have to be self sufficient and it’s a life skill that’s stood me in good stead. I still have friends from those days who I KNOW would be there for me, we sort of raised each other, and that bond has stayed with us.

I remember uniform had to be bought from a specific shop in London so you had to go there and they had the full uniform list and you were fitted with everything from boaters to gym knickers.we all had tuck boxes which were small trunks with metal corners.

@TeenTimesTwo I think we might have been at the same school. Very academic school.

To add
House meetings after lunch
Meals in the main school of truly awful quality.
Reasonable Sunday breakfast
Quite a lot of sport, school teams and house teams. Non players obliged to watch.
Chapel for 15 mins daily
Summer and winter versions of uniform, normal and sports.
Very little bullying.
Some pashing (tidying up older girls room and bed)
Long way to and from main buildings if you forgot something.

@UtterlyDesperate me too

Wally Sounds like it, though I don't particularly remember poor quality meals. I never understood why people who ordered oranges should be forced to give them up for house matches they weren't even competing in.

@ssd I think boarding schools now are probably very different from then.

I do think the 'fit' of a DC to a school is way more important in a boarding situation than is a day school. Lots of people seemed to love my school, but I didn't 'fit'.

This is all quite cathartic.

Oh yes muddled the trip to get uniform! Total ordeal - only sold from one shop which was miles away from the actual school premises!

Oh! Also a massive thing! Mine was an army boarding school. We had our own shooting range and armoury. Every Wednesday afternoon was no lessons but was CCF (combined cadet force) for boys it was compulsory, the girls could choose to do this or extra prep. I would say about 90% of us dreaded a Wednesday afternoon - it was harsh, very strict (like bad lads army on the tv) but probably did us the world of good in terms of discipline and respect. I would not choose this for my son now!

@TeenTimesTwo @UtterlyDesperate I'm guessing one of the ones on the small hill. I had2 male art/craft teachers and Ricky in my day.

I left before 6th form as the house mistress and I made a deal of sorts that she'd tell my parents I'd get kicked out so they let me leave. I didn't much enjoy it, ok nothing more. Met up recently with my year house mates, after 30 years, and they're all very successful.

not much time so haven't RTFT what do you really want to know?
I went to boarding school until 6th form in 82. (I loathed it) and could give you some ideas…

i think i must have been a boarder at the school @MrsMoastyToasty was a day girl at.

Dorms of 20 for the 2nd - 4th form - and for one year they were mixed forms, so the lights went out at (I think) 7:45 for the 2nd years and the rest of us had to creep around silently.

Weren't allowed any electrical appliances like radios and so on. The breakfasts were ok - different most days on a 7 day rotation. I still know what they were now and i left 35 years ago… THE most awful uniform in the world. And after school we had to wear jeans (with school shoes) and horrible nylon polo necked house jumpers which were, frankly, cruel.

I was at an all girls catholic boarding school between 1998 (aged 9) and 2005. Boarded mainly weekdays but the odd weekend.

Oh and I had a GREAT time! We weren't allowed alcohol but the nuns liked a tipple

My last three years were spent in a girl's boarding school late '70s, part of a group of schools of which only the flagship boy's school is really well known.

My experience was quite mixed and it mostly stood me in good stead for going to university, where there was initially a clear decide between those who had been away to school (dazzled to have their own room and no supervision) and the others who missed home, complained about the quality of the carpet and lack of phones. A year later we had all mixed up and forgotten those initial differences.

School was a mass of petty rules, which were never set out but just 'known' so tough luck on anyone joining at an unusual time. Different corridors, flights of steps and entrance doors were only accessible to more senior forms. Sigh. No explanation was ever available it was just the (unwritten) rules.

Almost every minute of every day was timetabled, and showing reluctance to join in was seriously frowned upon. I volunteered for lots of activities in which I had no interest just in order to do something different to everyone else. Not glamorous things. Just handing out hymn books (to avoid walking into assembly in the crocodile with the rest of the form ) serving in chapel (got me out of walking in procession into chapel on Sundays) librarian so I could visit the library at odd times.

Once in the upper six (final year ) we had study bedrooms and much more scope for breaking out. I chose my bedroom because its window (first floor) was not overlooked so I could get in and out and let others in and out.

Generally I enjoyed my time there and made lasting friendships. Good for conformity and less good for fostering individuality.

I use the app so do not readily see PMs but am happy to reply to more specific questions by private message if warned here to look

Lessons were ... entirely not different to the day (international) school I had previously attended. Fast paced, engaging and stretching. Enjoyable.

We were divided into three streams, with only the top stream tacking lots of o then a levels, and the bottom steam doing domestic science, cooking and dressmaking, dance and equestrian studies

There was never any attempt made to hide that the 'top' stream were clever, and the others less so.

I have never been in any school where lessons were disrupted by pupils. One of the best teachers ever (maths) could occasionally be persuaded to spend a whole period just talking. It happened possibly once every school year but we rushed to every lesson hoping that it might be this time. At the time it felt subversive but looking back it was probably Genius.