Does anyone work in a boarding school?

[Ploughingthrough]

I have recently been offered a job in a school that offers boarding (although there are day pupils too). The school is fairly well-known and I'm sure I would enjoy the actual teaching.
Im not asking about private education in general as I already work in it and I'm very au fait with demanding parents and longer teaching days, but I have only worked in relatively low key day schools. What I'm not sure about is how all-consuming boarding school life is for teachers. Is it really hard? My own DC are 5 and 8; would I ever see them?! I dont want to completely sacrifice a work life balance but it does look like a good opportunity and the pay and conditions are excellent.

Are you being employed with specific boarding responsibilities? Living on site?

I've just realised that I've posted twice. Oops will get one removed.
No it's not an on site job, and my role isnt to do with boarding specifically. But I have to supervise prep once a week. And the teaching day is until 5,30.

My mum teaches at a boarding school ..her work days are 8 til max 6,30 when she supervises prep before supper.The dorms then have their own house mistress and house masters to look after the students whom understandably live in school with the students and are on site with them always often with additional help for dvd nights etc. If this helps any?

I recently worked in a boarding school for several years, but very part time (a couple of mornings a week) as a foreign language assistant. I'm a proper MFL teacher by trade and have worked full time and part time in other private and state schools.

Even though I was only there so little, it was obvious how all-consuming it was working in a boarding school compared to any other schools I'd worked in. Pay was not much higher than in state schools and the hours were astonishingly long. I honestly couldn't understand why people did it. A full-time and a part-time teaching job came up there and I looked at the contracted hours, conditions etc and thought 'Stuff that!" and didn't apply, even though I was looking for a more full-time job.

DH worked in a boarding school his whole career, I spent the final 4 years there. There was an expectation that you get involved in extra curricula activities but this was mainly during the week. Both DC went there so DH saw more of them than I did working in the state sector! Unless you were employed as boarding staff the work commitment was the same as any teaching job but with longer holidays, and free food and coffee!

Ours has opt-in to boarding duty on a weekday evening for a small allowance on top of salary. Everyone is expected to do their share of Sundays and we’re all in on a Saturday morning anyway.. long holidays to make up for it though!

Unless you were employed as boarding staff the work commitment was the same as any teaching job.

Wow - very different from the boarding school where I worked. Teaching didn't finish until 6:30pm. Lessons started earlier than state schools and there was chapel before that, plus Saturday school, occasional Sunday events and two late duties a week (until 9:00 or maybe even 9:30pm). No way on earth was I signing up for that!

I think it differs from school to school - I know someone who works in a very well known school - barring Saturday mornings (which isn’t every year) it doesn’t seem that different and the holidays are huge.

I have to do weekend duties once per term and a few extra Saturdays eg sports day and prize giving. All staff run one club a week(but this would be the same in a day school) and once your teaching/club is done you are free to go. There is no boarding expectation unless you want to do late night duties for extra pay.
Full boarding schools expect you to sign your life away, but those with day oily oils tend to be quite separate in my experience (10 years in the sector).

One of my very good friends works as a teacher in a private school. Her hours arent nearly as long as they were when she worked in a state school. She does have to do more extra curricular stuff though. So even though the teaching hours arent that long, she'll often be away on a trip, or looking after some kind of after school club.

It varies from school to school. Look carefully at what the expectations are of full time teachers above and beyond the teaching commitments. Ask about expectations of extracurricular activities, etc.

At my school there are times when full time staff could find themselves not getting a full day off at all in a working week if there is an event on a Sunday that they are required to attend (we have lessons and sport on Saturdays).

Most full time staff also work as tutors in the boarding houses too, with evening duty.

The best working conditions I had were working in a private day school. Much better pay than the boarding school, longer holidays than state (but not quite as long as boarding). Shorter hours than state and faaaar shorter than boarding. Free food, lovely kids. Wish I still worked there!

The hours are incredibly long. One boarding duty a week until bed time, Saturday school in the morning and then taking a team to matches on Saturday afternoon. Chapel on a Sunday. You tend to get more free time during the day but if you aren’t living in site you can’t pop home to see the kids. On the positive side you tend to have a much closer relationship with the kids at the school and you certainly know your colleagues better! The school I was at even had it’s own bar for staff. It is very much an all-consuming lifestyle. It suited us much better before we had children and we chose to move back to day school when they were about five.

Thanks so much everyone, a lot to think about. I think it would be a fairly big commitment just because of the type of school it is. I dont mind that, but I am conscious of my own DC and seeing them enough as I'm used to having what I consider a decent amount of time with them. The other attractive feature is that the staff discount is way bigger than I've seen before; my own DC could attend the prep and it would be an amazing school for them to go to.

lazylinguist a few years ago I worked at a private day school and it was the easiest job I ever had! The teaching was as normal, but the holidays were so long and the teaching was 9.15 till 4. It was a doddle comparative to every other job ever but the pay was actually really bad. I'd have earnt more in state.
This school, however, has a really very good payscale and my salary would be higher than I've ever earn, seeing as the post has no extra responsibilities.