Boarding from the age of 3. Who does this?

[diagonavenue]

Someone sent me this:

"Our boarding school in Villars (Switzerland) welcomes girls and boys from ages 3 to 13, as boarders or day pupils."
https://prefleuri.ch/boarding-school/

What?

I've seen boarding schools in this country offering boarding for 3 year-olds too. I try to be charitable and imagine it's for parents being deployed by the armed forces.

Have you?
Where- can you post a link?

There were 3 of them at my boarding school back years ago. One was Nigerian and parents were abroad, one was a diplomat’s daughter (weirdly a foreign diplomat- not actually sure where they were stationed) and the other was very local but had parents going through a divorce. She had an older sister there. I think they were very nearly 4. They had a bedroom to themselves and imagine that they took a lot of the matron’s time meaning far less for the other 80 kids. Essentially- unfair on everyone.

Presumably people who think this is the best option for their child. Its not something i would jump at doing, but i do know a single parent who had cancer whose child boarded from a young age (not 3 though) as the school offered a bursary. The same parent couldn't afford a nanny to support her in the home whilst she was being treated.

I really don’t think you have

@BlowDryRat I too would be interested in you posting the links to current schools offering this. Very interested.

My son would jump at the chance to weekly board now! He’s 3/4. He adores his school. I won’t give him the chance because the fees would be astronomical

I think you’d find that schools offer day places for 3 year olds, not boarding.

@BlowDryRat which country?

The one in the OP is quite clear that they allow boarding for children from as young as 3 years old.

Sorry to derail your thread OP! I've seen signs outside boarding schools in the UK saying age 3+. Having be jumped on here I've done a quick flip through UK boarding schools.com and the links I've found say boarding from Year 3, day before that. I stand corrected.

I suspect if you tried to enrol your 3y old for boarding you’d be told no. Also that they are probably referring to ‘day boarding’ for the younger years which will look a lot like school plus wraparound care.

edit for typo

They are in the middle of nowhere so I suspect they are not swamped with busy parents.

Some cultures send their young DC to live with other family members, I guess this might be for the wealthy members of those cultures, or just for very wealthy and busy people of any culture.

It's no secret the wealthy have their own children's/ care homes. It's a bit like a well funded care placement. Tbh it's quite cheap! Most LAs have to fork out in the region of £100k per child per year to private foster companies that run many of the homes they're forced to use due to lack of spaces in foster homes. This is 50-60k and includes school!

Schools that are day & boarding 3-13 will usually only take boarders from 7 at the very youngest.

There is no boarding provision in any part of UK for those under 6.

There is next to no boarding before age 8 (though there are schools that offer it - but the numbers actually enrolled are small enough for it to be truly exceptional circumstances only)

Numbers do rise after that, but boarding before secondary age isn't a frequently made choice. It is less uncommon with military and diplomatic families (Youngest age DC they can claim the continuity of education allowance is 8)

Heartbreaking. Why bother having kids for someone else to rear? I cannot think of any reason why a three year old should go to a boarding school even if a parent was ill.

Parents who have decided for whatever reason it's the best option for their child

Yh in the UK. I thought it was the same at this school but I've checked and they do seem to accept any age for boarding. The Swiss must have strange rules for under 5s. Most primary schools can't even accept under 5s at breakfast or after school club due to insurance.

I can. Some illnesses are very severe

There are lots of different reasons why children board. It is not as straightforward as you think. When I lived overseas I was friends with a woman who had moved countries 5 times due to her DH's work. Her DD was very upset at moving to our then country, and after about 18 months loved it and made new friends and loved the school. Another move then came up and her DD13 said NO, I am not moving, I want to board. My friend was devastated.

Another friend has a really talented son and he was offered a massive bursary to attend a boarding school specialising in this. I am talking about a place that would make him a top sportsperson. He went and again my friend was heartbroken.

In contrast, at my DC's private school there were many boys (they never send their DD's) who sent their DC to board at age 7 to feeder schools for the top public schools later on. I hear from others that they hate it, and have massive anxiety issues, but their parents still send them. I have to respect one parent who is probably the poshest out the lot who went against her own family and flatly refused to send her DC to board, whilst everyone else around her did.

Quite a few of my friends DH's were boarders and according to them they have strained relationships with their parents and they are quite messed up.

One thing that totally shocked me was the amount of parents sending their DC to feeder schools to get into Eton. These DC were really nothing special, never picked for anything, nor showed any signs of academic brilliance. They were just average, and sometimes not even that. They were desperate to get them into these schools.

These are the DC who end up running our country. As a result I will never ever vote for someone who has been to Eton.

Swiss foster early independence in children, don’t children walk to school in their own at age 4

I am generally anti boarding school at any age but its unlikley you will find a Boarding school that takes them before 7. Its still awful (unless the alternative is worse), I was at a Boarding school as a day pupil and the younger boarders would generally be "mothered" by the older ones

but its unlikley you will find a Boarding school that takes them before 7

The Op has found one, it's one they're discussing in their first post. Unless i'm reading it wrong, everything on their website and paperwork indicates they take boarders from 3 years of age.