For Needing Convincing Of Merits Of London Day Schools vs Boarding For Academically Average?

[EmbroideryQueen]

Please, convince me of the merits of the London day Prep & Senior school system over boarding!

My DS is very average academically (whch seems to equate to being dim in London!) and it feels as though the only schools which can match the quality of education & life experiences offered by Public Boarding schools (which I am differentiating from academic achievement which I don't care much about) are those which are impossible to get into for an average child - St Pauls, Habs, Dulwich, etc.....

.......And that those an average child would be able to get in to are very lacklustre - little value added, lots of sitting in classrooms, dull buildings, high pupil and staff turnover, hardly any timetabled sports, very few facilities, hardly any extra curriculars and in short, not much fun compared to beautiful university style campuses offering activities such as these: fluencycontent-schoolwebsite.netdna-ssl.com/FileCluster/BradfieldCollege/Mainfolder/Co-Curricular-2015.pdf (not to mention social benefits of boarding)

Unfortunately, it would be difficult for us to send DS down the Public Boarding route, (partly because I'd find it very hard to not see him for up to 3 weeks) so I'm desperate for you all to tell me why IBU and detail the many advantages to London day schools which I've not considered as I have little experience of London days.

This is the very reason why we moved out of London - just couldn't stand the ghastly London hot house school environment if your children are not A* students. My children are now at a country prep which gives them a much broader education e.g. much more sport and they have a pool so can swim unlike the London school we left which had to give up swimming as it was taking the minibus nearly an hour to struggle through the traffic to get to the nearest pool! They are much happier and yet, at the end of it, will still be filtered into good schools that the London hot houses would be aiming for.

Please ignore the rubbish of pp's talking about being "survivors" of boarding and you not being a family or bringing up your own children. It is utter rubbish for the vast majority of boarders.

Also, please do bear in mind that even full time boarding is not quite what it was. Gone are the days when you waved good bye to your children for an entire 10 weeks. Now, you will find yourself at school for matches etc much more often and there are more exeats etc than you imagine.

Sounds to me like your son, easily bored and wanting to be occupied a lot, would absolutely flourish in that environment.

Defo sounds like weekly boarding at a good mid-range academic boarding school with a focus on sports and all the other extras (music, drama, cadets, house completions etc) would suit him.

Weekly I think is great for age 13 up. They are looked after vey well and don't waste time tracking to/from school and you get to enjoy the fun bits (sat afternoon and Sunday) without having to nag about homework etc or ferry to sports matches.

I would suggest Ardingly is the most sporty of those 3 but Hurst is good all rounder.

It's more than 3 weeks, OP. DD had a leave weekend at the end of Jan, then it's half-term, then she doesn't come home again until 24 March. It's the same in the summer term - one leave weekend in the first half of term, then the half-term holiday, then that's it until July.

Weekly boarding is the ideal option. Try Ashford or Caterham, although it depends on where you live in London.

Have a look on the HMC website - that'll tell you all about the schools.

Caterham is academically selective and not weekly boarding. Royal Russell would be the least selective in that area.