.. To consider state boarding school?

[Ibouncetothebeat]

I didn’t realise this was a thing! What are the reputations of these schools? Are they over subscribed? Would we get a place if we are not in the catchment area?

They generally prioritise children that need boarding, like military children or from rural areas.

I went to a state boarding school many years ago. It was, and still is an excellent school getting brilliant results. In those days you generally had to have a good 'reason' to get a place such as a parent in the armed forces, an ill parent or being in care. A school's admission criteria will be available on its website.

Thank you, I have seen the criteria but I can’t find any data on their last years admissions. I would like to see how many applications they received and how the spaces were allocated.

They're not free, if that's what you're getting excited about. The education is, but the boarding aspect has to be paid for. My nephew went to one to give his mother a break, which was funded by the LEA. Some boarders are Forces children.

I know they aren’t free, but they are an option I could actually afford. 12k a year is better than 30k

The cost is for the "hotel" aspect of boarding, not the tuition, and it is considerably less expensive that private boarding schools.

Most prioritise applications by boarding 'need' which isn't terribly well defined, bur usually boils down to Forces and other government mobile families, missionaries (small category these days!), social services placements, other highly mobile families, others

Always worth enquiring of all the schools you are interested in

Not all of them are equal Are you considering as boarding or day? Our local one you need to live very close for a non-boarding place. Day boarding is effectively an extended day. Historically it took children from London nominated by SS or with additional needs but in more recent years it has had a far broader intake and added a sixth form. There have been issues raised by Ofsted re, boarding.

I went to one. Not sure how it compares to day schools now but it felt like a dumping ground for kids whose parents were in the forces or who were edge of care. Academically not high achieving and wished we’d all gone to the local grammar

@Thighdentitycrisis this was my concern.

ai’ve heard good things about Royal Alexandra & Albert

I’ve

@Ibouncetothebeat both my DC went to state boarding schools, one to a comprehensive and one to a grammar school. One left 2 years ago and one this year Both schools have excellent teaching and both my DC ended up at Oxbridge. We live in a fairly remote location and both travel quite often for work.

Ours were home for Fri, Sat and Sun each week so it worked well for us as a family, good time together over the weekend then DC could do their clubs at school or in the town where their school is in the week. They could have been full boarders but we preferred to be together each weekend.

It's generally army or overseas students. The accommodation is not free but the education is

The Anglo Hockerill school in Bishops Stortford is excellent and i've known a few families from there is the past. Certainly not a 'dumping ground'of any kind, just an overall good school. They do put emphasis on languages though so that might be something to think about. You are also more likely to get a place if you pally for boarding than for Day but that also could've changed so please check.

There is one fairly local to us. The son of a colleague boards there - I don't think there is any particular reason why they would have been allocated a place - her son attended private primary and apparently always wanted to board . They live around 20 miles from the school and both parents have jobs with 'normal' working hours and average-ish salaries.

The one near us is massively oversubscribed for day pupils and undersubscribed for boarding pupils. As a result, lots of the boarders live within 5 miles of the school but didn’t get a day place, but have parents happy to pay to do ‘flexi boarding’ and be away from home a few nights a week. Non boarders do a very long day and are assigned to a boarding house and so on. Very popular school.

The reality is that these schools are not really ‘state’ as they are not accessible to many families. They are essentially subsidised private schools. A lot of these schools charge fees even for day pupils. There has been many a debate on this, but ultimately the schools get away with this because they have compulsory part time boarding and compulsory extra curriculum activities which they claim ‘they wouldn’t be able to fund any other way’

I also know people who went to this particular school as day pupils - both my generation and my son's- Al living in the local area and very middle class - I can't imagine this particular school being a dumping ground to be avoided .

Dd state boarded (specialist) and the fees were sliding scale. She got top grades.

I'd say it's a good option for a specialist school or for specific circumstances but the places are very competitive if you don't for certain criteria. Hers had very high entry requirements

Both my DC went to a state boarding school as day boarders but had many friends who were boarders who seemed happy. Yes there were children from army families, some from overseas who wanted to go to school in England to improve their English and I was aware of one or two who had been placed by social services for family reasons but a lot who had parents who had demanding jobs with often long and irregular hours or had to go away a lot and wanted what was best for their children. I was surprised how many actually lived quite close to the school and their children stayed at school in the week and went home at weekends. One thing I know is that the school had an interview and the children had to say they really wanted to go to the school and if they didn't they wouldn't take them so no parents dumping unwilling children at boarding school. They left a few years ago now so things may have changed.

I initially read that as skateboarding school :)

My wife went to one and loved it!

@Readytoplay that may be the case with some state boarding schools but not the two my DC attended. Boarders were 5% of the pupils at one school and 10% of the pupils at the other school. They are normal state schools with boarding houses (admittedly one is a selective grammar school though boarders have to meet the same bar as day pupils.)

as @orangetree99 both had to have interviews where DC were assessed as to whether they really wanted to board to check it wasn't just the parents idea. Interestingly a neighbour's son was rejected from one of these schools as he made it clear his preference was not to board.

I can also recommend Hockerel Anglo European School in Bishop's Stortford, Herts. It is an excellent languages school, part boarding or weekly boarding, part day. It's very well thought of in Stortford, a town which is blessed with several other good comps too.

Not my experience at all. My children go to a state boarding school - it's just our local comp and functions exactly like one just with a boarding house. Mine are day pupils. Both have friends who are boarders and they seem to be relatively local children whose parents work funny hours.