(State) Boarding from Year 7?

[MrPickles73]

Does anyone have experience of (state) weekly boarding from Year 7?

DC is currently in year 5 and the only grammar school in our county is too far for a daily commute but offers boarding. He is bright, outgoing and sporty. But currently only aged 9 and its hard to imagine him boarding in just under 2 years time.

Anyone any experience of this please? He could weekly board.

My DC started secondary school in a state boarding in year 7. DC is doing very well academically and socially.

Weekly would be fine. Just make sure there’s enough doing it for him to have friends and activities when he’s not doing homework. Not gaming all the time!

tizerorfizz we are in a similar boat and going to the open day in Feb. What should we look for / ask? We live 1 HR away so weekly boarding. DS is keen on sports and I'm keen to keep him off computer games!

@Fudgeball123
I would look for activities organised after school and later on. My DDs boarded and had a whole host of things to do. Always busy. State might not have the same dedication to the fully rounded pupil! So what sport can he do? Is the school running much for the boarders? Do they have set prep time? Is there a good communal relaxation area? We had a huge array of music, drama, sport, etc activities every day for those who were interested. They took part in house competitions. The ethos of the school strongly encouraged participation. They had 25 tennis courts. Umpteen sports teams. Coaching was available. So look for breadth of opportunity and you don’t want to see boys stuck in the dorms gaming. What are they encouraged to do?

Obviously they need to chat and wind down and they should have this. But we paid because we wanted more. My DDs were not sporty but they did absolutely loads of other things. I don’t know how well stare boarding does this. I went to a state grammar that had boarding - I think it now has to be better than that! Forces parents used it and it was used for excluded Dc from other grammars!

We've put a state boarding school as our first option on our form. DD is adamant she's going, mainly because of the huge range of house comps, sports and activities they offer.

She's 11 but doesn't want to wait until she's 13 and risk not getting a place.

We're just an hour away so she'd be weekly boarding and we'll be able to get there for concerts/matches etc