Moving to boarding at 6th form - any experiences?

[Muchtoomuchtodo]

We have an academically very capable and sporty child.

He is currently thriving in year 10 at a Welsh Medium school but we are wondering whether he might benefit socially and educationally from a change to boarding for sixth form. For this to work he would need to qualify for a significant scholarship, from what I see these are a very small percentage of the overall costs but for the right school we could probably make it work for 2 years (mortgage holiday, keep our own knackered cars ticking over, cut our own spending etc).

One concern is how many children join boarding schools for years 12 and 13 and how easy would it be for him to fit in and make good friends. Does anyone have any experience of this?

I went from state comp to boarding school at the beginning of year 11.

my home life wasn’t great so for me going to boarding school was good and actually better then living at home, I made lots of friends but I did miss my old friends and although I saw them in holidays it was never the same although this was before mobile phones and internet!

I got a scholarship and a bursary but it did mean I didn’t have as much as other people - didn’t get a car for my birthday! Also I remember having to constantly give reasons why friends couldn’t come to my house in the holidays - we had a tiny 2 bed and I was too embarrassed to have them come plus my mjm wouldn’t let us ever have people in the house or even ring us on the phone.

Thanks.

Did many others join just for sixth form? My biggest worry is that he would be one of a very small number and existing friendships would be so well established that he would always be on the periphery. At his current school he’s got a lovely mixed group of friends and I can see that it would be difficult even in year 10 for someone else to fit in as well.

My ds went from an independent day school to a boarding school in Sept for Year 12 with a slightly younger sibling. They absolutely love it and it was 100% the right move for us. I wasn't sure about boarding but they were keen so we gave it a go with no regrets. They are also very sporty (on scholarships) and there is so much sport accessible to them. Their boarding house is lovely, a real family environment with friendships across all year groups (yr 9 to 13). For us it's been the best move, we aren't far away so see them weekly at sports fixtures etc. They are thriving academically and with their sports and it's great to see how happy they are. I'm so glad we gave them the opportunity even though it wasn't what we had ever planned.

Edited to add, they weren't the only new boarder in Year 12, there were 3 in their boarding house alone, so a number across the year group and also a lot of new day pupils. They have friendships in different groups. House friends, those on their course (no-one in their house), sports teams friends etc.

My DD has also joined an independent as a sixth form boarder and loves it (she lived at home and went to a different school prior to that). The school has big sixth form and lots of kids that only join the school and start boarding in lower sixth. The sixth form boarders also have their own House, which helps them get integrated very quickly.

I also boarded just for sixth form and loved it. I went to a school that was just a sixth form college though so everyone was new in the sixth form.

You pick a school that has a large Sixth Form intake or only takes at Sixth Form. There is a famous one in Wales called UWC Atlantic College- very international and International Baccalaureate only I think- which tends to suit a really intelligent all rounder and develop creative thinking.
Colleagues and family with Year 9 boarders - my observation has been that they get fed up with the rules by Sixth form especially lower sixth and prefer to weekly board. However, I think the schools that only do 6th boarding probably have a different vibe and give the kids more freedom.

The school my dc go to takes an additional 25% at sixth form so there is probably 30% new students if you account for those that don’t stay for sixth form ( not many but there’s always a few). This will actually increase to around 35% in the next few years due to a planned expansion They tend to be mainly transfers from grammar and there are also some private schools locally that don’t have sixth forms. Also some transfers from ss boarding schools that want coed for 6th form.

Both of mine started in new schools as 6th form boarders. In both schools there was quite a big influx of newbies into year 12. Neither had any problems finding friends although one did find that there was a big group of Chinese students who only mixed with each other (mainly language issues) so I'd look carefully at where new boarders are coming from. Atlantic College might well suit a sporty year 12 as they do a lot of Outward Bound type activities to make the most of their fantastic location. Assuming you can get to Bristol fairly easily then the Somerset Schools might be worth a look (Wells Millfield) etc although I'm not sure what the bursary situation would be.