In Your Opinion, Which Boarding Schools are the Most Traditional

[W9london]

Just curious what the perception of different boarding schools are these days as I feel that boarding as a whole has changed so much in the past few decades.
Obviously schools like Eton spring to mind being very traditional and unchanging. While old boys schools going coed like Marlborough also still seem to be very traditional, yet now coed which is a big difference.
Then there’s also the question that I feel is asked all the time on here about whether a school is full boarding or not (seems very few are now) which I think has probably been one of the biggest changes over time.

What's your reason for asking?

@happystory Started the process looking into secondary schools for DS recently… and while I don’t think we’ll end up having him board looking into different schools has definitely been interesting and I’m curious how things have changed since I was in school (didn’t board but had friends who did).

This feels like a strange thread. Boarding schools are not necessarily traditional. I also don't understand the point of the question asked given that OP did not board and she says her DCs are unlikely to do so.

If OP is looking to identify the most traditional schools (either to appeal to them or to avoid them) I don't think whether or not they admit boarders is an important condition.

Malory Towers for me seems traditional. Certainly the way the girls use that swimming pool with no lifeguard on duty and don't get me started on midnight feasts!
Also Hogwarts, they are certainly wholly untroubled by safeguarding and the Health and Safety executive. And I wonder if they have ever heard of risk assessments.

I agree with Hogwarts being ultra traditional despite the red herring of magic and monsters. The way they keep some of their pupils for a whole year without going home is very Dickensian but then need to weigh it up against having mixed boarding houses which is pretty woke and decidedly untraditional.

Full boarding is confusing because there's a difference between what is offered vs. what is enforced/ encouraged. Many schools say on their website that they only offer full boarding to mean that they don't offer a weekly or flexi option in addition, but they don't ask students to stay in on Saturday nights, or at least not every weekend. To an extent this reflects parents' preferences and the fact that boarding patterns are becoming more geographic - DC tend to go to schools closer to home and retain greater connections with local prep school friends etc. The number of schools where home leave is still strictly limited to "holidays and fixed exeats" is now v small.

True though, given his grandmother, I think Neville was quite grateful for the lack of exeats.

In all seriousness, yes schools have changed with the times, as transport links have improved and parents’ ability to WFH means the demand for full boarding has dropped dramatically. I’d guess something like 5% of schools that were full boarding thirty years ago now offer weekly/flexi alongside full options (which end up only being used by the poor overseas families duped into thinking these are exclusively full boarding schools …)

A lot of the single sex schools converted to being missed 20-30 years ago and there are only occasional schools now converting eg Winchester.

other changes have all been for the better - food, contact with home (technology) and parent interaction )attending matches , plays etc are all very commonplace these days).

basically schools move with the times because if they didn’t, they’d die out.

@leftandaright
That is true about mixed boarding houses at Hogwarts but it is clear that the dormitories are single sex.
I've always thought the curriculum at Hogwarts is more Scottish than English I mean they leave at 17 like the Scots and their highers. But that's still traditional.
And although that nasty caretaker misses the old detentions I think being sent into the forbidden forest at night as a punishment is pretty old school. I always laugh when Prof Snape wants them punished for damaging the womping willow even though it nearly killed them. That's very true to life I think.

I think the real question is, what do you feel like would suit your DS. Full boarding, weekly, day. Does geography matter. Co-ed, single-sex.

Being traditional, I would guess, is low down on the list of most people's choice factors, and such a subjective opinion (what does trad mean to you - would need more insight) that you'll be receiving subjective opinions which won't be useful.

Another vote for Hogwarts. Throughout all seven books ISEB is not mentioned once, neither is Common Entrance but that may be explained as the main entrance seems to be at Year 7 (old UK system Year 1), and there is a lot of focus on who a child’s parents are. Also a very non-transparent system of identifying muggle-born candidates. The general lack of health and safety guidelines in the early books suggests a traditional public school attitude. I haven’t been able to find either an Ofsted or ISI report to confirm any of this, which is typical. I suggest approaching with caution.