Genuine question- why boarding school?

[NCTDN]

I'm not being horrible but genuinely intrigued. I never had the option and neither have my children, so clueless.
What are your reasons for choosing going to boarding school rather than a private day school?

Mine went to specialist ballet schools, on scholarships, and received an education, both academic and vocational, that we would have been unable to afford any other way.

To be fair I think that the OP has been respectful of the fact that other people make different choices and that there are a wide range of reasons to send DC to board (other than every generation has done so since the eighteenth century and it never did any of us any harm....). Sadly there will always be an idiot who thinks that the sole reason DC board is beacsue their parents hate them/are self indulgent narcs who want to live the high life unimpeded by such tiresome things as teenage angst or tantrums.

the family i'm familiar with who have chosen boarding have been right in the middle of the full sw london 11+ prep with a lot of work and stress involved. their home location is awkward despite living in zone 1 travel across the river during traffic or bus or train meant a likely 1+ hour journey. somewhere along the way the school suggested woldingham (initially as a day student, travelling the bus/train etc.) but it then led them to look at others just slightly further afield.
the process was (based on my view) way way faster and easier then the 11+ independent or grammar school process. the ISEB was written at the school, results 1 week later and offers from the boarding options days later. everything signed sealed and in the bag before christmas.

Mine did 1&2. My much older sisters went to boarding school and I got trailed around army schools and local shitty comps. I thoroughly enjoyed the army schools, the shitty comps were initially challenging but ultimately a good laugh in the end. But I'm not very well educated 🤣

ditto

lots of reasons for me

-DS likes it - the camaraderie/activities/routine
-stress of London (long commute to/from school/hypercompetitive kids/parents)
-male role models in pastoral settings
-more sport, all in one place
-HW gets done at school
-better care than absentee dad or transient au pair/housekeeper
-time together is quality time

An awesome experience for the children (can't afford it but mine would love to go).

Lol… Cheers to us 😂

I chose to go to boarding school because my family life was a bit shit. DM despised me and was happy to oblige.

Genuinely interested as to where such a reasonable boarding school is round us the are over double

I was a forces kid. I went to boarding school. It is what all the forces kids I knew did, though those with fathers in the ranks ie not officers often had to leave school before they had finished GCSEs

My norm was to move every 2-3 years (sometimes sooner) and including boarding school I went to 11 different schools. I therefore struggle to understand the angst on here for parents to move their children to a different secondary school to the one their primary school friends are going to!

In my father's 38 year military career I rarely knew people who managed "permanent" postings. Most families moved with the military spouse and compromised their own lives for it. Of those families where one parent stayed in one place and the other parent moved, most split up. The stress on a relationship to be long-term long-distance is immense. Likewise the families where both parents were military (and not guaranteed the same postings).

Most officers wives in my experience were SAHM because the reality of having a career whilst moving every few years is almost impossible. In fact my mum became known as, "the wife that works" at one of the barracks we were based at.

I went to boarding school because I come from a military family and it gave me stability in my education

Why didn’t you take him into your own home instead of boarding?

Normally the non military spouse goes as well. They live in military housing on base, obviously they don’t go to an active war zone, they stay at home while the military spouse goes away.

Because, even if we had been able to get him a visa to come to this country, we did not believe that it would be in his best interests to uproot him him the country of his birth, take him away from everything that he knew, put him into a school system where he wouldn't have been able to speak the language and move him thousands of miles away from his vulnerable but very loving mother.

I’m in New England, not the UK. It’s a state boarding school - they may have those in the UK?

@ZZTopGuitarSolo aha, there are a very small number of state boarding schools in the UK but very rare.

There are 32 state boarding schools in the UK, so not a huge amount but I would not say they are very rare. Some of them are pretty big too.

In the context of approximately 4200 secondary schools and 500 boarding schools I would say 32 is rare…

I didn’t know there were any state boarding schools in the uk. Does that mean they’re free?

@NCTDN you pay the costs of boarding but the school part is free. I have a relative whose child attends one and is v happy.

@NCTDN as per wiki there are 36 state boarding schools one of which is called Gordon's School
Gordon's School - Head's welcome

Wymondham College

And the costs of the boarding part are limited to a fixed amount. I think they are a great option for the right families.

My DD went to one state boarding school and loved it.

I guess it depends upon what you mean by rare. I would suggest rare means hard to find, but the eight or ten state boarding schools I know personally are all pretty accessible with websites and acceptance policies that mean they are open to all children. And these are just a fraction of the 30-some that exist.

Seriously, if anyone in the UK wants a place at a UK state boarding school, I do believe that should be manageable. From my own experience accessing such a school was not hard.