Fair enough Holly, I wasn't sure! My niece is there as a boarder at the moment, and that is what it is like now Puff, she says less than half her year are Irish, not that she minds, good to have a diverse group!
A friend of our teaches there, she said the school wouldn't have survived the recession without foreign pupils, they kept it afloat financially. I guess when you compare it to British public schools it's much less expensive, but they have the trappings that appeal to some parents - expansive grounds, historical buildings, ridiculous uniforms. My dc liken going up there to stepping into Hogwarts!
A lot of the Asian children are here all year and only go home at Christmas, they go to 'host families' for mid term, Christmas and Easter. It seems pretty grim to me, especially for the younger ones. They also have Spanish and German pupils who come for a year to study English, dn says it's a bit pointless as they all stick together and speak their mother tongue to each other. Columbas is hardcore boarding, no weekly boarding for them, dn gets home once a month, and only Sat afternoon to Monday morning as they have lessons on Saturday morning. Not what I would chose, but as previously said, horses for courses.