Boarding schools: what's it like to work at one?

[Rathkelter]

Does anyone have experience of being a houseparent in a boarding school? A friend was interested in this sort of position in a school but hasn't done this type of job before. Any advice welcome thanks.

It is hard work! Your life is not your own in term time. It can be fun and obviously you need to like children and you need understanding friends and family.

I have 'lived in' with DHs job before now.

Pros:
No bills
Food on tap- our boarding house had it's own kitchen and there were rolling waves of lovely, free food.
In the holidays when the house is empty you can have massive parties and your mates can all sleep in the dorms.

Cons:
Kids around all the time, including the night= no privacy.
Having to be 'on duty' and ready to respond most of the time= no spontaneity.
The house being 'let' to groups in the holidays- they behave worse than your own kids and you can't tell them off.

Now we live in a school house which is little bit away from the epicentre of the school DH works in. That is much better.

A friend of mine did it.

It seems very dependent on the school. One school she worked in was great. 2 days off in a row an some evenings on a rota so you could have hobbies and see friends witj normal jobs. The other was shambolic. 2 days off midweek but often 'just asked' to do things if they were wandering around. Never got any evenings. Routinely asking staff to work during their non working hours (staff had a 4 hour break during the school day).

Thank you for your replies. Very helpful.

Depends entirely on the school.

It's not "free" though sadly. There's this lovely thing called benefit in kind tax 😩

Those don't apply where the accommodation is necessary for the proper performance of your duties. Boarding house staff are explicitly mentioned in the exemption criteria.

@Lowdoorinthewal1 depends on how the bursar defines it...