Charterhouse/ Need advise on boarding houses

[Beyondthesea123]

We are living abroad and our DS is currently applying to many senior schools. He just got an offer from Charterhouse and we need a current view on the school and boarding houses please.

We have heard that Charterhouse had a rough few years but with a new headmaster it is likely to flourish again. However we are worrying about bullying there (we read this on mumsnet). Our DS loves football and pretty good at it but he is quite and kind.

Could anybody please tell us which houses had (or still have) a a bullying problem? Is it a new houses or an old houses? Which house is the best to be registered? Which houses have a good housemaster? What Verites and Gownboys are like?

Sorry advice not advise

Check how many boarders are in at the weekend,the school is pretty empty.

Everybody is going home for non exeat weekend?

www.charterhouse.org.uk/parents/new-page This suggests there would be plenty of pupils still there at non-exeat weekends.

Sorry I don't know about Houses.

The policy is that pupils can go home on a Saturday after sport etc just need to be back on sunday for chapel,so perhaps not surprisingly lots go home on a Saturday night,

There are very few full boarding schools,pick carefully.

Nolan is correct about weekend home visits. Mainly schools claim to be full-boarding but are actually flying under the radar by allowing pupils to go home after Saturday sport and back on Sunday night. Best to ask directly to the Housemaster and some pupils!

I posted on your other thread also but would echo what others are saying here. We definitely wanted full boarding for my DD as the best bit about boarding school is the relaxing time together. If you are only going to be at school to work in the week and not spending any free time at weekends together, I personally feel that you are missing out on the best bits of boarding. I was told at one school that you may have just one international student left in a house some weekends. This sounded lonely to us so we rejected schools like Wellington and Charterhouse precisely because of the weekend exodus. However each DC is different and some may love the peace and down time that an empty house can give.

Some schools like Bromsgrove have weekly boarders but there is a large international full boarding contingent who remain in school at weekends. They school organises social activites for them and they build a tight bond together. I think at Charterhouse it would be worth finding out if there is a large enough group remaining at weekends and any social activities.

Thank you everyone for a kind information. I will check the weekend activities at Charterhouse and I will visit other full boarding schools together with my DS.

Lots of schools allow them out/home on Saturday after sport. Oundle does not. The boarders are all full boarders which is a key reason why we chose it. There is one House which is day but it has no effect on the boarders as they outnumber the day pupils massively. Hope that helps.

Thank you Lostsoul69. This is very helpful.

My DD's ex was a full boarder at Winchester, his brother was at Rugby but no idea on how many remained. Dd is full boarding but it's 6th form only and the social stuff is sat night, she still persuades me to take her for lunch on Sundays though sometimes. Which reminds me, need to leave soon as it's pick up day!

Thank you stucknoue for an interesting story. I guess food in a restaurant will always be better than a school food !