Boarding schools in September

[catsblanket]

What will happen now? We were planning to board dd from September but the school only has open dorms. Even if the school reopens were not sure about sending her to stay in dorms now especially as it's a heavy international cohort and I'm concerned with regards to how well they'll manage returning students from abroad.

Has anyone had more information or any thoughts on this?

Yes. Dont have children if you are packing them off to boarding school. Selfish. Its not hard to bring kids up and send them to school with a packed lunch and a big cuddle

jeepers that made me laugh. I'm with you!

Thanks for the bump. Anyone else got something a bit more helpful?

In school they would be learning at close quarters anyway. It will either be safe for schools/unis to open or not.

You and how many others. Keep your child safe at home. Do you really need a boarding place at this stage?

I presume she is registered with a school. Can you ask their advice? They may be able to come up with a solution, but I wouldn't think a dorm is that likely to increase the risk beyond normal classroom interaction anyway. I do wonder what the overseas market is going to look like next year.

If this is still around in September boarding schools will insist on returning students from high risk areas coming two weeks early so they can self quarantine ( with guardians or in a designated boarding house) before term starts. That is what they did during the Sars and Swine flu outbreaks.

I think you're probably right, statistician, but there could be an added complication of international parents being reluctant to send their children back in case there's a second spike, schools close again, and their children are stranded in the UK.

Won’t it just be like an Enid Blyton novel where a minor character has to spend a fortnight in the San because they forgot their health certificate?

We have a boarding element to our school. About 80-100 kids (out of 850), some flexi boarding. About two thirds are from abroad. The boarding houses have remained open over Easter as many children could not go home, and they are allowing key worker children to stay if needed. The Chinese kids were not allowed to leave at Feb half term (or if they did, not return).
I do not know the specific policy about returning students in September. But presumably if lock down is over then there really is no added risk - your child is just as likely to pick up something from a fellow Brit as anyone else.
The best thing is to contact the school when it reopens after Easter and discuss your concerns directly.

I would think that statistically higher chance of catching something /anything (!) in a day school where children are mixing with randoms every evening. A boarding environment will have a lot less mixing. The dorms thing is a complete red herring given there will be 20 (?) children in one classroom all day long for lessons!
I will be doing the selfless thing and making sure my children board in Sept to minimise their risk and not selfishly keeping them at home just to satisfy my urge to get cuddles

I think your school will be best placed to guide you all out internationals stayed for Feb half term then left early for Easter. I think the biggest concern would be the staff getting ill through being around so many children and not having the cover.

Thanks for the helpful responses. We've hit a huge wall in our finances since the virus broke out. I am now looking at having to go back to work ft in order to pay for the fees so boarding will definitely help with this. As we live rurally I'm not sure what happens if dc can't. I will work long hours and tbh the drive to and from school is long and not something i planned to do in the long term let alone plan around work.

I will of course speak to the school but as dc not currently a boarder we haven't had any information and wondered what other schools are potentially planning.

My son's (boarding senior) school has already acknowledged that whenever reopening is possible there will need to be a period where remote learning will need to continue for a significant proportion of students - particularly international students.

Until effective vaccination is possible, international travel will be much restricted; many international students next year may have to be prepared to stay in the UK for a whole year rather than going home in the holidays which could shift things around a lot.

I suspect there will also as an ongoing thing be a much lower threshold for sending ill children home or closing boarding houses altogether at any suspicion of an outbreak. I will still feel comfortable with my two going back to school once they judge it is time to reopen, as so far the communication we have had from both schools reassures me they are planning things thoughtfully and realistically.

Next week will be interesting with all 4 of us in the house using the internet heavily for work and school meetings.

Thanks @Pythonesque oh yes, we've recently discovered quite how rural our internet is

I think the Boarding schools are very worried about whether the International students will actually return in September. Lots may be giving a term’s notice now. I would be looking into the long term finances of the school as not all independent schools are going to survive.

On the back of catsinblanket's post I wonder how many children will have to move from private to state schools because the parents' jobs will be affected.