Boarding Schools - Anyone heard anything about if students are going to return in september?

[SoTiredNeedHoliday]

Hi, Just looking to hear if you have had any feedback? I have not so am wondering what others may have heard.

Thx

Our school has two very small boarding houses, and they are looking at reopening in June.

how are they intending on doing the social distancing? Especially in dorms etc?

Mippo Wow that's huge! I assume their students don't come from very far away or they have accepted they will lose a lot of students who can't commute?

Where is your school? Is it big or small?

I think our school, pretty large prep with about 35% boarding, will only be open for day pupils in summer term. Not sure about September yet. Buy how many foreign pupils, or even Londoners, will be able/willing to come? Boarding with social distancing doesn't sound like fun, which parent would want to pay 25k for that?

NellyBarney thanks for that feedback. I'd love to get an understanding on how the boarding will happen. Boarding only schools or mainly boarding schools must be implementing something...... I wonder what though. I wonder what the government guidance will be to those schools as well.

Both DC will board from September (two different schools). I phoned one school up to ask this very question and was told nothing has changed, they are expecting boarding will go ahead in September but of course nobody knows. One school is full boarding with children from all over the UK and beyond and it could not operate without being able to offer boarding. It would lose the majority of its pupils. Many parents would have to find new schools before September if boarding couldn't happen, me included. I can't even imagine how schools are going to go ahead with social distancing. How do you do collaborative things like science experiments or games? Infact, how are teachers and pupils going to cope with social distancing? Granted many indies may already have small class sizes, but they also, at least in London, have small buildings with thin corridors and small playgrounds. Vast numbers of senior school children on trains and buses in London. Many many don't live close enough to cycle or walk to school. This is a nightmare. We need proper testing, tracing and isolating so that children can go back to being children. I cried when I saw how happy the people in New Zealand are.

Watching with interest as one of my children boards. I was assuming the school will be reopening in September, but I don't know for sure.

I would be interested to see what other schools do. It's going to be interesting if they keep quarantine into the UK...

Couldnt they just make the whole school a bubble and not socially distance within it

I would have thought that by Sept, boarding schools will open but with a risk assessed policy. It might mean two weeks boarding house isolation to start with and after 14 days, the whole school then integrates and works as one bubble. Exeats may well need to be compromised - who knows?
Once a child has been immersed into a boarding environment for 14 days, it must then be one of the safest places for a school pupil to be anywhere - as they will be mixing with fewer outside influences than day schools. As a teacher, they will have a reduced risk work environment compared to teachers in day schools.
As a parent of a full boarder I would happily accept the risk of sending my son back to the boarding house and not SD within that house if it meant school could operate as it should.
I hope that boarding schools do not operate a SD policy long term as that would be utterly miserable and monotonous for the children to have to SD 24 hours a day.

One school I have spoken to has suggested that they make make the school a bubble - so for example weekly boarders who would usually go home might have to stay over the weekends for the first few weeks in the first half of term. I'd guess that works as long as teachers (and day pupils?) isolate to some degree outside of that bubble, and of course the school would need to quarantine right away if there was a case.

There was an ISI boarding conference last week to discuss how schools can reopen, especially for vulnerable boarders. I don't know what the outcomes were though, I wasn't involved.

We're hoping to be allowed to open our boarding house for just the vulnerable boarders in June. But that totals around 4 or 5 children, I think. So social distancing would be easy (or one bubble). At the moment we are assuming September will be as normal (apart from international students maybe) but we don't know yet.

My DS’a school still hasn’t completely accepted that it won’t be opening up again until September. So we are still waiting on updates and wondering how feasible it would all be before then. Don’t think we would manage to get my DS back before September as we are in a country which is still in lockdown. Quite a few international students too who attend. We have friends with dc at another boarding school who have been told definitely no school until September and have been given slots to collect their DC’s belongings.

The mutterings from the boarding school my friend works at following the ISI conference are:

1. They are expecting school to open as normal in September

2. No change for day girls and weekly boarders although they will split the year into smaller “bubbles” and sports matches and events that have parents on site are likely to be cancelled or postponed.

3. International boarders will be required to enter the U.K. at least two weeks prior to starting and quarantine off site. If possible they will be required to be tested for COVID19 before being allowed onto school premises after the two weeks. They will be required to stay in the U.K. for the entire academic year, leaving only at the end of the summer term. Parents or guardians will be required to look after them in the UK through all other holidays.

The response from international families has been surprisingly positive on that point apparently!

DD going back one June 15th!!!
School is a mixed day/boarding school, but from the e mail we got today, it looks like boarders are back too. And dd is very very happy about it!!

forgot to say, school is only ope to year 10 and 12.

Our school has a boarding element and has boarders currently. They are acting as one household and do not go in to school at the moment but do lessons online as do the rest of the school (key worker children are attending). While there are some days this term for Y10s and Y12s, these are in clusters and the boarders will be in their own (subject allowing). When the school opens up for secondary (no boarders in junior part) this autumn they are hoping things will be more normal. I'm not sure about those from abroad but presumably they will need to quarantine themselves first - they might all be put in the same boarding house for this before joining their respective years. We rely on the income from boarders (a number from China) so will be interesting to see how many still come over.

This is what they hope to do according to a recent letter of plans/thoughts: open 14 days early for international boarders needing to quarantine and stay open for Exeats and holidays. The boarding house will be considered a 'household' so no social distancing within it but if they get a case in it then the whole boarding house will have to quarantine for 14 days as any other household would.

Day pupils might need to social distance from boarders and bring packed lunches etc.

Local boarders do often go home at weekends and they want to still allow that if possible. It will be the usual breeding ground for everything!