Is there still a market for boarding prep?

[messeduphair]

Just watched This old documentary. I understand that children want independence when they are senior school age and might board, but it must be so hard at prep age surely?

I wouldn't say we are pro boarding as parents and if you look at the ISC reports there are very few boarders under the age of 10/11 so I think it is a shrinking market. That said there are still forces families, expat families, families in isolated areas, children with specific talents, single parent families etc for whom boarding can be very helpful.

Military families need boarding preps

Interesting film. I've never seen that. Obviously it's nearly 30 years old and boarding is very different now. I was boarding when this film was made and I also boarded at 8. Ups and downs for sure but on balance I really liked it. These days there are only a handful of full boarding preps and even they tend to offer a lot more exeats and parental contact than in those days. Most preps with boarding offer flexible arrangements now too. My boys will flexi board in a year or two, but only as and when they want to and largely based around their various activities (or just because they want to sleepover with their mates) and to see if boarding senior will suit them.

We have a boarding prep near us, children as young as 7 are there.

From what I gather, some are from military families, others from families that live very internationally/move a lot so stable schooling isn’t possible. One of the 8 year olds has a single mum parent who is very ill, so can’t look after them properly and decided boarding school was the best option.

They all have “host families” who live nearby and take them for weekends/half terms. Most of the host families seem to get really involved with their kids so will go watch them in school concerts/sports matches etc. So they are getting a semblance of family life even in term time.

I have family members who boarded from age 6! I don't think it did them any good at all. Forces family, mother didn't work. Eldest started school in Germany and mother didn't like it when the kids of parents in the ranks did better at reading - so off to boarding school they went.
Pure snobbery.
The whole idea of outsourcing your parenting to a 'host family' is anathema to me.

Yeah, it’s not a choice I’d make personally, but I guess there’s a need for it or it wouldn’t happen.

My DS (Y6) boards occasionally at his prep- about once a week. We live less than a 5 minute walk from the school gates. We never thought for a moment that he would ever board, but he started begging in Y4 and we caved in Y5. He has a bunch of friends in his year who also do occasional boarding and he just sees it as a sleep-over.

Can't see why you'd try to get rid of that really, if children are enjoying it.

Our yr 6 does one night a week for fun!

DS’s prep school took (and still takes) weekly boarders from Y3 and full boarders from Y4. I don’t think there are that many though - there is certainly only one boarding house. The senior school (Y9+) still has 6 boarding houses. He only started boarding in Y10 (as a weekly boarder - 5 nights at school, 2 nights at home). I definitely wouldn’t have sent him into the boarding house when he was little.

I have a friend who's son flexi boarded at prep - basically kept an over night bag at school and they had flexi beds which could be used.

He loved it. Day pupils had long days anyway, as they had breakfast at school and then went home after 1st prep, so just before supper. If he wanted to stay for a club etc, he could just stay.

Also suited my friend, as she is a consultant surgeon. If work went on longer than planned (emergency etc) he could stay at school with no problem.

I always thought I'd be really against the idea of boarding at that age, but that arrangement seemed great.

Yes there's still a market- I have two DS who are full boarders. If they hadn't boarded they would be on their 7th school by now- DS1 is 12. It's not a massive market- our prep, which is all boys and all full boarding is one of very few but as a school it's thriving. Parents use boarding for a range of reasons and of course in some families there's a sense that it's the norm so they don't feel the same need to justify it that others might have. I've never come across a boarding prep parent who didn't believe they had made a choice that was good for their children (as I do), and I've certainly never met a parent who simply wants to use boarding school to outsource the hard work of raising children- which is the constant accusation on MN threads. Yes, I love my children, I have a close bond with them, we miss each other when apart. But also we are providing continuity and stability in which they have been able to flourish, they are receiving a wonderful education and are happy, healthy, well-adjusted boys.

Of course there is, it is just not as big as it was.

Children who need specialist schooling for health reason.
Children who need specialist schooling to develop talent- dance, music
Children whose families move about too much for stable schooling
Children whose families are going through upheaval
Children whose families think this is best for them

DS went to a specialist music school at 10. He was a day boy there before, but desperately wanted more. He loved it - us, not so much.

I happened to come across a documentary the other night called Leaving Home at 8, about three girls sent to boarding prep. It was from 2010, so not a million miles away from current boarding. I wondered how the girls got on in later life, as some of them really found it hard at that age. I think a few of them were military families, or moved around for other reasons. There weren't any follow-up documentaries though.

The market and the demographic has been changing rapidly for the last 10 years at least. You can see this from the ISC reports on boarding numbers. And the numbers are inflated there because they include flexiboarders as well as full and weekly - and flexi can mean just one night in in a term.

As far as I can see the only UK based parents choosing full junior boarding (under 10) are those with children in choir schools (maybe 100 children in total), those with other children with special needs who want the other children to have a more “normal” experience, those with a sick/bereaved parent etc. Many families use flexi to cater for work trips abroad, hospitalisations etc. This is very popular but more like babysitting.

Almost all full boarders in Y4 and Y5 are children from China, Nigeria, Former Soviet Union whose families want their children to go to the big name public schools. But this market has been impacted by Covid. Even Foreign Office and MOD families - who get the boarding school allowances - rarely choose to take it up before the DC are in Y6.

A lot more UK based children start boarding in Y7.

Almost all full boarders in Y4 and Y5 are children from China, Nigeria, Former Soviet Union

Have you got any data for that @oystercatcher44?

I know quite a few traditionally boarding families and even amongst them they wouldn't consider full boarding until at least 11 years old. I do know a few who go to schools which offer flexi boarding. The two boys who go there are very sporty and extrovert and only stay a few nights a week and seem to like it. For the parents it's basically childcare. Obviously there are still military an international families but even most of those would rather keep the DC with them beyond 8 unless they happen to have a very robust, independent child.

@Thingaling

It is mainly the evidence of my own eyes at the schools relatives attend.

But if you want to see for yourself, look at the ISC census.

The ISC report shows there was a total of 3374 junior boarders at UK schools last year. A junior school is defined as a school where all students are in Y8 or below but I think “junior boarder” means below Y7. Around 48% (1619) of these students are described as full boarders. (This figure is misleading though as many UK based “full boarders” actually go home at weekends. Many parents just pay for the weekend option as the fee difference between full and weekly is negligible and if you have an unpredictable job, it makes life easier)

At the same time there were 24,674 students whose parents are non British and live abroad in ISC schools. Almost all of these students board and most come from China, HK, Far East, Nigeria, Russia and FSU. 2% (493) of them are in Y6 and below. So that makes up 30% of the total ISC junior boarders. Take out the children at specialised choir schools and the overseas boarders constitute a very high percentage of those in the junior years at “ normal” boarding preps.

ISC used to publish boarding numbers by year group but no longer seem to provide this data set. I suspect it is because the Y3 - Y5 numbers are now almost non existent.

www.isc.co.uk/research/annual-census/

@Bloomsbury45

There are nowhere near 1100 junior boarders at choir schools. Most choir schools have packed in compulsory boarding now, and many don’t offer it at all.

So I don’t think the evidence is there to say almost all full boarders in Y4 and Y5 are from China, Nigeria, Former Soviet Union

I think it’s more reasonable and accurate to guess that at certain schools a large proportion of full junior boarders might come from outside the UK. Probably predominantly day schools with a few boarders, rather than the schools which are boarding only.

I think whatever the exact numbers only a tiny number of parents want their primary aged child to board (at least what is traditionally seen as boarding, rather than the odd night here or there). Yes there are internatiinal students and UK students with a particular need to board (military families or needing to access a specialist school which isn't available close to home) but in general it's only the first choice for a tiny minority of families where as it used to be par for the course within certain demographics.

So, I've just come across this thread, and not really sure what the original post meant to debate - was it hard? Yes. I boarded full time from 8. And I think I was young for my age, and also put up a year due to exam results. It was terrible.

I cried myself to sleep, every night, for at least the first three years. The scars of the bullying are still with me. My dc are only a couple of years older than I was now, and would I send them away? No. Not in a million years. They need the comfort and support of their family and parents too much.

Are there situations where it's appropriate now to send a child to board full time at 8 years old? Probably, but I don't think it's common.

@Thingaling*

There are nowhere near 1100 junior boarders at choir schools

I think I put the figure at around 100.

[quote Bloomsbury45]**@Thingaling*

There are nowhere near 1100 junior boarders at choir schools

I think I put the figure at around 100.[/quote]
No definitely more than that. There are nearly 100 between the 3 big London ones alone WACS/WCCS/SPCCS

There are nearly 100 between the 3 big London ones alone WACS/WCCS/SPCCS

I don’t think this is right. We’re only talking about junior boarders (Y4-6). WCCS only has 20 boarders total across Y4-8, and probably only half of those are juniors. I suspect same is true for SP and WA. And outside those three in London, plus Kings College Cambridge and Christ Church Oxford, chorister boarding is pretty much either optional or non existent.

St John’s College School in Cambridge has chorister and non-chorister boarders.

There were 37 boarders in 2013 but this report doesn’t say how many were y7 and y8.