Anyone with experience of boarding schools?

[BookNerdy]

Just a quick question, I’m writing a book and in it, the main male character meets his best friends at a boarding school. Except I don’t actually know anything about boarding schools! The school isn’t actually part of the story, but I need to get some of the details right! Mainly- how are dorms allocated? Is it alphabetical? Do you get to choose who you live with when you get older? How many people are in a dorm? And is it mixed ages, or just one age group? Lastly, is it set up like an apartment with a bathroom and seating area, or are dorms just an area to sleep in? Thanks!

Hi, I have a son and daughter currently at a large coed boarding school, son in his last year and daughter midway. My son has friends from his prep school who have gone to all boy schools which are a little more traditional.

Dorms are allocated by the housemaster. Your dorm mates are always from your year group. In the first year some schools now keep all the new boys in one house. This is to avoid the possibility of older boys pranking the young boys or bullying them. The new boys (age 13, year 9) get to know their year group, their way around school and then in year 10 they move up to their senior house where they remain for 4 years. Most schools you choose your senior house years earlier during the admissions process. The more traditional boys boarding schools you go straight to your senior house and stay there for 5 years. 60 boys in a house is probably the average. A house is all age groups. Some schools different houses have different ties and they eat in house. Most schools now you eat all together in a dining hall, year groups are given different sittings.

1st year dorms are usually 4 beds and an allocated bathroom en-suite or in the hallway. Apparently Radley first years are in a long room of beds with curtains around each cubicle. Each term you move dorms. After the first term you are asked to email a list of 3 names who you would like in your dorm. You usually get one of those people. After GCSEs you are in a room of two (you choose who with) and your final year you have your own room. Again every school is different, Eton you have your own room for all 5 years apparently.

As well as the housemaster there are 3 residents (teachers) who sleep in house. Matron is 9-5 and supervises cleaning staff and the domestic side of things.

Boys usually know a couple of other new boys from their prep school days or from meeting at a neighbouring school playing matches over the years. Boys coming from state school is no big deal, no one cares, it’s a very busy environment and you are flat out and tired in your first year. There is often someone who sneaks a phone into their bed, a quarrel when someone wants a window open in winter … so sleep is disturbed.

First years usually have prep supervised in a big room. Second years and upwards can have a desk in their room.

Hope that helps. I am not from a public school background so have picked it all up from my kids over the years. My kids are home after matches every Saturday evening and back in school for Sunday evening. We are 50 mins from their school so it’s doable. Fewer and fewer schools and parents now send children off in September and don’t see them again until half term.

You need to be more specific. Boarding schools now are very different to say 20 years ago. What time period is your story set in?

All schools do it differently so I wouldn't otherthink it

You always are kept with your year group. But that's it. Dorm numbers vary. Your first term you'll obviously be allocated by the housemaster/mistress but after that we always got to choose and could move every term. I know our house mistress had us do questionnaires on interests and got to know us on open days etc so she could try her best to put characters in groups she thought would match.

We also had different bathroom/seating/sleeps areas.

There's no golden rule. Go with what works for your story

Our dorms were mixed ages so you would always have a few of your year but not just them. We had cubicles, so short walls in between or rooms with 5ish occupants.

Agree with praying and hoping, go with what works for you

@PrayingandHoping at my school we were in mixed year groups from 12-15. The sixth formers had their own 2 person rooms, and the UV (15 year olds) would decide where everyone else was allocated in dorms of varying sizes, 4 to 11. This could be a bit mean so wouldn't be surprised if that has changed now. Each dorm had its own cubicles (called cubies) separated by ply wood partitions with a curtain you could pull across.
This was 25 years ago. My school from 10-13 was in age groups and no cubicles. The bigger dorms had bunk beds. You were just allocated spots. We used to have stories read over a loud speaker after lights out.

@Stokey I boarded late 90s so similar timings 13-18 yr olds

Blimey it's amazing what some schools do

We had "proper" rooms. No curtains or anything.

13 yr olds in my house (every house had different sized rooms) were in groups of 6.

After that the rooms varied in size until your last year when you had your own private room.

So glad we could decide between ourselves who got to share with who! Never really caused many problems.

After the first year the biggest room was for 4 people.

Lots of boys schools have their own terminology for punishments, rewards, prefects, parts of the school grounds and year groups. The school websites are worth delving into, many have uniform lists etc. They still have tuck boxes in amongst the recommended MacBooks. Common year group names are:

Year 9 - Shell
Year 10 - Remove
Year 11 - Lower Fifth
Year 12 - Upper Fifth

My kids school uses different terms but that might identify their school.

Assuming you are writing present day the Tatler Schools Guide (annual) gives a light hearted glimpse at various schools.

Thanks everyone, this has been really helpful! At the moment the plan is just to say that the characters met when they were randomly roomed together at boarding school, and that sounds possible from what a couple of people have said.
Thank you!

Oh I've had all of the above! Started off in Year 4 when we had dorms of 4 - same year group - changed dorm every term. Later (Yr 7) was in a dorm of 8 - mixed year groups, with curtained cubicles. Double room in Lower 6th with a roommate of my choice. Single room in Upper 6th.

We had mixed age dorms of up to 10 (8-16) then small rooms of 2/3 or singles for 6th form. Allocated by the house mistress, changed each term (term? Surely it wasn’t all year. I can’t remember actually)

As has been said above,Eton doesnt have dorms,all boys have their own room for all five years,obviously,quality and size of room improves as you get older,some houses have en-suites.

Why not watch the documentary about Harrow School if you can find it somewhere? It’s called Harrow, a very British School. You’ll see inside a traditional boarding house in a Public School and get an idea of the whole house set up not just the boys’ rooms.

Radley doesn't have one long room with for shells. Maybe one social has that (although I doubt it - maybe like that previously) but our DSs were in rooms that had cubicles in a room in shells although there were also curtains for extra privacy. They then had single rooms from removes up.

Bloomsburyreader ahem, Radley F Social shells - 14 boys in a dorm with curtained cubicles, source is my nephew who was a shell there 3 years ago.

It is unusual nowadays but I thought might be if interest to the op to hear the range from a room of your own age 13 all the way through to 14 boys with curtains around beds.

For shells.

Radley has 'cubicles' with a curtain. Actually they look like individual rooms with a curtain for a door. This is because the walls do not reach all the way to the top. Technically, you can hear your neighbour as there is about a foot or two missing at the top of the wall, then there is also no door, just a flimsy curtain to your room. You do have your own sink to wash your face, brush teeth etc. in your room.

For Marlborough, the dividing wall goes up to your waist/chest, so you can see everyone else, but you have your own cubicle like space with your bed and desk etc. Technically, I guess you have privacy when you sleep on your bed or sit at your desk. You share commune bathrooms.

Eton is own room as stated above.

Most other boarding schools, are 5-7 boys sharing a room. Your privacy/dividing wall is your wardrobe and wood/ headboard thing (it's name escapes me) which runs along the side of your bed. Sometimes, this makes you have some kind of 'cubicle' for two of you - ie. you will have your beds next to each other with one or two sideboards next to you, the headboard thing on each side of you, but not between the two of you, so you look like you are sharing a twin room, if that makes sense.

I am attaching a picture of the headboard side thing, I am trying to describe, though the rooms would not look as uniform as this. The other pic shows a bog standard shell room.