Is boarding (prep) school for only a year a good idea? Are there any boarding preps that offer only a semester of boarding?

[CountryMumAtHome]

Currently we’re deciding on schools for our DC, we live in the Dorset are and really wanted a single sex education for our kids. However, there are no boys prep schools in the area. We have chosen Hanford for our DD(s) and want a similar type of education for our DS(s). This has left me wondering if sending our boys to an all boys boarding prep at one point would be a good idea for them to get a single sex experience. We didn’t really consider full boarding from the age of 8 as being an option, and we don’t want them to continue full boarding forever. I don’t know if it would be beneficial to move them for only a year and then move them back. They would probably be older, year 6, 7, or 8. Moving them in their last year of prep school might be bad although I’m sure many parents do this to prepare their children for senior schools. I’m also worried that if we do have them board for a year, they’ll either hate it, or they’ll love it and want to continue boarding, which I don’t think I'm ready for. We’re going to look at Ludgrove, Cothill House, and the Pilgrim’s School (the closest) soon so if any parents have any information on those that would be great, or any recommendations.

Another option I had thought of was for the boys to board for a summer term only at an all boys school. I’ve tried looking this up and haven’t found any schools that really offer this though. Does anyone know of any boys preps that would offer this or would be open to offering this if I were to contact them. I’m sure the bigger boys schools might not want to, such as Ludgrove, but I would think some of the smaller schools would love having another pupil even for only one term. Sending them to a boys summer camp in America would also be an option as well, I’m just not sure if this would be equivalent to boarding school or not.

There’s also the option of sending them to Sherborne School which is all boys for their secondary schooling, although this is a little far off. They seem to be primarily a boarding school though and I don’t know how good it would be for a day boy, they also don’t seem to offer flexi boarding at all even though I’ve been told their school days are long.

Am I thinking to much about this single sex schooling dilemma and a coed option is perfectly okay?? Are single sex schools only beneficial to girls anyways as I’ve seen some people say? I’m just worried that my sons might be missing out on something. I’d love to hear from parents with boys at single sex schools, especially boating preps!

In my personal opinion, boarding schools need to be banned. Why even have children if you're just going to ship them off.
A lot of boarded children (no, not all of them of course!) are lonely & grow up introverted and some become emotionally detached. This has been studied before the laughing emojis start. Source below.
Children need physical affection & love from their parent/s/caregiver daily. This cannot be sufficiently simulated at boarding school.
Yes I'm sure there's a few pros, such as the skills they teach and independence etc etc but this isn't worth losing the nurturing of a loving home.

Source (one of many): brightontherapypartnership.org.uk/impact-of-boarding-school/

We have family at Port Regis and they absolutely love it. I'm a fan of single sex for boys at prep level. I have two boys, who are totally opposite characters, at a single sex prep, which works perfectly for them in every way. Wouldn't change anything. We chose it carefully though. Took me absolutely ages to choose the right school, so I can empathize with you OP!

My older son flexi boards - as do the majority of the school - and is blissfully happy. He'd do more if I'd let him, which I will in a few years if he still wants to. They have to weekly board from Yr 7. Youngest can't wait to start flexi boarding next year.

I definitely recommend visiting everywhere though. I was really keen on the idea of a couple of places but then got there and I he vibe just didn't feel right.

@MightyOaks you are entitled to your opinion but OP was not asking for thread on that topic. We have had this thread many times before by people with strong views, why don’t you post on one of those?

Boarding schools and single sex schools are both controversial topics on here so you're brave to be posting.

I have previously worked in boarding, I think it can be great for the right child at the right age for them and, crucially, at the right school. It's no problem to have one child at a single sex school and another at a co-ed school, it depends on what suits the kid. Also, some families have a mix of day and boarding. As long as no child is being sent away unwilling or being held back again their will, it's not a problem to have siblings in different styles of education. You could even have one boy flexi-boarding at a local co-ed prep and one boy full-boarding at a slightly further out boys' prep. (Although, with your girls as well you might then end up with your kids spread across three of four schools which might be a logistical nightmare!).

I also say if you're looking at co-ed, look closely. Many are not 50/50. If you have a small year group (some boarding preps have ~16 kids in a year) you might want to check to see how many boys will actually be in your son's class.

If your older boy is only three you have lots of time to decide, the days of registering at birth for a place in year 4 are long gone. Choose when is right for your child and family, especially if you're looking further out and have to consider weekly/full.

Contrary to other posters, I don't think your idea of one-term boarding is insane. One school I used to work at had a few girls do that - some converted then to full time pupils, others went home at the end of their term. I know Hanford does it too. Plenty of kids like it who wouldn't want to full board their whole school career, the same way lots of kids love foreign exchanges but wouldn't want to move abroad.

The issue is, for boys, what year to do it in. With admissions to secondary schools it's tricky to choose the right time. You'd probably be better off treating their first term at their school that way privately e.g. saying enjoy your first term, give everything a go, when you come home for the holidays you can help us decide whether you want to go back to your old prep or the boarding prep. Although if you do it without the school on board you might be liable for a term's fees.

Honestly, you have a couple of years before you even need to think about it at all. I would recommend visiting the schools in 2-3 years which will give you a much better idea of how they are that any website will. Preps can change a lot in a few years.

@Legoninjago1 Thank you, the options seem endless sometimes! It’s good to hear that you have family that enjoys Port Regis as well since we’ll probably have to start the boys off somewhere local before moving them to a single sex school if/when the time comes.

@CakesOfVersailles Thank you! I have heard of Hanford doing a summer term of boarding as you mentioned but haven’t seen anything about it recently so I was interested to see if this was a thing at other preps as well. We’d want to avoid disrupting their schooling too much, but I like your idea of going into it with the idea they’ll begin boarding full time and only move them back if they don’t enjoy it. I’d want them to be okay with boarding before we sent them as well, but also letting them know they wouldn’t have to do it forever is important. Even though 8/9 is young to start it may be a good time to try it out, at least with flexi boarding before worrying about senior school.
Thanks for the advice with looking forward as well since we do have a lot of time, especially with the boarding question. We used to live in London when our oldest started school and the prep school world was definitely a whole other world there!

I agree with @CakesOfVersailles - very good post. My son absolutely loves flexi boarding at his school and I know he'll be fine weekly boarding there later, but I wouldn't necessarily take it as a given that he'd love it somewhere else. It's really important to spend time getting to know the school well.
As I said earlier, I was absolutely set on all boys for prep for mine. However, given the low number of all boys' senior schools (and dropping like flies sadly!) I'm open to either single sex or coed for senior and I'm not necessarily expecting my boys to end up at the same school.
In your shoes I'd be tempted to stay local and maybe look at boarding in Yr 5. Then they're in situ for the senior school process to start. If you did that though you'd need a prep where most board. I loved Sunningdale when I looked around and pretty much all the boys board. There's also Cothilll as has been mentioned, Ludgrove looks fab too, but I didn't visit there as was hesitant with fortnightly. Having said that, they're home a lot with exeats and very long hols, so in hindsight, it probably could have worked.