boarding school for 7 year's old boy

[virvir]

Dear mums,
I am desparately looking for advice and recommendation for a good and academicly strong boarding school for 7 year's old boy close to London.He is just 5 years old now but i must find the right school soon and registrate him .
I like Sunningdale school very much ,but i think it is difficult to get place thear ?Please,giv me the best advices what is whrigt to do :-)
Thanks a lot !!

can't help with school recommendations i'm afraid... but do you really need to send him at such a young age?

have you been to visit any yet?

I would suggest you go visit as many as possible, open days will be coming up very soon. You will get a feel for the school by visiting and only you will know if your DS will be happy there. Once you have a short list try and visit on a normal day as this will be far less children on best behaviour than an open day you will get a better feel for the school.

A few tips would be really inspect the boarding aspect, you don't really want mixed age dorms, there will not be many yr 3 boarders so you want a school with small dorms so the older boys cannot influence the younger ones and get them into mischief. Chat to the boarding children when you look around, see how they like it, what provisions are made for entertainment when not at school, if you are looking at full time (not weekly) boarding then make sure there is a full weekend schedule of activities so little ones don't get bored.

Oh and good luck as you are probably about to get flamed on here for considering it so young

One of my close friends had to do this for her DS and DD for complex reasons. She choose a school with very strong pastoral care, where actually free time was very limited at first - by this I mean lots of activities to keep them busy and happy so when they fell into bed they slept. She got prospectuses for around 20 schools, visited 8 schools and her DS did a try out at 2 schools before she made any commitment.
As someone who went to boarding school at 8 I would look for small dorms, being able to have their own duvet covers etc so at night it feels more homely.

Bump
I'm considering this for my 7 year old DD about to go into Year 3. Royal Alexander and Albert in Surrey, anyone? Or any others..? She is in my view a poorly faring private school and with work and everything else feel DD would be much better long term in a 3-18 setting. She has already changed schools once and don't want a Year 6 change if I can avoid it.

Virvir what did you decide?

Bump
I'm considering this for my 7 year old DD about to go into Year 3. Royal Alexander and Albert in Surrey, anyone? Or any others..? She is in my view a poorly faring private school and with work and everything else feel DD would be much better long term in a 3-18 setting. She has already changed schools once and don't want a Year 6 change if I can avoid it.

Virvir what did you decide?

My DD has been at RAAS since she was 11 and loves it. Although not a selective school, they are fantastic at stretching the most able children. There is also loads to get involved in outside lessons, whatever age they are.

How the fuck can anyone consider boarding school fora 7 year old?????

Must he go at 7? My DH did and was desperately unhappy.

my uncle went at 7 and it still make him very sad at over 60 - my DH went at 11 and was fine

DH went at 11 and never lived at home again.

7!!!!

Perhaps its just me but wtf would you send a 7yo little chap to a boarding school?

My son (8) goes as a day pupil to a boarding school. The thought of him boarding breaks my heart.

I'm perhaps old fashioned but as this age kids need their parents

I started boarding aged 11, my 9 year old sister came with me. Neither of us would ever send our own children to boarding school. Please reconsider.

This is an old thread that has been bumped from last year!

Fwiw I'm thinking of sending ds as a weekly boarder when he is 8 but that would be because he wanted to rather than me deciding for him.

My parents asked my sister if she wanted to board at 9 years old but they had been drip feeding us 'Mallory Towers' type rubbish and we thought it would be all midnight feasts and adventures! It wasn't an informed choice to board. FWIW I think our school was especially crap on pastoral care and some schools do better but I want my children to grow up as part of a loving family and not in an institution, however good it is.