Weekly or Full Board aged 11

[Jossina]

Is it better for an 11-year-old to board full time or weekly? Some people say doing it weekly causes too much upheaval for the child. The emotional switch is too much etc. I'm not sure.

I’ve got two boarders, both full time, at different schools, three hours from home. If they were closer I would go for weekly, even though both of them absolutely love their schools.

Some on here will say boarding in any form is not right!!!!!

But mine will be boarding Monday through to Thursday from September at 11. The school actively encourages parental involvement and acknowledges that just because a child is boarding doesn’t mean that parents need to be kept at a distance. For us I feel she will get all the benefits of boarding without compromising on family life (she does extra curricular activities until 8pm three nights a week now anyway). It feels balanced and not at all disruptive.

That said, the school is 50% day, 50% boarding and a lot of children flexi-board. It feels very fluid. We purposely didn’t choose a full boarding school though as it just felt too much. If a child is going to be the only one going home at weekends then that’s a different consideration.

Personally I would choose a local school very committed to flexi-boarding and start with a couple of nights a week (say Tuesday, Wednesday). Then let the child build it up (or reduce it) as they want to.

My DS (Y5- 10yo) boards one night a week because he begged to. He just sees it as a sleepover with friends and loves the extra time with them. However, if he's not well one week- or whatever reason- he doesn't have to sleep over. We live very close by so it isn't an issue with travel.

I would feel differently about a school that had been chosen for a particular reason (ballet school, swim program etc). But where it's just about boarding as an experience in its own right, I'd go with maximum flexibility so it can be child-led.

There is really no such thing as “full boarding” any more at junior (u13) level. Even those schools which describe themselves as full boarding and have a lot of overseas children have an exeat weekend (Friday to Sunday) every third week followed by half term three weeks later. So no child is ever at school for more than 19 nights in succession. The vast majority of junior boarders ( and most senior boarders) go home every Saturday night after games and come back on the Sunday night or possibly the Monday morning.
Your DC will be happiest if he is doing what the majority of other children are doing. If you want a school where the majority of 11 year olds stay in most Saturday nights you will need to choose very carefully - there are literally only about half a dozen schools where this is the case.