Hockerill Weekly Boarding? How good is it?

[vghappy]

My son has been offerred a weekly boarding place at Hockerill to start from Sep 2014. I am very nervous about this and already feel very depressed at the thought that i will not have enough time to spend with him. My husband is very keen to send him for boarding. My son is very happy and excited. He is quite Academic and is doing very well in his middle school now. Do they allow children to partly stay at home say (thur/Fri/Sat) instead of the whole week ? How good are the boarding facilities? Can you pls share your experiences? Can we accept the offer now and then move closer to the school and then just pay the fees and bring my DS home as often as we want?

Yes, 10 to 1 ratio for free places - I am sure the fact that there is random allocation within certain categories of applicants has a lot to do with this.

It would be interesting to see what the application to place ratio is for residential boarding. Clearly very far from the 1 to 10. If you only consider the first choices it will probably be below 1 to 1 for residential boarders.
Perhaps something to do with the unsuitable staff ratios, etc.
Anyway, the supper catering situation has become slightly more transparent and you can see some menus on the website. And you may even be lucky to find your child recognises a few of the menu items!

@vghappy this is an old thread, but may I ask how you & your son fared ? My DS is at an extremely academic prep in Essex. We are hoping to get a boarding space at Hockerill in Sep 2020. Your son must have completed his time there now ? How did you find out - feedback would be sincerely appreciated !

@steamedpotatoes My son is due to start Sep 2020. I would love to head how @vghappy got on ?

Hockerill school us just down the road from where I grew up and has an excellent reputation. One of my close friends teaches there. If you did move yo Stortford you may be able to convert him to a day boarder where he goes to school there and stays for prep before going home for the night. I know other local kids who have been there on that basis.