How do you choose a boarding school

[blueskyandsunshine]

We are in a very difficult situation and feel we have to walk this road rather late in our son's education. (Y9/10)

But it is very new to us and there is an enormous amount of choice. How do you find out about them? How do you narrow down the choice? Has anyone used an educational advisor in this way? I am overwhelmed by the possibility of getting it wrong in a major way.

Thanks for your help, if anyone has experience they can offer I am grateful.

oh hell
am competing with a gardening sex in a shed thread
people are pulling up deckchairs
may have to leave this till later

www.isc.co.uk
www.gabbitas.co.uk

You also need to look at fees/flexi/weekly boarding/proximity to home/size of boarding house/sporty/arty etc.

If I was goign to send ds and I still might, I'd be looking at Canford for preference, and Kelly College for affordability and proximity to my Mum as we are abroad.

Shed sex is serious competition, I'm afraid

I haven't had to choose a boarding school, but I would think you start in the usual way by deciding which ones are reasonably accessible. Even though you don't have to think about the daily commute, a weekend out will be a lot less stressful all round if you can get there and back in a reasonable timescale, or if they have good links to trains you can collect him from.

Then get prospectuses and see if they sound like the kind of place he'd enjoy - he's old enough to have some clear ideas what he does or doesn't want - is he keen on sports, or music, or art, or certain academic subjects? If so, what are the facilities like for that area.

What is he like?

Is he bright?
Sporty?
Music?

the isc are really helpful , our area co-ordinator was charming and gave us loads of help in choosing a prep school, agree with what has been said already, need ot think about where your son's talent lie , and find a school whihc excels in those areas, and then add in the distance factor, how far do you want to drive on friday nights of exeat weekends to get him , are oyu going abroad ? then you will need to decide how far from the airport or how far from other relatives or his guardian... , the good schools guide is quite helpful, when i went to boarding school ( 20 yrs agao) my parents got a copy of the good schools guide and we all went through it putting different coloured stars by hte schools we liked any that got a start from me, and one from mum and one from dad we went to visit - not very scientific but it worked !!!

should also add we are just startingto look for dd1 and have used the isc website and have filtered our search by first deciding on mixed only , so knocked out all the singe sex, then a 2 hr driving radius, knocked out quite a lot more, then any with less than 400 pupils or more than 800, then asked for strong music ... and hence have ended up with a list of about 6 schools worth visiting. there is also a boarding school association ( not sure if it isc) who inspect boarding facilities rahter like ofsted but looking at pastoral care and accomadation standards, our dd prep school scored very highly recently, that might be worht looking at .

Thank you all..scary I will check those sites later, thanks for hunting the links.

Beet he is musical and also pretty bright though this is undetectable at the moment ..not a bit sporty.

Thank you Mummydoc.. we are not in the UK and will be relying on relatives in the south east. We also don't know how much to guide or be guided by our son's preferences so it is interesting to hear how it was for you.

I didn't know there was such a thing as the Boarding School Assn.. really I feel very guilty that we haven't prepared properly for this option although we never wanted it.. we have been abroad a while and should have been more pessimistic/realistic? (don't know which word to use!) about how things might go.

golly the gardening thread is going some

Have just checked the gabbitas website, it looks like it will be extremely helpful thankyou.

There are alot of schools with good music provision and a few with special music provision

Would you want to be SE?

Mummy doc are you coming SW?

around wiltshire/gloucestershire/worcestershire areas

DS(2) weekly boards, everything said on this thread is good advice. But if he is going to come home/to relatives every weekend you need to be within an hour from school.

I wasn't looking for a boarding school as son started off as day boy and then changed. There are very few boarders, probably 10%, and if I was starting over and looking to board I would choose a school which had over 50% boarding.

mummydoc there is a really good music school in Somerset. Happy to talk more off board if ou want.

Beetrootbeetroot @hotmail dot co dot uk

Thanks again, especially for the comments on the per centage of boarders.

bluesky - you didn't say what the reasons are for this, but if it's to do with academic stuff - eg standards, recognised qualification, language barrier - then another option you could consider might be an internet school. DS is in one though we are in UK his class has a mix from other countries. They work towards iGCSEs and have qualified UK teachers.

Problem can be with that AMIS the rules where you are, and BSAS is abroad. I'm in Belgium, and the law mandates that all children under 18 must attend an educational establishment; so all those Brit kids here who want to leave at 16, either have to go back to UK, or continue in education here whether they want to or not.

True yes, it counts as Home Education in the UK, but that's not even legal in some countries, or else is very strictly controlled.

Charterhouse School is in the South East, near Godalming in Surrey. I don't know anyone who goes there, but I do know that it is pretty much boarders only (just a handful of day boys each year). Will be about 45 minutes to London Waterloo by train if that's relevant.
www.charterhouse.org.uk/

It does have very good facilities, but is also on the more expensive side I think.

AmuminScotland.. I'm sorry I lost this thread and have only just seen this. I will investigate that too. But I fear we have done him no favours moving him about and he's now working only at school and not at home at all. It's very hard. I feel so sorry for him but am at a loss. Not good reasons hey? Thanks Cosette and scaryteacher again too.

If he's not very self-motivated at the moment, then I don't think it would be a good idea anyway - it does need them to get on with things without a teacher standing over them. It sounds like the stability of a boarding school is probably going to be the best option for him, they even supervise the "homework" so it would give him plenty of structure in which to sort himself out.

Amum -- I must admit your comment is reassuring and makes me think I'm not going mad. Boarding school is so outside the experience of our families that the response to my suggestion has been entirely negative and makes me doubt myself.

I'm checking Gabbitas and trying to persuade dh to fly back to visit schools.

Why are you planning to send him to boarding school - you sound as if you really don't want to.

I don't mabanana -- I want him to be with us, but we have moved a lot and I think he has suffered and will suffer even more. I think this could be for the best, because of the family support we have at home. That's why I need help making the choice. I HAVE to choose the right place for him or this decision could turn upside down for him.

I think most parents must feel the same. Of course everybody wants their children with them but it's what's best for the child. I appreciate the help which other mums in the know have given me.