Living onsite at a boarding school?

[TheletterZ]

Have you any experience of this, good or bad? And what do you think the pros and cons are?

A possibility has arisen so lots to think about.

It depends how onsite it is and how much you like your job.

The perks are pretty amazing if you have full service (bills & meals included) and it's possible you will get a really lovely house in amazing grounds. You can usually use the facilities (pool, gym etc) for free too.

However, if you are right in school the children will always be there- you never really get to leave work. Duties can be regular and last late into the evening. It can be worse not better in the holidays because the boarding houses are often let out for holiday courses- and you can't tell those children off!! It is also possible for the house to be a hovel and the school disinterested in maintenance.

Best case scenario is a separate house which is not right in the centre of the school and you can have a bit of a separate life but still walk in to pick up some dinner if you cba to cook.

In the fist school we lived in teachers had the keys to the school's wine cellar and could help themselves. Pretty unbelievable when you are 23 . Sadly I think those days are gone.

We were a boarding family. So my mum worked as the housemistress and we lived in the boarding house with her.
Financially it was great. She rented her house out while we lived rent free, bills paid etc. We lived on site so no commute to work.
It was hard work however and we were always careful to be respectful. We weren’t (aren’t) a big party family so there were no issues with coming home drunken and crazy but we were aware that we had to be careful.
Also she took that position and accommodation as a fairly long established member of staff and parent at the school. She knew the institution she was going deeper into; it would have been a lot to gamble not knowing it as well.

Agree with comments above - it can be great but can be pretty awful! Is the accommodation offered because you would be doing boarding duties and if so, is it attached to/part of the boarding house? Or is it just that they have accommodation onsite/at the edges of campus to offer new staff? Those two are very different prospects.

I loved living onsite but it really isn't for everyone!!!

If you go for it, try to buy your own house or flat and rent out. You will need your own property for when you move on/retire.

How your experience of this school depends on the specifics. IME, most staff accomodation is fairly self-sufficient and civilised, ie you have your own kitchen and prepare your own meals. You would only get 'free' meals when you were on duty.

Living on-site, you would have a lot of evening and weekend duties, shared fairly with other on-site staff.

Thank you everyone. I already work at the school so I know about the set up a bit. Living on site comes with some extra responsibilities, 1 boarding duty a week and 1 Sunday a year but helping out on an ad hoc extra.

Lots to think about.