making our mark as new houseparents Two terms in, two new Houseparents share how they’ve explored and established a successful boarding environment. When we first joined Lockers Park as teachers, we both loved the
boarding element of the school, and how it gives our community an
international, family-like feel, not to
Lucy and Ryan Newman Houseparents Lockers Park
mention opening up amazing
opportunities for our pupils. It was only a matter of time before we
wanted to take on a Houseparent role.
In January 2021, shortly after hearing of our success in securing the role of Houseparents for Summer 2021, the
attributes which were important to us and the environment we would like to create.
opportunity arose to attend the BSA’s
Now almost a year on from attending
House’ run by BSA Senior Consultant,
running a Boarding House, we’ve learnt
course, ‘Taking on a new Boarding
Mark Robinson. The course proved to
be an invaluable source of professional development for those new to a boarding role.
It quite quickly became clear from the
that course, and over two terms into
a huge amount, and are proud to have established a successful boarding
ethos, that is generating great results
for our Boarding House, and is popular with our pupils.
opening session of the course that our
Our take on the foundations of success
boarding ethos and discover what is
three categories: creating a family feel;
most crucial task was to create our
important to us. We were asked, ‘If I don’t know what you’re selling, why
would I buy it?’ We decided to research other Boarding Houses in the country to brainstorm and decide upon the
to boarding at Lockers Park fall into
building a pathway to independence; and, encouraging boarding for all.
A FAMILY FEEL
For boarders to thrive whilst living in school, they need the boarding staff and wider community to be their
family. We’re fortunate to have an
experienced team around us, and our purposefully small community means
that each child can get a great amount of personalised attention and support each day, just as they would at home. This family feeling grew within our
House when we recently welcomed our
baby son, Kit, into the world, in our first term as Houseparents. We became
new parents in more ways than one!
Kit has quickly become a firm favourite in the House and on a recent weekend walk to the local park and sweet shop,
our boarders waited patiently for their turn to push the pram! It is so
important to us and our boarders, that
