Turning minimum standards into excellence

Photo with kind permission of Ludgrove School

Dale Wilkins

Senior Director, BSA Group

The Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA) is committed to supporting everyone involved in boarding – adults and children – offering high quality guidance and training that benefits schools, their staff and, perhaps most importantly, the children and young people who board. Our primary objective is to raise professional standards and we have an extensive and diverse continuing professional development (CPD) and training programme through the BSA Academy for all staff working in boarding environments throughout the UK and beyond.

Our work is centred on the requirements of the relevant Boarding Schools: National Minimum Standards (NMS), which in England have been extensively revised for September 2022, this being the first revision for seven years. Standards in Wales are likely to be reviewed soon, and in Scotland the provisions of the Health and Social Care Standards have a similar focus. BSA has its own voluntary set of standards for schools elsewhere, with the focus of all these guidelines being on ensuring there is a high quality of care for every child attending a boarding school, whether as a full boarder, weekly or flexi. However, these are only a starting point, with member schools aiming for excellence across a range of key areas relating to the day-to-day experiences of boarders. By working together with colleagues from a wide range of schools, we are better able to help them benchmark their boarding against the expectations across the wider boarding sector, both in the UK and internationally.

At the heart of the BSA Academy offer are core skills for all those working in boarding, including those new to residential settings as well as established practitioners. BSA Group offers boarding staff more specialised seminars on a wide range of specific issues, particularly relating to safeguarding, through both BSA and our sister organisations, the Safeguarding and Child Protection Association (Sacpa) and the Health in Education Association (Hieda). A number of day conferences are also run throughout the year for heads and for other boarding practitioners, as well as those looking at specific issues such as mental

health, immigration and safeguarding. Specific training content is also designed to meet the needs of prep schools, senior schools, state schools, sixth-form boarding and international colleges. Most of this content is now online, and is accessible internationally, although a small number of face-to-face events are being reintroduced.

Alongside our day conferences and seminars, we run an accredited training programme, offering certification to boarding practitioners. At its core is the BSA Advanced Certificate Course. Based over two years, this course looks more deeply into Pastoral Care (Part 1) and then Boarding Management (Part 2) or Health & Development (Part 2), including specialised courses for school nurses and school matrons. The courses are led by the BSA team, supported by very experienced tutors from member schools and specialist presenters who cover online safety, mental health, strategic management and other issues critical to working in boarding. In the last few months bespoke certificate programmes have been introduced to focus on mental health and also on equity, diversity and inclusion.

We also run the BSA Diploma Course twice a year for current and aspiring boarding leaders, and the very popular Certificate in International Boarding. There is also a Masters in Residential Education in conjunction with the University of Buckingham. An expanding INSET and consultancy programme enables further spread around the UK and into Europe and beyond. We are constantly seeking new areas of interest and responding to the needs of the sector. Our safeguarding portfolio continues to grow, and we deliver bespoke content focused on the boarding environment through webinars and day seminars. In 2022 we are launching a Safeguarding Certificate in conjunction with Sacpa. We also run a guidance helpline, receiving calls and emails on a wide variety of topics from member schools, and helping them deal with compliance issues and move towards best practice. A Member Services team focuses on ensuring that we are best placed to support the whole range of members, from schools which are exclusively boarding to schools with just a few boarders. This is enhanced by our regional Forum meetings in all parts of the UK and internationally. Every child who goes to boarding school deserves the very best of care and support, and BSA Group is fully committed to ensuring our member schools have the best resources to help them to provide this.

Photo by Bonjour School Photography with kind permission of St Andrew’s Prep

SAFEGUARDING AND CHILD PROTECTION ASSOCIATION P a r t o f t h e B S A G r o u p Dale Wilkins became a boarding tutor at Norwich School in 1987, shortly after taking up a post there as a language teacher. From 1990 to 1992, he and his wife ran a junior girls’ boarding house at Tettenhall College, before moving to Old Swinford Hospital, a state boarding school where Dale was Housemaster of both senior and junior boys’ houses, Senior Director of Boarding, Deputy Head and Designated Safeguarding Lead. From 1998 he was also involved with BSA as a course tutor and in 2002 he was among the first group of boarding inspectors trained to inspect against the then new NMS. Since 2017 he has worked full-time for BSA, originally as Head of Safeguarding and Standards and now, as Senior Director. Dale lives in Stourbridge in the West Midlands, close to his former school. Dale is also a Deputy District Commissioner for the Scout Association, Chair of Youth Services for the Rotary Club of Stourbridge, and Chair of the Friends of Dudley Performing Arts, the music, art and drama service for schools in Dudley Borough. He enjoys travel (when COVID-19 allows!) and is a former sports coach and referee, who still plays cricket occasionally.

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BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS WITH INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS P a r t o f t h e B S A G r o u p