Foreword

Gavin Horgan, BSA Chair 2023 and Headmaster, Millfield School

choose work with all the other constraints on your family life, as this will affect the dynamics and happiness of your household.

Becoming a parent means you are faced with a bewildering number of choices. Choosing the right school for your child is one of the most important decisions of all since a child’s education has a major influence on their current and future wellbeing and their life journey. Thank you for taking the time to read this Guide.

The Guide contains a wealth of information that will enable you to narrow your search for a boarding school and help you find the right match for your child. I hope you are already aware of the benefits of a boarding education – this Guide will help you find out more about the opportunities offered by different boarding contexts.

At the Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA) we know that choosing a school can be as mystifying as it is exciting. There are so many good boarding schools offering an excellent education. You can choose from rural, town, city, boys, girls, mixed, junior, senior, all-through, sixth-form, all-around, specialist, flexi, weekly, full boarding, state or independent. Or you may want a combination of different schools at different ages. The choice is as broad and flexible as the boarding sector itself – rightly so as every child and every family have different needs.

As well as matching a school to your child’s needs, it is important to consider whether logistically you can make the school you

All boarding schools are united in a deep, shared belief in the value that a high quality modern boarding education can offer families. Boarding schools offer a unique richness of community. They are open, tolerant and vibrant places where education happens 24 hours a day and is deeply embedded. Learning is a way of life not limited to the classroom. A boarding education is predicated on relationships and the values that underpin them – respect, tolerance, inclusion, humility and kindness. Boarding schools are the ultimate learning environment – children see their teachers and other staff in multiple roles and environments and more quickly recognise the humanity in networks and organisations.

One of the unique benefits of a boarding education is that it enables pupils to develop many life skills through community living – getting along with people different from themselves, being at ease with others, taking up opportunities, dealing with setbacks, problem-solving and communicating effectively. Boarding schools welcome parents to be a part of their boarding community. Home–school communication is highly effective and there are many ways to be involved, from attending events to taking up roles on committees.

Boarding schools also take time to communicate with and support parents at each stage. In fact, parents often report that the quality of their relationship with their children develops through the boarding experience. If families must move with work or are posted overseas, boarding schools provide an anchor in a child’s life, they become home.

The BSA represents more than 640 boarding schools in the UK and internationally.

It provides a wide range of services including professional development, government relations, communications, safeguarding, health education and immigration advice for schools, media, publications, conferences and events.

We hope you find the Guide helpful in choosing the best boarding school for your child.

Gavin Horgan became Headmaster of Millfield in 2018. He was Headmaster of Worksop College in Nottinghamshire from 2012, where he delivered academic turnaround including a substantial building programme and whole school restructure. Before Worksop College, Gavin’s career included working in schools in Sri Lanka and Argentina, before returning to the UK as Deputy Head of The Glasgow Academy. Gavin also has extensive experience of the state sector at schools in Hampshire and Lambeth.

A co-educational boarding school for students aged 11-18

The country’s only state full-boarding school, The Duke of York’s Royal Military School (DOYRMS), o ers an affordable option for parents seeking a boarding school with high standards of education.

Set on top of the renowned White Cliffs of Dover, the school's 150-acre parkland estate offers unrivalled facilities and a wide breadth of opportunities for its students. The school is based on an independent-style model with Saturday morning lessons and co-curricular activities throughout the week.