What about boarding schools??

This reflects the long-term aim of our schools to increase bursary provision and widen access. Over the last 15 years, there has been a consistent trend of schools providing increasing amounts of fee assistance to pupils.

More than 40,000 pupils receive meanstested bursaries, valued at £480 million in 2021. The average bursary is worth £10,840 per pupil per year.

Advantages Of Boarding

Boarding schools have many advantages:

• They are able to offer a wide range of extra-curricular activities to a high proportion of pupils because more time is spent by pupils on the school grounds. They also tend to attract staff who want to be involved in sport, music or drama at a high level.

• Boarding schools take pupils from all over the country and all over the world. This is a valuable educational experience in itself: the opportunity to know people from many walks of life and from many different cultures.

• And of course, boarders do not have to travel to school, something which can be challenging in some parts of the country.

Things To Consider

The boarding environment is positive and fun, but remember:

• Boarding houses can be noisy places full of other children.

• Being away from home will be a new experience for children and their parents.

• Boarding requires substantial investment. However, overall more than a third of ISC school pupils receive help with their fees.

Choosing to board is a personal decision for parents to make with their child – and with support and advice from their chosen school. Every school is different and details of individual schools can be found on their websites, or through the Independent Schools Council (ISC) website.

WHAT IS THE ISC?

The ISC is a membership organisation that brings together seven education associations and works on behalf of more than 1,390 independent fee-charging schools in the United Kingdom, which educate more than 500,000 children every year. The ISC has three main functions, covering policy and public affairs, media and communications, and research and data. The aim of the ISC is to be a service organisation, promoting and protecting the independent education sector.

Importantly for our members, the ISC provides a central base in London where all types of independent schools (prep schools, mixed and single-sex, academically selective and non-selective, day and boarding) can come together to discuss issues of common interest. Parents can find information about all ISC schools at www.isc.co.uk

Barnaby Lenon won the Cambridge University Prize for Education, taught at Eton for 12 years, was Deputy Head of Highgate School, Headmaster of Trinity School Croydon and Head of Harrow (12 years). For eight years he was the founding chair of the London Academy of Excellence, a state free school in East London. He has been a governor of 22 schools and is a trustee of the 12 independent and state schools in the King Edward’s Birmingham Foundation. For six years he was on the board of Ofqual.

He is Professor of Education at the University of Buckingham, Chairman of the Independent Schools Council (ISC) and a trustee of the charity Yellow Submarine. He has published two books, Much Promise: successful schools in England and Other People’s Children: what happens to the academically least successful 50%? He is one of the most widely quoted educationalists in the media. In 2019, he was awarded a CBE for services to education.