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Boarding in IAPS schools
We promote modern boarding as a positive lifestyle option for families. Working parents can rest assured that their children are well cared-for in a sociable and secure environment where activity and outdoor play are encouraged over television and computer games. Children need not spend hours in the car for the daily commute to school and often choose to board so that they can be with their friends in an environment that feels like a home from home.
More than 200 IAPS schools offer full or flexi-boarding for their pupils. The majority are co-educational, although there is a good range of single-sex schools available.
Weekly boarding is a popular option for busy working families, where pupils return home at weekends. This allows the family quality time with each other at the end of the week and avoids the expense and logistical problems of daily travel to and from school.
Boarders benefit from extended access to school sporting, ICT and arts facilities, with a range of after-school clubs and activities on offer. Homework is supervised in the evenings and boarding houses often cultivate a family feel. Boarding offers the opportunity for pupils to test out their independence in a safe and secure environment. The international flavour of many boarding houses allows pupils to develop respect for other cultures as well as social skills, self-motivation and the ability to establish firm friendships for life.
Young Boarders
Parents of prep school pupils may understandably be more concerned about their children boarding at a young age. Despite media portrayals and old clichés, boarding schools are not somewhere that children are ‘sent away’ to, but rather parent interaction is encouraged and all IAPS boarding schools work together as a team with parents.
Children always have access to a phone or computer to contact home and parents are encouraged to visit and watch their child compete in sporting events or take part in school plays.
Many schools also offer the opportunity to be an occasional boarder, allowing pupils to try it out for a few nights each year. This is ideal for children who are thinking of becoming a boarder and fits conveniently around the busy schedules of parents who may need to spend nights away for business or other commitments.
Julie Robinson, IAPS Education and Training Director says:
“My daughter sampled boarding in Year 7 and is a full boarder now in Year 8. She loves the independence that it gives her, within boundaries. The teachers says that she has blossomed and she is incredibly busy, spends no time in the car on daily journeys to and from school and instead uses her time in ‘real life’ pursuits. We know that she is developing social skills, communication, learning to tolerate others and to express herself.
“We’ve also found that working parents don’t want to spend the precious time they have with their children engaging in fights and nagging. With boarding the school does all the ‘nagging’ on practical issues and deals with practicalities, so that time spent as a family is relaxed and good quality!”
The school finder search facility on the left of this page allows you to search for IAPS boarding schools.
For more information on what life is like at UK boarding schools, contact the Boarding Schools Association (BSA). You can visit their website at www.boarding.org.uk.