Boarding at an independent school

Independent schools celebrate the plethora of opportunities available to their pupils but don’t always work hard enough to interrogate who is taking them up. Many a school will take too great a pride in what is achieved by the prodigies (who would have done well anywhere), and every decent school looks after its strugglers, but it’s in ‘the middle of...

Nowadays, the assumptions and agenda are different – we see physical activity through the prism of wellbeing as much as competition. Sport is a space into which ideas about body image, collegiate identity and community are addressed and all in the context of a far greater awareness of supervision and safety. Long gone are the days when the house captains of...

We can all also recognise children learn best when they are happy, and a crucial ingredient in happiness is stability and the assurance it provides. Learning to cope with change needs to be done sensitively and, although the majority of children will have to change school at some point, repeated changes of school can sometimes hinder academic and skills progress...

The facts show independent schools are very much part of the educational landscape and take their educational purposes seriously. Independent schools are diverse and generous supporters of education in its broadest sense and this was reinforced in a "Joint Understanding" with the DfE announced by the Secretary of State in March 2018.  The document outlines the commitment of independent schools...

With the rapidly changing face of our technological landscape, it is difficult to predict what the workplace will look like in five years’ time let alone 50 years. How many of the traditional roles will still exist in the world of tomorrow? The predictions being made by futurists are wide and varied but the one thing they all seem to...

It is one of the strongest memories I have of my school career. In today’s terms this is SMSC (spiritual, moral, social and cultural) education ‘in action’ – the idea that school is far more than learning the curriculum. SMSC is, quite simply, the term used to embrace this broader dimension – not just through Religious Education (RE), PSHE (personal,...

Dauntsey’s was founded in the sixteenth century by William Dauntesey. Dauntesey went to London to make his fortune and became Master of the Mercers’ Company. His will left his London properties to the Livery Company and tasked his executors with building and maintaining the school and almshouses that became Dauntsey’s. Almost five centuries after the school’s founding, thinking about others...

Nearly every independent school offers a broad range of sport, musical and creative co-curricular pursuits. However, not all pupils are talented ball-players or gifted violinists – a range of opportunities to suit the entire cohort is needed. Enrichment options offered by a school can be an excellent base from which to teach lifelong soft skills, especially those of teamwork, leadership,...

As the school curriculum narrows, the boarding school’s emphasis on educating the whole child provides plenty of opportunities to develop a wider set of skills and qualities. At Bloxham, our activities programme offers pupils 100 options, ranging from mainstream sports to minor ones, and from music, drama and art, to astronomy and model railway club. Balancing breadth with specialism, our...

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award can have a very positive impact on a young person’s school and personal life, as well as their physical and mental health. An extra-curricular programme can be a really effective way for young people to be introduced to outdoor learning without the feeling that they are compromising their time spent in the classroom. Well-established programmes...