Boarding Schools

The British school year

A school year in England consists of three terms (trimesters). The beginning of the school year is always in September, whereby each school has its own term dates. The schools generally begin their lessons in the first two weeks of September. After half the teaching period, ie. after approximately 6 weeks, pupils have their first holiday, which is referred to as “half term“. During this time the school is closed, and the children generally go home, or stay with their guardian. If there is no private contact for the child in UK, the school is usually prepared to provide assistance and arrange a personal contact, eg. a guest family.

It is often the case that children can also be invited by their English classmates to spend the holidays with them. The first term continues until mid-December. Then the children travel home to spend the winter holidays with their families (approx. 3 weeks).

boarding

The second term then starts at the beginning of January and finishes at the end of March. There is a one-week half-term holiday in February. After three weeks of holidays, the third and final period of the school year begins in the middle of April. This ends at the end of June or the beginning of July. After that the children have their summer holidays during the months of July and August.

Living in a boarding school

The change from living at home to living in a boarding school is a big one, but your son or daughter should be excited about it, not scared. Boarding schools are “open communities” where new students can connect with other people fairly soon. The boarding house and the fellow students are going to make your son or daughter feel at home within a short time period, so that the school is becoming the second home. Team spirit, solidarity and helping each others are just some of the main characteristics of every boarding house.

New students get involved and “infected” by those attributes. Older students take care of younger students and support them, not just academically by helping out with homework, but also personally, so that every child is looked after in the personal development. Therefore older students act as a role model for younger students and behave automatically in that way.In return younger students have a range of duties in the boarding house, which they fulfil without any resistance. One of those duties, which is very common in English schools, is the waking up. The student has to go into every room in the morning to make sure that people wake up on time.

The students are working together and push not just themselves, but also the whole community to achieve the best. Students do not get jealous when someone achieves high marks in a test, but celebrate the student. Most students take it as a motivation to be better prepared next time and to be the one being celebrated.

Advantages of a boarding school

There are a number of reasons, why you should give your son or your daughter the opportunity to visit a British boarding school.

Some of those advantages are listed below:

  • Education on an internationally acknowledged level

  • Severe discipline

  • Learning and living in an international community which is ideal to prepare your child to work in a globalised world

  • Controlling the language English down pat

  • A-Levels/Abitur after 12 years

  • Perfectly educated teachers

  • Very modern sport facilities

As mentioned before, this is just a short-list of advantages. If you wish to get further information, please do not hesitate to contact us via Email.

Catering

At almost all British schools, a plentiful breakfast is offered. Pupils can choose whether they would like a typical English cooked breakfast or simply toast with marmalade or muesli. Pupils can also choose between a vegetarian meal and another meal, eg pork, chicken or fish at lunch. In addition there is always a salad buffet as well as other side-dishes and a dessert.

Many boarding houses also supply a kitchen, where the pupils can make themselves something to eat at any time, or drink tea or have a snack between meals.

Expenses

1. Boarding and Tuition Fees

  • £ 6000 to £ 10 000 per term

  • This area covers accommodation, catering and school-lessons

2. Additional School costs and transportation

  • £ 500 to £ 800 per term

  • This area covers extra lessons, music lessons, school trips and transportation to the airport as well as flights

3. Pocket Money for the student

  • £ 200 per term

  • This area covers all leisure activities of your child, for example take-away pizzas or shopping