Page 18 - ELG2104 Apr Issue 475

SPECIAL FEATURE .

UK boarding schools offer a variety of

educational approaches

Melanie Butler looks at the different kinds of live-in schools

British boarding schools have a long history.
The King’s School Canterbury, founded nearly
1,500 years ago in 596AD, is the oldest school
in Britain and perhaps the oldest school in the
world still in operation.
But despite the image of the historic
boarding school along the lines of Hogwarts
in the Harry Potter novels, nowadays such PHOTO COURTESY OF KING’S SCHOOL CANTERBURY
schools come in all shapes and cover a wide
range of educational approaches.
Indeed, some of them aren’t even schools
under English law, because a school is legally
defined as an institution educating at least
five children under the age of 16 and some
institutions educate only those aged 16-plus.
Sixth form colleges, as they are known,
only cover the last two years of school, when
most students are 16 or over. They exist in the
state sector and some, like British Council-
accredited Itchen College, take boarders and
are licensed to accept international students.
In the independent fee-paying sector, many
such colleges now take students from 14 or
15. Some, like Concord College, originally
enrolled only international students. Others,
like MPW, took mostly local British students. Pupils have boarded at The King’s School Canterbury for over 1,500 years
Now a new kind of school has emerged. We
could call them international high schools,
because they typically enrol international and 13, the traditional age of entry for boys’. Entry St Paul’s and Merchant Taylors’ School – sued
ages for coeducational schools vary. Parliament to take their names off the list!
Many senior schools run their own prep In 1944, the Fleming Commission’s
The term is used schools, like St Edmund’s College and Information Service defined them as schools
Sedburgh, but students going to the senior which were members of the Headmasters’
for senior schools school usually still have to get the grades. Conference or the Girls’ Schools Association.
For international students there is another
In 2020, that definition covered 524 schools,
which are very old, way to prepare for a senior school in a place not all of them boarding.
designed specifically for students with English
Most such schools are affiliated to a
very posh, very as a second language. International study church, whether the Church of England, like
Westminster, the Catholic church, like St
centres, often known as ISCs, teach English
language and a number of academic subjects Edmunds and Stonyhurst, or the Methodists
selective and through English. or the Quakers. Others, like Bedales, are
As well as taking prep school children, specifically secular.
Public schools may still be the most
not for profit they also take older students at 14 or 15 to prestigious, though, being British, it’s not
prepare them to enter a school at sixth form.
Some ISC’s are stand-alone schools, like a label they would ever use. But they don’t
some local students, from age 15 or below, and Bishopstrow College. Others are owned and necessarily rule the educational roost. Other
prepare them for university. Both Concord run by independent schools, such as those run newer schools, like Cardiff Sixth Form and
College and MPW follow this model. by Sherborne, Taunton and – a relatively new Concord College, often top the A-level league
Preparatory schools, or prep schools, cover one – that at the King’s School Canterbury. tables, though many of the traditional schools
the other end of the age spectrum. Children Finally there comes the old question: what is no longer take part in these tables.
enrol from the age of four or five, although a public school? In reality, the term is used for Since the end of the Empire, fewer British
few take boarders below the age of seven. senior schools which are very old, very posh, people send their children to board and gone is
Highfield Prep in Hampshire, for example, very selective and not for profit. the old tradition of the ‘family’ schools, where
takes children from age two, but only allows There have been several attempts to come generations of sons were sent to the same one.
boarders from Year 4, when pupils are nine or up with a regulated definition. In 1864, the As boarding schools have changed, so have
10. Preps prepare children for the entry exams Clarendon Commission drew up a legal the choices of British parents. Now the fashion
needed to get into most independent senior definition which covered just seven boys’ is to find the school to fit the child, rather than
schools. Pupils move to senior school at 11, schools: Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester, fitting the child to the school.
the traditional age of entry to girls’ school, or Shrewsbury, Westminster and Charterhouse, Perhaps international parents can learn
but two more which were originally listed – from this example.
18 April 2021