A wonderful sense of community

When the boarding house at Hatherop is open once again and it is business as usual I would anticipate that after an extended period of home schooling and being restricted at home, both parents and children might want their own space and independence.

That is where boarding can step in and help to redress the balance in both parents’ and children’s lives. Mental health and well-being may well have taken a bit of a hit with the claustrophobic nature of the lockdown and it’s time to get out there, see friends, catch up with academic work, learn to live with others apart from your nearest and dearest and most importantly have some fun. Therefore, in case you had forgotten, here are some definite advantages for children boarding whether we are in normal times or coming out of a lockdown.

Being part of a community

Academics are of course of paramount importance, but when children look back on their education they are more likely to remember their friends and their escapades rather than their lessons (apologies to teaching staff everywhere). For example, at Hatherop a favourite game is, ‘Whole School Commando’. In the darkness of the early evening, the boarders have to try to escape from one side of the school to the other without being spotted by a member of staff with a camera or torch. Playing hide and seek in the castle on a winter’s evening will be forever etched into the memory of the boarders, as much as a geography lesson on ox-bow lakes.