On: Boarding

Unless you have been blissfully living under a rock or on a remote island paradise without access to the internet (which, let’s face it, is the dream), you will know that private schools and the type of education they offer are increasingly under the spotlight in the United Kingdom, as a result of the policy to impose 20% VAT on private school fees which took effect on 1 January 2025.

Those of you who have been with me since the beginning know that I teach Politics, but I am keen to refrain from bringing that side of me into the little virtual world of The Female Housemaster. I don’t intend to make any ideological or partisan comment about Labour’s miserly, mean and, frankly, regressive attempt to make the United Kingdom unique in being the only country to put a tax on education, a policy which is clearly driven by a desire to punish Conservative voters rather than any ideal of equity and fairness, the funds from which will inevitably be spent on keeping Sir Keir Starmer in the sartorial habits to which he has grown accustomed.

Oh, you know I’m just pulling your leg, dear reader.

I am sure there is a range of views on the topic represented in the readership of this blog, and some of you might feel that the VAT policy does not go far enough in addressing the disparity of outcomes in education that can only be solved by abolishing private schools entirely. Indeed, there are brighter brains than I who have made fitting contributions to the debate on each side. This article from the Institute of Economic Affairs offers a considered critique of the VAT system, suggesting lessons are to be learned from New Zealand. This post from the Department for Education at Durham University asks whether this policy will be better for social cohesion in the long run, whereas this article from the Spectator argues that social mobility will be stunted as a result of the policy.

The only comment I will make on the current situation is to suggest that it is no bad thing for those of us who work in the private sector to have to take a long, hard look at ourselves and critically evaluate whether the services we are offering are, in fact, value for money. To be reflective is a positive response, regardless of one’s views on the circumstances that have generated the reflection. For those of us who also have a role to play in boarding environment, the reflection is perhaps even greater given the recent negative press coverage of boarding schools (see here, here, here and here for some lurid reading). Roughly a third of private schools offer a boarding provision of some kind and virtually all boarding schools in the United Kingdom charge fees: fewer than 10% are state-funded.

There will be a longer thought piece forthcoming but, as I reflect on the care that I offer in my boarding house, a microcosm (nanocosm?) of the boarding world at large, I was reminded of this teeny tiny 250-word article I wrote for the Boarding Schools Association in the dim and distant past of 2023, long before those of us in the independent sector were bemoaning the loss of our gold embossed stationery. The text is below, or you can read it online here.

Boarding: the best of all worlds

Ah, Saturday night. An opportunity to catch up on your favourite boxset; invite friends round for a game of pool; go for a pint at the pub. Sound familiar? Well, it’s also how Saturday nights work here, at a seven-day-a-week boarding school. When I first made the move to boarding, I was rather cynical. What on earth would children do at school on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons? Six years on, I am a convert to full boarding for three reasons:

1. The breadth and depth of opportunity
As a full boarding school, there are activities on offer almost round the clock. After lessons or sport, pupils can create art in the paint studios, or create music in one of the School’s orchestras; stretch their minds in academic surgeries, or stretch their legs at the gym; try out new skills in elective clubs, or further old skills in academic societies.

2. The friendships developed
Being at boarding school means that children are living with their friends and can socialise within minutes of School commitments ending. Indeed, much of the socialising happens at weekends. They won’t be best friends with everyone, of course, but friendships developed here will last for life. And along the way they will learn to live alongside people different from them, developing tolerance and understanding of others.

3. The independence fostered
Being at School 24/7 means that our young people have to find ways of occupying themselves outside of the times activities are organised and to balance downtime with being busy. Boarding school provides a great combination of support whilst encouraging independent organisation and planning. It really is the best of all worlds.