There are two types of boarding schools available in the UK – full boarding and half boarding. Full boarding is where your child is only allowed one break during the term – they can come home for a few days during a half term break. Half boarding is where your child leaves home early on Monday morning for school and comes home every weekend. If you leave far from the boarding school, or come from another country half boarding is not possible.
Full boarding is a good choice especially for students who are about to sit their sixth form exams – it allows them to focus because there is no time wasted on commuting,. However, it can be tough when your child is stuck in school for weeks on end. Unfortunately there isn’t much that you can do – that is the timetable for this kind of schooling and your child has to learn to cope with it.
There are however some things you can do to ease their time at school. The first is to make sure that they have everything that they need before they leave home. Find out what is allowed in the school and what isn’t – most full boarding schools have very strict rules about what children can and cannot bring to school. Find out if your child is allowed to call home – the best schools let children get in touch with parents through phone at least once a week. When your child calls you should find out if they are okay and if there is anything they need. If there is a problem, or you sense that things are not right you should visit the school and try and straighten it out.
The Cambridge Centre for Sixth Form Studies is one of the best full boarding schools in Cambridge. It has an experienced faculty, trained carers and a good academic track record.