Tips For Choosing A Boarding School
- Updated on 07 Jan 2022
- Child Learning
- Mautushi Paul
Topic Index
Introduction
Choosing a boarding school is one of the most important decisions you will have to make for your child. There are many factors that go into making that decision, including what type of program they need, how much money they want to spend on tuition and other fees, where in the country they live or attend school now, and more. In this blog post, we are going to discuss the top 10 tips for choosing the right boarding school.
What is meant by Boarding School?
A boarding school is a type of academy or private university wherein students reside at the institution during part or all their courses. A boarding school is often a private or public educational institution that provides supervised residence and education for students outside their hometowns. Boarding schools are not just for the rich and famous. There are boarding schools of all types that suit every student’s needs, budget, and background.
Different Types of Boarding School
Following are the different types of Boarding schools:
Girls Boarding School:
Girls boarding school is a school that is for the girls only. These boarding schools are usually located in rural areas and offer a traditional college-prep curriculum with an emphasis on sports, arts, and nature exploration as well as mentoring from other female alumni. Girls Boarding Schools can be expensive so parents should do thorough research before committing to one of these schools.
Boys Boarding School:
Boarding Schools are the same for boys and girls , except they focus on male students. Boys Boarding Schools usually have a more militaristic environment than Girls Boarding School and may not offer all of the extracurricular activities that female colleges do because these schools tend to be located in rural areas where there is less opportunity for sports teams or other clubs.
What should we look at when selecting a Boarding School?
There are many different factors to consider before enrollment in any type of educational program or facility in a boarding school such as academic strengths (course offerings), tuition rates, housing options, sports programs/activities offered, extracurricular activities available, etc.
Following are the top 10 tips while choosing a boarding school:
Get a list of schools
Then call the admissions office to schedule an appointment. If you’re still not sure about what they want, ask them questions such as “what is your favorite subject?” or “if you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? Why?” This will help point out their interests!
Talk to students and alumni
Talk to current students and alumni of the respective school from all perspectives such as teachers, administration, parents of current students.
Consider your children’s interests
What are they passionate about? What do you think would be great for them? These should guide conversations with school representatives or admissions officers.
Explore local public schools
Explore local public schools as well as boarding schools by reading reviews on Niche or College Factual (these websites have a lot more information than just rankings). Knowing which city is best for someone can help narrow down their choices immensely!
Visit a boarding school campus:
It’s the perfect way to get an insider view of what life is like at that specific location, and how it will be for your student after they enroll. Tours are typically offered during daytime hours when students aren’t on campus, so there won’t be any distractions from classes or extracurricular activities.
Choose one that offers a strong academic program with diverse course offerings:
This might include AP courses in addition to standard curriculum options; specializations such as visual arts or journalism; electives including languages like Spanish, Arabic, or Chinese; advanced placement courses through local colleges and universities if possible (some schools allow this); vocational training programs where appropriate; STEM opportunities available for those interested in science, technology, engineering, and math; etc.
Choosing a school with an active theater program
It can help develop your child’s creativity which is so important in today’s ever-changing world of business.
Choose one that offers strong extracurricular programs:
In school these could include sports teams for different levels including club or varsity options as well as clubs for things like debate or robotics. Clubs for music are also likely to be available such as marching bands or jazz ensembles. A healthy arts curriculum should offer plenty of opportunities to explore interests outside the classroom, too from photography to ceramics and printmaking.
Consider the athletic opportunities offered:
A school’s sports teams can help develop leadership skills and keep students connected to their peers.
Determine if you want a feel for campus life or not:
In boarding school you may be looking at schools that do not offer dormitories, so it would allow your child to have more time with family on holidays as well as summers off from academics. The tradeoff is that these campuses are often far away from major cities where most of the jobs will be in the future and they lack some social interaction between students who live there year-round.
Conclusion
Choosing a boarding school can be an intimidating and overwhelming process, but it doesn’t have to be. We hope our 10 tips for choosing the right boarding school help you find your way through this maze of decisions so that you can make an informed decision about where your child will spend their formative years. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if we may assist with anything else along the way!
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