|
    
|
Winning weekendsSimon Northcott, Headmaster of S. Anselm’s Preparatory School
So, little Johnny is off to school! You have had a wonderful visit to a pucker boarding school, which was brimming with lively kids and bursting with energy. The tour around was a great success and, though you can’t quite believe it, Johnny is desperate to go off and get stuck in. The Astroturf, new swimming pool, squash courts and sports hall looked fab, and were just too good to resist. More importantly, the boarding accommodation was great and so was the cheerful housemaster. ‘Of course Johnny will settle in fast,’ laughs the even jollier headmaster, who was very much behind the boarding ethos and sings about the warmth and pastoral care within the boarding house. Basically, it looks like Johnny is going to have a cracking time despite being away from home.
Five days in, and the early reports are good: emails home talk of new friends being made and some ‘zinging’ lessons. The housemaster is described as a ‘good bloke’ and Johnny also thinks he might get into the football squad. All going well – just as the headmaster had promised! It looks as though you have struck gold and that the family is happy because you seem to have solved the difficulties of marrying Army life with Johnny’s precious education. Priceless! Then it happens. At about 2pm on Sunday afternoon you get the awful, tearful telephone call. Johnny has been wandering the corridors for the last hour or so looking for some pals in his year group to play with. A small handful of older girls are playing on the back field and the housemaster has taken three of the lads off for a short walk before lunch. Matron has said she will catch up with Johnny at four o’clock if he wants to play Monopoly with her but until then Johnny is kicking his heels and a sense of loneliness is beginning to consume him. The IT rooms are open but otherwise tumbleweed rolls down the main corridor as the school rests, awaiting Monday morning and the return of the mass of day and flexi boarders who had filled the corridors during your Wednesday visit three months ago. It looks like you missed something. Those corridors you saw were brimming with predominantly day pupils who enjoyed the odd bit of flexi boarding when mum and dad had a dinner to go to. The made-up beds were occupied by weekly boarders who leave on a Saturday and return on Monday morning. Fabulous for the local parents – and indeed the headmaster had not lied when he said he was behind boarding, but was it the model you were hoping for? For Army personnel who are frequently on six-month tours abroad and who are moving every one or two years, the weekly and flexi model of boarding just cannot fit and there is nothing more heartbreaking than knowing your son or daughter is treading water on a Sunday afternoon when this should be the best day of the week, when he/she should be rubbing shoulders with a wealth of mates and having fun. Furthermore, a true boarding school should see Sundays as an opportunity to broaden minds and shape characters. This is never more the case than when your child has entered a prep school to board. An 18 year old can do some work, watch a film and go to bed early on a Sunday, but an eight year old is a different kettle of fish. They are buzzing with energy and enthusiasm and this is a precious time when that fizz needs to be tapped. At S. Anselm’s – one of only a small number of day and full boarding schools in the country – Sundays are the best day of the week. We do not do flexi or weekly boarding here: the boarding community stays intact for the duration of our 20 day blocks, and then everyone goes home for a good long exeat weekend. Every Sunday at school there is a chapel service with distinguished guest speakers followed by a fabulous BBQ or roast lunch, and then the activities begin. On average, the 80-plus full boarding pupils are offered a choice of eight or more different activities every Sunday. These range from rock scrambling, gorge walking, canoeing, raft building, mountain biking, orienteering and archery to visits to museums and country houses, cookery, croquet, fishing, arts and crafts, pottery, play performances and fashion shows. But I haven’t mentioned the visits to Trent Bridge, trips to watch Leicester Tigers, assault courses, art galleries and paint-balling, as well as the expected swimming trips, cricket training, netball tournaments, golf matches, visits to castles, caves and so on and so on. Quite simply, Sunday is a day when the kids have a ball and this is when the wow factor is injected into their education. The pupils who leave the school having boarded at S. Anselm’s leave with a gamut of experiences that have challenged, amused and entertained them. This has meant that deep friendships have been forged beyond the classroom too. To know that such an education is being provided and that your child is surrounded by friends throughout the weeks is critical for Forces parents and guarantees a priceless peace of mind. Forces parents at S. Anselm’s regularly tell me that they come here because they know that their child will be happy seven days a week, and that this is an invaluable service. Basically, it ensures that the tearful phone call made from a pay phone in an echoing corridor is a horror you will not have to face! If you would like to know more about what S. Anselm’s offers seven days a week, visit www.sanselms.co.uk The ‘Latest News’ and ‘Boarding’ sections have weekly reports and pictures describing the Sunday programme. Better still, come and visit … even on a Sunday if you like!  Simon Northcott is Headmaster of S. Anselm’s School Bakewell (a co-educational boarding and day prep school 3–13). He was educated in Australia before moving to St Aubyns Rottingdean, Marlborough College and St Andrews University (MA Hons in History). He worked for Price Waterhouse and then at a marketing consultancy before moving into teaching. He taught at Norwich School, before becoming a Housemaster at Oakham School. His wife Michelle was also Head of Girls’ Games at Oakham. |
|
|||||||
