Typical boarding school characteristics
The term boarding school often refers to classic British boarding schools and many boarding schools around the world are modeled on these.
A typical modern fee-charging boarding school has several separate residential houses, either within the school grounds or in the surrounding area. Pupils generally need permission to go outside defined school bounds; they may be allowed to travel off-campus at certain times.
A number of senior teaching staff are appointed as housemasters, housemistresses, dorm parents, or residential advisors, each of whom takes quasi-parental responsibility for perhaps 50 students resident in their house at all times but particularly outside school hours. Each may be assisted in the domestic management of the house by a housekeeper often known as matron, and by a house tutor for academic matters, often providing staff of each sex. In the US, boarding schools typically have a resident family that lives in the dorm, known as dorm parents. They also have janitorial staff for maintenance and housekeeping, but typically do not have tutors associated with an individual dorm. Nevertheless, older pupils are often unsupervised by staff, and a system of monitors or prefects gives limited authority to senior pupils. Houses readily develop distinctive characters, and a healthy rivalry between houses is often encouraged in sport.
Houses or dorms usually include study-bedrooms or dormitories, a dining room or refectory where pupils take meals at fixed times, and a library, hall or cubicles where pupils can do their homework. Houses may also have common rooms for television and relaxation and kitchens for snacks, and, occasionally, storage facilities for bicycles or other sports equipment. Some facilities may be shared between several houses or dorms.
In some schools, each house has pupils of all ages, in which case there is usually a prefect system, which gives older pupils some privileges and some responsibility for the welfare of the younger ones. In others, separate houses accommodate needs of different years or classes. In some schools, day pupils are assigned to a dorm or house for social activities and sports purposes.
Each student has an individual timetable, which in the early years allows little discretion. Boarders and day students are taught together in school hours and in most cases continue beyond the school day to include sports, clubs and societies, or excursions. As well as the usual academic facilities such as classrooms, halls, libraries and laboratories, boarding schools often provide a wide variety of facilities for extracurricular activities such as music rooms, gymnasiums, sports fields and school grounds, boats, squash courts, swimming pools, cinemas and theatres. A school chapel is often found on site. Day students often stay on after school to use these facilities.
British boarding schools have three terms a year, approximately twelve weeks each, with a few days' half-term holiday during which pupils are expected to go home or at least away from school. There may be several exeats or weekends in each half of the term when pupils may go home or away. Boarding pupils nowadays often go to school within easy traveling distance of their homes, and so may see their families frequently; families are encouraged to come and support school sports teams playing at home against other schools.
Most school dormitories have a "lights out" time when the pupils are required to be in bed, depending on their age, and perhaps a later time after which no talking is permitted; such rules may be difficult to enforce, and pupils may often try to break them, for example by reading surreptitiously by flashlight or escaping on nocturnal excursions. Students sharing study rooms are less likely to disturb others and may be given more latitude.
Some boarding schools have only boarding students, while others have both boarding students and day students who go home at the end of the school day. Day students are sometimes known as day boys or day girls. Some schools welcome day students to attend breakfast and dinner, while others charge a nominal fee. For schools that have designated study hours or quiet hours in the evenings, students on campus (including day students) are usually required to observe the same "quiet" rules (such as no television, students must stay in their rooms, library or study hall, etc.). Schools that have both boarding and day students sometimes describe themselves as semi boarding schools or day boarding schools. Some schools also have students who board during the week but go home on weekends: these are known as weekly boarders, quasi-boarders, or five-day boarders.
Day students and weekly boarders may have a different and perhaps unfavourable view of the day school system, as compared to children who attend day schools without any boarding facilities. These students relate to a boarding school life, even though they do not totally reside in school; however, they may not completely become part of the boarding school experience. In some cases, day students feel they are treated as second-class students by the boarding students. On the other hand, these students have a different view of boarding schools as compared to full-term boarders who go home less frequently, perhaps only at the end of a term or even the end of an academic year.
Other forms of residential schools
Boarding schools are a form of residential school; however, not all residential schools are "classic" boarding schools. Other forms of residential schools include:
Therapeutic schools, which provide clinical inpatient services for students with disabilities, such as severe anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, Aspergers syndrome, and/or for students with substance abuse and socialisation problems
Residential education programs, which provide a stable and supportive environment for at-risk children to live and learn together.
Residential schools for students with special educational needs, who may or may not be disabled
Semester schools, which complement a student's secondary education by providing a one semester residential experience with a central focusing curricular theme—which may appeal to students and families uninterested in a longer residential education experience
Specialist schools focused on a particular academic discipline, such as the public North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics or the private Interlochen Arts Academy.
The Israeli kibbutzim, where children stay and get educated in a commune, but also have everyday contact with their parents at specified hours.
In rural areas of the United States, general attendance public boarding schools were once numerous; only one remains today: Crane Union High School in Crane, Oregon. Around two-thirds of its more than 80 students, mostly children from remote ranches, board during the school week in order to save a one-way commute of up to 150 miles (240 km) across Harney County.
Applicable regulations
In the UK, almost all boarding schools are independent schools, which are not subject to the national curriculum or other educational regulations applicable to state schools. Nevertheless there are some regulations, primarily for health and safety purposes, as well as the general law. The Department for Children, Schools and Families, in conjunction with the Department of Health of the United Kingdom, has prescribed guidelines for boarding schools, called the National Boarding Standards.
One example of regulations covered within the National Boarding Standards are those for the minimum floor area or living space required for each student and other aspects of basic facilities. The minimum floor area of a dormitory accommodating two or more students is defined as the number of students sleeping in the dormitory multiplied by 4.2 m², plus 1.2 m². A minimum distance of 0.9 m should also be maintained between any two beds in a dormitory, bedroom or cubicle. In case students are provided with a cubicle, then each student must be provided with a window and a floor area of 5.0 m² at the least. A bedroom for a single student should be at least of floor area of 6.0 m². Boarding schools must provide a total floor area of at least 2.3 m² living accommodation for every boarder. This should also be incorporated with at least one bathtub or shower for every ten students.
These are some of the few guidelines set by the department amongst many others. It could probably be observed that not all boarding schools around the world meet these minimum basic standards, despite their apparent appeal.