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As this new academic year starts, many, families and schools alike, are already looking to next year. To highlight possibilities for a child’s new setting, whether that’s Prep, Senior or Sixth Form, this is also the time of year for awards and accolades, so here’s a summary of recent announcements about just some of the British boarding schools we recommend.

International Baccalaureate scores are the first external examination results released each year, in early July. As usual, the British boarding schools we work with have done very well, with their students exceeding the global average score of 31.98 out of a possible maximum of 45.

The IB programme is offered by over 3,000 schools all over the world and 170,000 candidates are entered for the diploma each year.

Just after National Boarding Week, here’s a quick round up of places to read more about being a boarder in a British boarding school.

Our own website offers an overview of the benefits of boarding here in the UK, while almost all the schools have a page outlining their provision. Here are a few you might find interesting.

At last, Gina has been able to get back out on the road to catch up with at least a couple of the British boarding schools we work with.

She started not too far from HQ with Ashville College. Situated a short stroll from the centre of Harrogate, a lovely spa town in North Yorkshire, Ashville has an extensive campus with impressive facilities.

In her 20+ years as an educational consultant, Gina has helped many families choose the right British boarding schools for more than one of their children, both sequentially and, on occasion, concurrently for twins. Should a family stay true to one school or keep an open mind? Here are her thoughts on the subject.

When siblings attend the same boarding school, it can be fun for them to have a shared experience – they can, and no doubt will, sound each other out on the quality of the facilities or the funny ways of certain teachers!

It is no secret that Britain’s attitude towards learning foreign languages would have to be marked “could do better” if it had a school report. Arguably it was ever thus but sadly, in recent years, it has got worse. At too many state schools, children are permitted to drop their language learning in Year 9 and it can be hard to take more than one language to GCSE level, let alone in 6^th Form.

Last week, Gina participated in virtual BBSW. The British Boarding Schools Workshop is a conference held each spring and autumn, where educational consultants, like Gina, meet representatives of the schools they recommend. The pandemic moved the event online to keep these important lines of communication open; it’s a great chance to catch up on developments at schools we’ve worked with for years and to discover new options.

This year Charterhouse celebrates the 150th anniversary of its relocation from central London to Godalming in Surrey.

Westonbirt has always been a fantastic option for girls seeking a truly traditional British boarding school experience. Set within a stately home rumoured to be the most expensive built during Victorian times, the school is surrounded by 210 acres of beautiful gardens and landscaped parkland in the heart of the Cotswolds and has to be seen to be believed. Following its recent transition to coeducation, and with 40% of Key Stage 3 made up of boys, Westonbirt launched boys’ boarding in September 2021, so that same experience is now available to all children.

One of the many things to recommend education at boarding school in England is the sector’s provision for the Arts. As life in our British schools resembled something a bit more normal last term, it was great to receive some accounts of their return to live performance.