Daily life at a UK boarding school is exciting and varied. You’ll have a wide range of lessons in diverse subjects, from Chemistry to Drama. You’ll have lots of dedicated learning time, both in and out of the classroom, and plenty of opportunities for social time with your friends. Every day is different, but our blog outlines what you might get up to in an average day.
In a typical day at boarding school in the UK, you will wake up around 7am and then have breakfast in the dining hall with other boarding students before lessons begin for the day.
Most lessons will be between 45 minutes and an hour, but in some subjects you might occasionally have a longer double lesson. At lunchtime, you’ll gather with other students in the dining room to eat together. This is a good time to chat and catch up with your friends. Most days after lunch you will have more lessons before the teaching day ends at around 3:30pm. Many boarding schools take one afternoon per week off from lessons, and dedicate the time to sports.
Sport is an important part of daily life at boarding school in the UK and after school, all students will have the opportunity to participate in sports activities. In winter, some of the most popular sports at boarding school are football, rugby, hockey and netball. In summer, sport options include cricket, tennis and athletics.
Following sports, you’ll be able to shower and get changed. Having worked up an appetite, it’s time for dinner, usually around 6pm.
UK boarding schools offer a huge range of extra-curricular activities outwith sports too, so if you get involved in music societies, or other clubs, you will often attend these in the evenings. In the evenings you will also have what is known as ‘prep’. Prep is dedicated time each day for students to do their homework, usually with the supervision of houseparents. Depending on your age, prep generally lasts between one and two hours.
After a busy day you will have some free time to chat to friends, read, watch TV or play games. Lights out times depend on your age.
On Saturday mornings you will also have lessons. Saturday morning school is a new concept for many international students, but you’ll quickly get into the swing of things!
The rest of your weekend schedule will vary depending on your school, but boarders find that weekends are full of fun activities. Lots of students like to explore their local area at the weekend, and schools often organise activities or day trips into nearby towns and cities. Organised activities might include things like going to the cinema, museum, bowling and climbing. Depending on your age you may go out for the day with a group of friends. Boarders also get to take part in activities in the boarding house – games nights and movie nights are a favourite!
Occasionally you’ll also have ‘exeat weekends’ at school which will mean your weekend routine is a little different. Exeat weekends are when the boarding houses are closed over the weekend. They might also be known as ‘leave out’ weekends or ‘rec-leave’. These weekends will give students an excellent opportunity to travel home to visit their parents if they’re not too far away. Lots of students also like to stay with friends or a host family over these weekends.
This article appears in the following categories Boarding School Life
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