How to pick the best British boarding school for your child – and make sure it is the real thing

British boarding schools continue to be a popular option for families in Hong Kong and China – the 20 plus schools, consultancies and colleges that exhibited at the recent British Boarding Schools Fair in Hong Kong are testament to this. But how do you know you’re choosing a proper boarding school experience for your child?

Some British schools describe themselves as a boarding school, and they are. When we inquired about a prospective school for our daughter, we were told there would be other boarders starting in her house, in her year and at the same time as her.
As an expat family living thousands of miles away, this was important to us, alleviating worries that she would be lonely and homesick. She was devastated when she discovered – on arrival – that she was the only full boarder in her year in her house. And as such, she felt very lonely, and even further away from home.

My daughter’s school had a great reputation and – undeniably – furnished her with a good education: an excellent language department, great music options and fabulous sports facilities. But her first year was difficult: it was hard, she said, when most people went home on Saturday but you didn’t.

So how do you choose a “proper” boarding school, where your child won’t be the odd one out, left out, because they don’t or can’t go home at weekends?

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Dominic Moon, of the UK Boarding Schools Guide, says the list of truly full boarding schools is almost non-existent. Of the 200 schools the guide represents, a handful offer full boarding as the only option.