Barnard Castle School

Junior Boarding

Old Courts is a unique home at the heart of the school campus. The recently refurbished Junior Boarding house accommodates boy and girl boarders from Year 3 to Year 8 and therefore straddles the transition between the Preparatory School and the Senior School.

We believe in keeping pupils ‘younger for longer’ and giving them the very best support both in their preparatory years and also as they progress into the Senior School.

The Old Courts community is large enough to find friends with similar interests – yet small enough to feel like an extended family of siblings. Our core values of integrity, kindness, responsibility, positive attitude and respect, were developed through discussions with our boarders and echo closely the values of the school.

Boarding is great fun and very rewarding. The more energy and enthusiasm that you put into boarding, the more you will enjoy it. Be ready to join in, have lots of fun and make new friends along the way.

Weekends
Weekends allow our boarders to relax, to play with their friends, enjoy the facilities within the grounds and to take part in an extensive range of activities and trips. The children learn to live, play and work together in an informal, yet structured environment with opportunities to develop their individual personalities and take part in activities that interest them. Boarders participate in a full programme of evening and weekend activities and can join local sports clubs as well as cubs, scouts, brownies and guides if they wish. They can bring mobile telephones, iPods, digital cameras and handheld electronic games such as DSs or PSPs to the boarding house which are available to them for up to one hour at any time of the day at the weekend before being handed in for safe keeping at bedtime.

Boarding Principles:
Informed by these values, boarding at Barnard Castle School is based on the following principles:

• The development of the whole person, physically, spiritually, intellectually, morally, socially and emotionally in a supportive and caring community.
• Mutual respect, which is observed by staff and pupils alike.
• The right of each pupil to be happy
• The right of each pupil to be themselves
• The right of each pupil to feel secure.
• Equality of opportunities.
• The right to privacy.

Barnard Castle School is a home from home for boarders and provides supportive links between the School, the boarders and parents.

In addition to addressing boarders’ physical needs and their requirements for security and safety, each House seeks to contribute to its pupils’ development in terms of their confidence, self-esteem and self-awareness.

Boarding Aims and Objectives:
The aims and objectives of each boarding house will differ in practice depending on the age range and circumstance of the house; all however have the common aims to:

• To develop the whole person, and prepare each boarder for their future life beyond school.
• To develop an open and trusting culture in which boarders are confident that they will be treated with respect, as well as introducing new members of the community with kindness and sensitivity, regardless of age and background.
• To create an atmosphere of cooperation, tolerance, kindness, compassion and trust in which any form of bullying cannot flourish.
• To provide the conditions for boarders to develop their intellectual talents through well-structured and well-observed prep conditions, with support from Tutors and Houseparents, and in addition to provide an atmosphere conducive to carrying out academic work.
• To ensure that boarders are able to develop skills necessary to organise both their academic and extra-curricular lives.
• To develop a sense of responsibility for self, others and the environment.
• To develop boarders’ qualities of leadership and the ability to work as part of a team, as well as to make a positive contribution to the school, the local community and wider society.
• To provide a range of experiences and opportunities under conditions that will encourage the cultural, social and personal development of each boarder. In particular to ensure these opportunities are available at weekends.
• To provide a safe environment in which boarders can enjoy growing up, where they know where to turn to should they have concerns.
• To encourage supportive relationships between boarders, staff and parents.

Senior Boarding

Houses
The House system was established when Barney was founded, and has since grown to eight Senior Houses for both day and boarding pupils and staff.

Each House plays a very important part of school life and a key role in achieving the aims of our School. Every pupil and member of staff is allocated to a House, which provides a sense of identity, pride and loyalty through opportunities to represent the House and contribute to its success in a variety of competitions and activities.

At Barney, there are three Senior Boarding Houses:

• Longfield
• Northumberland
• York

To learn more about each Boarding House, including details of our Housemasters and Housemistresses, visit the links located on this page.

Boarding Principles:
Informed by these values, boarding at Barnard Castle School is based on the following principles:

• The development of the whole person, physically, spiritually, intellectually, morally, socially and emotionally in a supportive and caring community.
• Mutual respect, which is observed by staff and pupils alike.
• The right of each pupil to be happy
• The right of each pupil to be themselves
• The right of each pupil to feel secure.
• Equality of opportunities.
• The right to privacy.

Barnard Castle School is a home from home for boarders and provides supportive links between the School, the boarders and parents.

In addition to addressing boarders’ physical needs and their requirements for security and safety, each House seeks to contribute to its pupils’ development in terms of their confidence, self-esteem and self-awareness.

Boarding Aims and Objectives:
The aims and objectives of each boarding house will differ in practice depending on the age range and circumstance of the house; all however have the common aims to:

• To develop the whole person, and prepare each boarder for their future life beyond school.
• To develop an open and trusting culture in which boarders are confident that they will be treated with respect, as well as introducing new members of the community with kindness and sensitivity, regardless of age and background.
• To create an atmosphere of cooperation, tolerance, kindness, compassion and trust in which any form of bullying cannot flourish.
• To provide the conditions for boarders to develop their intellectual talents through well-structured and well-observed prep conditions, with support from Tutors and Houseparents, and in addition to provide an atmosphere conducive to carrying out academic work.
• To ensure that boarders are able to develop skills necessary to organise both their academic and extra-curricular lives.
• To develop a sense of responsibility for self, others and the environment.
• To develop boarders’ qualities of leadership and the ability to work as part of a team, as well as to make a positive contribution to the school, the local community and wider society.
• To provide a range of experiences and opportunities under conditions that will encourage the cultural, social and personal development of each boarder. In particular to ensure these opportunities are available at weekends.
• To provide a safe environment in which boarders can enjoy growing up, where they know where to turn to should they have concerns.
• To encourage supportive relationships between boarders, staff and parents