We are an HMC co-educational day and boarding school located in rural Cambridgeshire, close to the borders of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, and within easy reach of Hertfordshire and north London. Many of our children live in these counties and use our daily bus service to travel to and from school. Others come from further afield - we currently have over 30 nationalities represented by our pupils - and choose from our range of flexible boarding options. Boarding starts at age 11. Our day and boarding pupils are fully integrated through our House system and our boarders enjoy a wide variety of after-school and weekend activities, some of which are also available to day pupils. Many of our day pupils choose to stay in the boarding houses on either a regular or occasional basis, subject to availability.
The School Day
At the Prep School, the day starts with registration at 08:50 for all boys and girls and ends at 15:30 for the Lower Prep and 15:50 for the Upper Prep. There are many opportunities to extend the School day both before and after these core hours, through a wide range of activities, supervised homework sessions and Kim Club. View the structure of the Prep School day.
The Senior School day starts at 08:40 with registration and finishes at 16:20. Outside of these hours, pupils may join our boarders for breakfast or tea. We also provide supervised homework sessions and a variety of after-school activities for pupils to pursue. View the structure of the Senior School day.
Boarding at Kimbolton is a rich and rewarding experience within our close-knit school and village communities. We offer the security of living in a friendly rural Cambridgeshire village, yet are within easy reach of London, and provide activities and trips every weekend to ensure that our boarders experience life beyond our gates. We offer boarding from age 11. As well as full boarding, when there is space we also offer weekly, flexi- and occasional boarding. Subject to a quick call beforehand, parents are always welcome to visit their children or take them for a short trip away.
Our boarding houses are located on Kimbolton village's historic and beautiful High Street in Cambridgeshire, and back onto the school grounds. The boys live in Kimbolton House while the girls are a few doors further along in White House. Both houses have a rich history and are full of character yet have modern facilities that meet the needs of today's teenagers.
There is a relaxed family atmosphere in both boarding houses. We encourage boarders to personalise their rooms and to treat the houses like home while respecting the needs of others. Younger boarders share rooms while older ones have study bedrooms more akin to university accommodation.
We have a team of boarding staff in each house who are always on hand to provide help and guidance. Our Health Centre provides medical back-up while our catering staff produce interesting, nutritional meals throughout the week. All of our boarders eat together in the Dining Room which reinforces their sense of community.
With our full programme of activities, nurturing environment and individual attention, our boarding houses provide a true home-from-home at an affordable price.
We offer a wide range of different boarding options to suit your family's needs. If full or weekly boarding is not for you, you can choose to stay on a regular night each week or on occasional nights throughout the year, subject to availability of places.
You can choose from:
Full Boarding
As a full boarder you stay at school during the week and at weekends throughout the term. There is a week-long break in the middle of each term but there are no other fixed weekends out so your parents or guardians are always very welcome to visit you or take you out during the weekends.
During term time, there is always plenty going on at weekends and in the evening - see our Typical Week page for full details - so you'll always have plenty to do.
Weekly Boarding
Our weekly boarders come to school on either Sunday night or Monday morning, and stay four or five nights until Friday or Saturday morning.
Weekly boarding is great for those who live quite close to school - or perhaps as far away as London, thanks to our excellent road and rail links - and want to take full advantage of all of the extra curricular clubs and activities going on in school each evening. Those that live nearby can even travel to school on Monday and home on Friday using our bus service.
Some younger pupils struggle to get into a good homework routine or find that completing their prep is a source of stress at home. Weekly boarding is a good solution as help is on hand from staff and older pupils during the compulsory evening prep sessions.
It's also ideal for families with working parents and especially where one or both travels or works long hours. The Monday to Friday routine becomes far less of a stressful juggle as you can depend on us to care for your child in our close-knit friendly community.
Less time spent travelling during the week means more time for homework, friends and hobbies - and means that you can all enjoy your weekends at home too.
Flexi-Boarding
Our flexi-boarders opt at the start of the year (or term) to stay at school for the same night or nights each week. They choose to stay for up to three nights, but have to decide in advance which day(s) of the week to stay - for example, every Tuesday after a sailing lesson or equestrian session. Flexi-boarding can be combined with the use of our bus service.
You may choose flexi-boarding because you normally have a long journey into school and would like a to break up the travelling during the week, or because you want to see if your child likes boarding, or just because that’s how many nights away from home your child feels comfortable with.
Flexi-boarding is especially popular with pupils involved in after school clubs and activities, but please note that all flexi-boarding is subject to availability of beds on the night(s) of your choice.
Occasional Boarding
Occasional boarding means your child stays the occasional night (or nights) on a one-off basis, perhaps because they have a late activity or trip, or because you need to be absent with work or for a short holiday and your child would rather stay in school with their friends.
Some of our full and weekly boarders start out as occasional boarders. If your child is wondering what boarding is like but doesn't want to make a commitment yet, occasional boarding is an ideal way to try it out.
What is life as a boarder at Kimbolton really like? Here, 17-year-old Lauren outlines a typical weekday in White House...
| 07.30 | Wake up, the bell is rung by one of the 1st-3rd Formers on duty. We get ready for school and meet in the foyer downstairs to grab our snack for break time. |
| 08.00 | We walk to Breakfast, which is in the School dining hall. Breakfast is a good opportunity to catch up with friends from the other Boarding House, especially if you have siblings there. |
| 08.40 | Tutor time, followed by lessons in School. |
| 11.00 | Break Time. As a Sixth Former, I can go to the High Street, or back to the boarding house if I’d like to. |
| 11.20 | Lessons in School. |
| 13.10 | Lunch. Sixth Formers can go back to the house to pick up books, or PE kit if needed. You can also go back to the house during study periods. |
| 14.10 | Lessons in School. |
| 16.20 | End of the School day. People are in and out of the house at this time. Some are grabbing a snack to have before hockey practice and others are heading to silver service club. Even if you don’t have anything on, there will likely be some sort of discussion or ‘TV watching’ in the common room. There is always someone around to chat to! |
| 18.00 | Supper in the dining hall, and then free time before prep (homework). |
| 19.00-21.00 | Prep. 1st-3rd Formers do homework in the prep room, often with a Sixth Form volunteer or teacher on duty to help. However, if you are 4th Form or above you can choose to do homework in your own room. A duty member of staff comes round to see if we are all OK (and to check we are working!) |
| 21.00 | Free time. Depending on the day, there’ll be an activity, e.g playing a board game or watching a film in the common room. This is also a chance to do something by yourself, like reading a book or playing an instrument. |
| 22.45 | Get ready for bed. As a Sixth Former, I need to be in my room by 22.45, but that time changes according to what year you’re in. |
Weekends
Term-time weekends are always busy with sports matches, drama rehearsals and trips and visits away from Kimbolton. Boarders have access to the sports facilities, including the swimming pool, and the school grounds. We also run a programme of boarders excursions to a wide variety of destinations chosen by them. There is a trip every weekend. Favourites include London shows, high rope adventure centres, theme parks, shopping trips and the annual Clothes Show at the NEC.
Below, 13-year-old Tilda outlines a typical Sunday in White House...
| 09.00 | I wake up quite late but I wake up just in time for brunch at 10, I get ready (normally into nice warm, cosy clothes if it’s winter). |
| 10.00 | I leave to go and get brunch down in the dining hall where I see my older brother; it is nice to see him. I normally have a full English breakfast just to fill me up because I am normally really hungry. Breakfasts are always good, but Sunday especially so! |
| 10.30 | Straight after brunch we rush down to the mini buses to set off for an amazing day out; today we are at an aqua park. We have lots of different activities organised for us which are never too far; the bus ride normally takes 30 minutes to an hour. |
| 15.30 | We get back from the water park just in time for tea. I need to get my swimming kit before we go to tea because I get picked up straight after – I am a keen swimmer, and it is great that Mrs Hadden is happy for me to work my training schedule round boarding life. |
| 16.00 | I leave to get to supper but just have something light, because I had a big brunch and don't really want to eat too much before I go swimming training in the evening. |
| 16.15 | I rush out of tea quickly, just in time for someone to pick me up to go swimming, I am normally swimming for two hours, but the pool is 30 minutes away, so I am gone for around three hours in total. I’m a really keen competitive swimmer, so it’s great that I can still do this whilst boarding - and also make use of the School pool at other times. |
| 19.30 | I get back at around this time and when I get back I am normally really tired, but I do still sometimes have homework to do. On the weekend we don't have scheduled prep time, so it is our responsibility to do the homework by ourself – I know I could do it on Friday night, but I often don’t! |
| 21.15 | After a busy day, it is time for me to go to bed. The duty staff will check on us at this point, so I need to make sure that I am ready before this time. It is nice to have a chat before bedtime too, and tell them how my day has been. They are always really friendly and genuinely interested. |
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