Today there are enormous demands on working parents and families. Wrap-around care is essential for all parents and boarding at Windermere School delivers a simple solution in a wonderful location.
We strongly believe in the value of our UK boarding school offering and what it can provide for your child. To meet the demands of busy family life, we offer both full, weekly and flexible boarding.
Weekly boarding allows children to enjoy the benefits of boarding and yet be able to spend quality time with their families at weekends. The entire family benefits from less travelling during the week and escape the pressures of ‘fitting it all in’. Children enjoy a week of learning, after-school activities, sport and the relaxed friendly atmosphere of the boarding house in the evenings. Windermere’s boarding houses each have their own unique personality and pupils enjoy a sense of belonging.
Flexibility is key to supporting our families and pupils. Pupils are welcome to board 1, 2 or 3 nights a week too. This helps enormously with early sailing team commitments or drama rehursals at weekends and to break up a week of bus journeys to school.
Each house has a Houseparent who works closely with the House Assistants and Matrons. These staff are key to the development, support and guidance of the students in their care. The Houseparents help to foster a sense of the warmth and familiar routines of family life. Our aim is to create a caring atmosphere in which our boarding children feel happy, secure and comfortable. We offer every boarder a true ‘home from home’ under the watchful eye and guidance of their Houseparent.
Throughout the academic year and over each weekend we run activities and trips aimed at enriching the pupils’ lives and their boarding school experience. A sense of belonging is important in helping children develop friendships and positive relationships. Our key aim is to help our young people become confident, well-rounded individuals who have the ability to make the very best of the opportunities that life offers.
We pride ourselves on being a truly happy junior boarding school where young boarders can enjoy their childhood, making friends and memories that will last a lifetime in a home away from home environment.
Our outstanding house team ensures that the houses run smoothly at a grassroots level and that the atmosphere within the house is friendly and comfortable, allowing all pupils to feel valued and confident at all points throughout their day. The team supervises everything from getting up in the morning to going to bed in the evening and the Houseparent is on hand throughout the day.
All junior boarding school houses are found within our Browhead Campus giving our younger boarding pupils a special insight into the Senior School life, often building amazing friendships that support a seamless progression as they move up through the year groups.
Contact with Parents
Even the briefest telephone call can mean the world to a parent of a child at a boarding school. There is regular communication between house staff and the wider school community and parents are encouraged to get in touch with the team at any time. We believe close working relationships with parents are essential if we are to ensure that every pupil gains the most from their boarding experience.
We recommend that parents of new pupils let their child settle for a few days before making regular calls, as even the strongest and most independent child can find the transition to boarding takes a little time.
Nestling in the Lake District fells, the School offers senior boarding and the chance to learn and live in a less hectic and more peaceful environment.
Senior boarding enjoys the independence of living away from home while being part of a large community of staff and pupils with who they share this unforgettable experience.
The weekend programme is packed with trips to the theatre, tours of the area, shopping expeditions, and leisure activities such as bowling and roller-blading. Boarders form strong friendships with day pupils who regularly join in with the weekend activity programme.
We have three boarding houses, set within our Lake District woodland campus and each House has its own distinctive feel. They each offer a home away from home experience, with comfortable lounges to relax with friends, widescreen TVs, and kitchens. There are quiet areas for prep, with academic tutors’ schedule each evening providing specialist subject tuition.
We believe that boarding is a rich and life-affirming experience for our Sixth Form pupils. We know that they leave us well prepared for the demands and challenges of university life. Their friendships are extraordinarily long-lived. They are independent, resilient, resourceful, cheerful, tolerant, pro-active, kind, capable young men and women who go on to make their mark on the world.
Our boarders come from far and wide. Many are local – a few live closer to School than some of their day pupil friends. Others come from the northwest of England, while others are from further afield in the UK and some from overseas. This makes for a varied and vibrant community within the house.
The pastoral support at Windermere School is unrivalled. New pupils settle in well, and the relationships between staff and students are a key strength of the Sixth Form. Staff go the extra mile to get to know pupils in their tutor group extremely well, and academic progress is monitored continually to allow everyone to achieve their potential. Relationships with parents are also strong, and staff are always happy to speak with parents and to work in partnership with a focus on the pupil. As a school, we strive to do more than equip our children academically for the future. Developing resilience has perhaps never been as important as it is now and our forward-thinking pastoral programme has this aim at its heart.
A strong sense of self-esteem can help a pupils reach their full potential and our staff embrace their duty to provide support to each and every individual. We believe good relationships are the key to success whether it is on the sports field, academically, creatively, or in outdoor pursuits.
Flexible boarding to suit your family life
Every family has different needs so Windermere School offers a range of flexible boarding options including weekly boarding, occasional boarding and activity boarding. Ours is a kind, caring and inclusive community for any and all of our pupils who choose to board with us.
Flexible boarding enables day pupils to board part-time. This can be on a regular basis or just occasionally.
Occasional or Daily Boarding
We know that family life is busy, and if we have space, day pupils are always welcome to stay for an occasional night. Parents can rest easy in the knowledge that their child has had a delicious evening meal, taken part in after-school activities and supervised study and had a wonderful time relaxing with their friends.
Regular or Weekly Boarding
We are always delighted when our day pupils choose to stay with us for an agreed number of nights each week.
In our experience, this can prove a very useful option for both parents and pupils, especially in the build-up to exams. This kind of boarding is a fantastic way to develop independence and gently prepare for living and studying away from home
Activity Boarding
When a school activity means a longer day, a very early start or a late night we offer families an overnight stay in school at a reduced cost.
Throughout the academic year and over each weekend we run activities and trips aimed at enriching the pupils’ lives and their boarding experience. A sense of belonging is important in helping children develop friendships and positive relationships. Our key aim is to help our young people become confident, well-rounded individuals who have the ability to make the very best of the opportunities that life offers.
Boarders enjoy a huge range of extra-curricular activities both after lessons have finished for the day, and at weekends. Clubs, sports, music practice, and voluntary work are all part of life at Windermere School, and there is also plenty of time just to relax and be with friends.
Weekends are filled with activities and trips, many of which day pupils are also invited to get involved in. Biking, climbing, ghyll scrambling, and walking and film nights are firm favourites, but, depending on the time of year, we might also pop into Windermere town to take in a local Christmas market and enjoy a spot of ice-skating or head to a local beach for a paddle.
We offer regular craft workshops, watersports activity sessions, sports (including sporting fixtures) and games. Evening entertainment such as discos, barbecues, quizzes, film nights and karaoke are a regular feature, with everyone encouraged to join in the fun and games. We also understand the importance of home life and students are free to go home on weekends whenever they are able, by arrangement with their Houseparent.
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