Boarding

Full, Flexi or Weekly

Knighton offers an extremely flexible approach to boarding. Children can choose to board from one night a week up to being a full boarder seven nights a week. We want to make boarding work for busy working parents who sometimes need the flexibility we are able to provide. Our boarders come from a range of backgrounds including international, services, local and London based which gives the boarding community a genuine cultural mix which we think is a really positive environment for the children to be part of.

Our aim in the boarding house is to make it as homely as possible for the everyone; it’s important the children feel it is their home while they are at school. Although the older ones in their final year enjoy living in their own wing of the main house to give them more responsibility and independence, the boarding culture at Knighton means all the children bond together as one big boarding family. Older boarders look after the younger ones like older siblings would their younger brother or sister. This is very much part of the Knighton culture.

Flexi boarding works brilliantly well as an introduction to boarding life, particularly for the younger pupils. Children who board regularly for a night or two a week get used to the routines and are able to become comfortable with the boarding environment so if they choose to become full or weekly boarders they easily slip into boarding life. More often than not it is parents who want to keep their children at home for longer but eventually bow to the pressure of their offspring asking to board more. Indeed at Knighton, we have youngsters who board only at the weekends!

At Knighton there are other opportunities to board such as our special Invitation Weekends when specific year groups are invited to board to enjoy a weekend of bonding and fun together. Sometimes there might be a family emergency and/or travel situation which require their child to stay at school overnight. We accommodate every requirement, subject to bed availability of course.

“My Daughter will carry the mark of Knighton in her heart all her life.  She considers Knighton as her own family, she has lived and enjoyed a wonderful adventure studying in your wonderful school and made great friends that she will never forget.” Parent

“Outstanding! This is a model of how all boarding schools should organise and do things.” Parent

“As a parent sending her daughter abroad to a different country, we are very confident about how they take care of my child, and very confident that she is in the best hands we could imagine.” Parent

“The boarding is amazing!” Pupil

Boarding at Knighton:

Full boarding – Knighton at its best with all the benefits of the weekends.

Weekly boarding – For children who need to be at home on Saturday night each week.

Flexi-boarding – a set number of nights per week arranged in advance each term. Flexi-boarding allows children to experience boarding without committing to it full time. Many children love taking the opportunity to do this; flexi-boarding can also be very helpful to parents and pupils who have busy lives. A number of children flexi-board lower down the school, before becoming full time boarders higher up the school.

Invitation Weekends – Open to specific year groups for a special fun-packed themed weekend.

‘Emergency’ boarding– We are always happy to try and accommodate a last minute boarding request.

Boarding routines

Monday to Friday

Boarding Routines

Our maxim is that every child is different, and no one sort of boarding suits every child, so we offer occasional, flexi and full boarding from Year 3 upwards. Most of our Year 8 pupils board in their final year, building up their boarding nights over time, so by the time they leave Knighton House, every child understands the delicate workings of communal life and will have solid lessons behind them to take into their senior schools.

Saturdays

Sundays

A chance to rest, relax, play and catch up with friends!

The Sunday routine will differ depending on the activities planned for the day. Every Sunday throughout the year various activities are organised – either in-school or outside school – which require different schedules.

Recently we have introduced a late morning brunch for the boarders at 11.00am which has proved very popular with them. Having had a very light cereal/toast breakfast at 9.00am upstairs in their pyjamas the pupils will then be able to have some much needed down time before coming down to the dining room to enjoy a full English breakfast to set them up for the day.

Boarding Weekends

Weekends matter at Knighton
We recognise that weekend boarding is very important to our pupils, particularly to the full boarders so we ensure that every weekend is full of fun, is busy and is just the right balance of activities and some down time. Each term a programme of weekends is published so the children know what’s happening and can look forward to the weekend activity. Some weekend there are ‘in-house’ activities where we make our own entertainment in school; other weekends we organise fun trips away from school.

Saturday school comes to an end after our weekly chapel service in the village church and then it is time for those not in matches to get involved in coaching or skills training, working hard on filling up their log book for our DoE style programme.

Saturday evening, after supper, it might be a film and popcorn for our juniors and an opportunity to access devices and to chat with home for our seniors, and vice-versa; whatever is on offer, it is done in a spirit of family and the sense of coming together after the demands of the week.

Sundays are busy, and many day pupils sign up for the activities we offer, but time for relaxation is made integral to planning.  Some weekends are an in-house affair, others are off site.  In recent months, ‘in’ has meant an introduction to quilling (a wonderful form of paper art), resulting in super new artwork for the boarding house, and ‘out’ has been a trip to a Parkour activity in Bournemouth; so, design, problem solving and movement, in one term, satisfying our artistic and creative appetites at Knighton House.

Sunday also has its traditional feel: of course, every child at Knighton House has their own email account and of course, overseas boarders can Skype/Zoom, but there is always time for proper letter writing, a peaceful moment, often in company with the Head, where the children can reflect on their learning, their successes and their goals, and share these with home.

Read all about what we all get up to on the weekends at Knighton on their weekly blog.