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Packing for School
What are you allowed to bring to boarding school? What are you not allowed to bring to boarding school? Answers to those questions and more.

Here's what we are looking at. Your daughter heads off to boarding school in a two months. She's got a horse and a cello and a raft of sports equipment including skis and field hockey sticks. You're going to need a truck to get her to school, right? It all depends. Let's review the items and equipment schools will allow her to bring and things she should not bring. Bear in mind that every school has its own unique rules and regulations concerning what can be brought on campus and what cannot.

Incidentally I remember quite vividly load our Dodge Caravan full to the brim with what I can only call 'stuff'. I never knew one young lady would need so much 'stuff' when she went off to boarding school. But she and her mother had determined what she needed and what could be left at home for another trip. I was comforted to discover dozens of other over-loaded vehicles at the school when we arrived to move our daughter in. And most of the fathers looked just as bemused as I did.

Horses

Let's start with the horse. Riding is an integral part of many boarding school athletic programs. If riding is important to your child, investigate the equestrian programs offered by the schools which you are considering. Our daughter had ridden in seventh and eighth grades. Fortunately for us, her interest in that expensive pursuit had waned by the time she was ready to go off

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Rolling Admissions

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Rolling Admissions
Two kinds of admissions are in use at American boarding schools: admissions with a fixed deadline and rolling admissions. We take a look at rolling admissions.

You will find two kinds of admissions in use at American boarding schools: admissions with a fixed deadline and rolling admissions. Let's take a look at rolling admissions and how it compares with admissions with a fixed deadline.

What is rolling admissions?

Rolling admissions refers to a school's practice of accepting applications within an admissions application window and acting on those applications within a couple of weeks or months as opposed to waiting until a fixed deadline to act upon those applications.

How does rolling admissions work?

Let's assume the rolling admissions window opens on September 1. You could submit your completed application on September 2 and expect to have a decision back from the school within a time frame from two weeks to two months. At a school with a fixed deadline for admissions you could submit your application on September 2 but not hear whether your child had been accepted or not until sometime in March, assuming the fairly common January 31 deadline.

Professor Allen Grove explains the various kinds of admissions in great detail. This is a longish but very thorough video which is well worth bookmarking for later viewing.

Many schools with rolling admissions have a priority deadline. You would be wise to submit your application well in advance of that deadline. Once all the places are filled, applications from candidates who would otherwise have been accepted will go on a

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Attending International Boarding School Fairs

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Attending International Boarding School Fairs
The boarding school choices available to international students are as immense as they are exciting. Boarding school fairs, like Linden’s Summer & Boarding School Expositions, are the most comprehensive way to start you on your path to studying at one of these prestigious institutions.

The boarding school choices available to international students are as immense as they are exciting. Boarding school fairs, like Linden’s Summer & Boarding School Expositions, are the most comprehensive way to start you on your path to studying at one of these prestigious institutions. This video illustrates what we can do.

Throughout the year, we host events in all corners of the world to meet families, agents, and consultants and introduce them to our network of Premier Boarding Schools from the United States, Switzerland, Canada, United Kingdom, and other countries. The fairs are free and organized months in advance to ensure you receive the most complete information.

When you come to an event, a team greets you and your family and guides you through the process of gathering information and meeting school representatives with programs suited to your goals and interests. Whether you're looking for a brief summer program, an intensive two-month summer course, a full academic year, or a Post-Graduate year, you have many options. Most schools have boarding programs for students ages 14-18. Some schools offer boarding for children as young as eight, and others often have Post-Graduate programs for students as old as 20.

The fairs are held in central hotel exhibition halls typically in the afternoon to early evening. Families are welcomed in and asked if they are looking for a particular program, for example, summer programs featuring ESL in

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Why Choose a Boarding Summer Program

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Why Choose a Boarding Summer Program
Most boarding schools offer summer programs. Here are some answers to your questions about what's involved.

Most boarding schools offer summer programs running for about two weeks. If your child needs help with a subject like math, for instance, she will be able to find it. Ditto with enrichment. Summer boarding programs offer a special opportunity to sample a variety of subjects in a residential setting away from home.

Behind the scenes

Boarding schools run professionally staffed fully insured and properly licensed programs. They have been doing it for years. They understand how to supervise young people. That's because they do it all year long.

The teachers are generally drawn from the school's academic team with adjunct faculty added as necessary for special programs. The support staff including kitchen and security professionals are usually the same team you will find on duty when school is in session. All these professionals have passed background checks.

Boarding schools have found that summer programs make good use of facilities that would otherwise be idle for several months over the long summer vacation. They also have learned that summer programs provide an agreeable soft introduction to the concept of going away to boarding school. Many parents send their children to a boarding school summer program to see how they will like it. Next thing they know their son or daughter is asking if they can go to that wonderful boarding school.

Here is an example of what I mean.

What about the amenities?

Are meals

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What's the Food Like?

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What's the Food Like?
Your child will have many questions about the food and much more at boarding school. Here is one way to handle those inevitable questions and concerns.

Sending your child off to boarding school raises all sorts of important questions for your child. After all, she is a teenager. Leaving home is a major step for kids going off to college, much less a kid going off in ninth or tenth grade to boarding school. And those college kids are four and five years older than she is. So be patient and proactive. Anticipate her questions and concerns. What I strongly recommend is that you try to think about what your child's questions and concerns will be. You know her like the back of your hand anyway.

Almost all the schools on your shortlist will have websites that can answer most of her questions. For answers to her remaining or more detailed questions, email the admissions offices. They will be very happy to help.

So, what's the food like? Food is important to teenagers. As it should be. Truth is that boarding schools have dealt with teenagers for years. They understand the kind of nutrition growing bodies need. Indeed teaching students about nutrition is something boarding schools have baked into their programs.

Here is an example of what I mean from the website for St. Timothy's School, Stevenson, Maryland.

Great food and excellent service are the hallmarks of Dining Services at St. Timothy’s School. We meet the wide range of tastes and meal preferences of our student body with healthy, varied, and wholesome meals. Many items are made from scratch, and homemade pastries

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