Boarding School?

So now we are caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, my son is about to graduate. On the other hand, there are no school places available for him where we live. So what to do? I lie in bed thinking through various scenarios till my head spins or I chew the side of my mouth to pieces.

The thing is, for us, boarding school has never been an option. My head is full of Dickensian images. Children begging for more gruel. Caning. Iron beds. Fagging. Prefects. Strange boys who grow up to become seriously strange men with a penchant for wearing suspenders and ladies silk stockings under their three pieces suits.

And now I find myself in the same situation.

I have imagined relocating. Moving back to Asia. Moving close to a UK based school. Returning to Australia. Boarding next to grandparents. Day boarding. Home schooling. Even setting up my own school - if I am having these thought surely other parents must be having similar thoughts?

So last week I headed off on the Great UK Boarding School Expedition.

And I am impressed. Seriously impressed.

But I didn't want to be. I really didn't want boarding school to be an option for us. I wanted to shake my head smugly and say "boarding school may be ok for some... but not for us!"

Instead I can home in a lather of excitement. The facilities are superb. Teachers? Kind. Food? Delicious. Academic achievements? Brilliant. There was simply nothing to fault the school on. The best thing though were the boys. Scruffy, long haired, smiling, happy, well spoken, calm, friendly boys. The kind of boys that you would want your son to grow up to become. They spoke confidently about their work. They made eye contact and they smiled. They laughed a lot. They were motivated to read and study for the sheer enjoyment of learning something. They were creative - the school has a strong design bent - and they all knew two languages. Their bedrooms were clean but a bit messy. No anally retentive housemasters ordering them to make hospital corners on their beds - most of them had duvets on them.

I want to go!