Boarding

Here in the boarding house we aim to care for and develop each boarder in a safe and fun family atmosphere that contributes substantially to their growth, where the overriding principle is to treat others as you would want them to treat you.

Why choose boarding?

Boarding is most often enormous fun for children and offers the chance to live as part of an extended family, sharing friendship and time together, learning the need for honesty and care for one another and the value of team spirit in a relaxed, homely environment. On the more ‘formal’ side, boarding and the support of boarding staff helps to instil a suitable degree of self-sufficiency and organisation over time. For many children, the decision to board is absolutely the best one that could be made for them. Indeed, it can be a very important part of preparation for a senior school and beyond.

For further information on boarding in general, please visit the ‘Why boarding?’ link at the Boarding Schools’ Association website.

Boarding at The Chorister School

The boarding house is a happy extended family home run by the Housemaster, Mr. Butcher, and his wife (who live in with their son, Sam, daughter, Amelie, and dog, Petra), two housemothers and two Gap year Boarding Assistants. With the arrival of the girl choristers there will be a third Boarding Assistant and an Assistant Housemistress. There is also enormous support from the excellent team of domestic staff. In the house the cathedral choristers and up to twenty others, boys and girls, are accommodated through ta mixture of full, weekly and flexi boarding, meaning there is something for all. Boarding is available for ages 7 – 13 (Form 1 to the top of the school). Many boarders actually live within a 15 mile radius of the school and the boarding house is always open to visits from parents who fancy dropping in.

What you would expect

The boarding house offers a comfortable, safe and caring atmosphere where each individual child is nurtured, respected and known well by the staff. Boarders enjoy the use of a well equipped computer games room, a television / common room, a small boarding house library for bedtime reading books and easy access to the school’s ICT suite, the Sports Hall and the open areas of the grounds. Dormitories are mostly quite small (sleeping between 4 and 9), cosy and welcoming and boarders can decorate them with their own photos and posters. The Housemothers, Dorothy and Susan, are able to oversee all routine medical matters and to organise external appointments as required.

Although the normal school week finishes on a Friday evening, the boarding house runs throughout the weekend and trips are organised for those who are in.

Trips - Boarders trips have been:

to ‘Wet ‘n’ Wild’ waterpark
to Laser Quasar
to Washington Waterfowl and Wetlands Trust
to the cinema
ten pin bowling
to Sunderland Winter Gardens
to Broomhouse Farm activity wood
to play beach rugby and to dune jump
to local woods to build bases
to Soccarena
to Funshack
to Beamish Open Air Museum
to The Centre for Life, Newcastle
to The Glass Centre, Sunderland
to Bamburgh castle and beach
to Hartlepool historic dockyard

The extra touches

The school, and consequently the boarding house, is nestled in a uniquely beautiful and historical location. Warner Bros. thought the nearby ancient corridors and cloisters suitable for constructing corners of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts! Living where they do, the boarders are considered part of The College (the cathedral close) community, attending community fireworks parties and the like against the spectacular backdrop of the cathedral. The location also affords access to town – 5 minutes in one direction – and open countryside – 5 minutes in the other. This means boarders get all the advantages of supervised shopping trips into one of the country’s most beautiful cities (it’s a fave with Bill Bryson!) and yet with a good fall of snow they would as soon be found sledding down the open hills just over the river.

Family atmosphere

The school is noted for its pastoral nature. When the boarders are with us, the team of boarding staff are very much ‘in loco parentis’. This shows itself in three important ways:

boarders join in the family life of the Butchers, having hot chocolate in their flat, baking cup cakes, going for dog walks, playing board games and so on; likewise they sometimes relax in the housemothers’ flat;
the housemothers are not tied in with the nuts and bolts of domestic duties, leaving much more time for the pupils. They are very much as their title suggests, as is evident by the relationship between them and the boarders and this is a great asset to the house;
the bulk of the smooth running of the house happens by virtue of a good relationship between staff and boarders – when specific pastoral guidance is required, however, it is taken as an opportunity to develop the boarder’s understanding of living in a close community and why certain things should or should not be done. Time is taken to talk things through.

The choristers

The boarding house is certainly not just about the choristers, but there’s no escaping the fact that they add a special aspect to our work and that they are a special group of boys (and soon girls). When the rest of school break up for holidays, the choristers remain to complete their obligations to the cathedral during what is known as Chorister Period. It is very important during this time that they are given sufficient rest and relaxation, but also some good trips to reward them for their hard work. The boarding team aim to provide all this. For example, at Christmas time, the choristers work until 4.30pm on Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve we have a traditional party dinner for all the families. On Christmas morning the boys awake to snowmen stockings and a clue hunt around school. Then it’s present opening in the Butchers’ flat before showers and breakfast.