This article is taken from the latest issue of Relocate magazine.

In recent years, boarding has had a face-lift. Long gone are the days when children were ‘sent away’. Now, modern facilities, pastoral care and stringent regulations mean that you can be assured your child is well cared for and receives a first class education.

It is the child’s overall boarding experience that schools want to reeducate the public about. And with many ex-boarders in high-profile business and political roles, people are curious as to whether there is a secret ingredient in the boarding system that generates success

Because of the international nature of most boarding schools, students find themselves living and working with children from many different countries. With increased globalisation, the ability to work across cultures and languages is a desirable trait for many businesses today. 

St Mary's Cambridge asked both headmistress, Charlotte Avery and the school’s Year 6-13 boarders to respond to this question and their responses were almost identical. 

  • It develops independence and skills useful in adulthood e.g laundry, cooking, good sleeping habits, independent working, timekeeping skills 
  • Mixing with people from many different cultures, which helps to develop your communication skills and to grow your mind 
  • Living with others makes you more tolerant 
  • Students make ‘friends for life’ from all over the world 
  • Staff are always available for help with homework or problems. It is an atmosphere conducive of study 
  • Many activities and trips 

Read more at: https://www.relocatemagazine.com/articles/schools-education-boarding-a-modern-option-for-all-parents-wi1819

Justine Greening says she had plans to scrap tuition fees, before she lost the job of education secretary a year ago.

She says she wanted a graduate contribution scheme to fund England's universities where "you wouldn't have a loan, you wouldn't have tuition fees".

Ms Greening says she was worried that tuition fees of £9,250 per year could start to put off poorer students.

The government said its review of fees would make sure there was "value for money for both students and taxpayers".

She says she had been working on a radically different system which would have removed fees - but instead the prime minister launched a review of student finance, chaired by financier Philip Augar.

n the months before her departure from office, she said the "basic architecture" of an alternative funding system was worked up.

The proposal was for a system without fees, loans, debts or interest rates.

Instead, graduates would pay back a proportion of earnings over a fixed number of years, with this graduate contribution funding universities.

She likens it to a time-limited form of National Insurance deductions, but only for graduates.

Read more at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-46959296