Boarding Schools in the UK: Types, Ages, Costs and Admissions

A boarding school in the UK is a school where pupils live on site in boarding houses during term time, returning to their families for exeat weekends, half-terms and holidays. Boarding can start as early as age seven at some prep schools and continues through to sixth form, with most senior schools taking their main intake of boarders at 11 or 13. Across ISC schools, 57,836 pupils boarded on the latest census day, 11.0% of all pupils, rising to 30% in the sixth form and just 2% among junior pupils.

What types of boarding do schools offer?

Boarding schools in the UK offer four patterns: full boarding, weekly boarding, flexi boarding and occasional boarding, and many schools combine more than one across the school week or across the age range.

Full boarding is the dominant pattern among older pupils, accounting for 86% of ISC sixth-form boarders, against 8% who board weekly and 5% who board flexibly; among junior pupils the pattern reverses, and more than half of junior boarders board flexibly. Weekly and flexi boarding together make up 21.5% of all ISC boarders.

Individual schools price these patterns differently. Framlingham College publishes separate termly fees for full boarding, covering seven nights, and weekly boarding, covering five nights; Gordonstoun Prep offers a similar split between six or seven nights of full boarding and four or five nights of weekly boarding; and Millfield Prep charges flexi boarding as a set number of nights per term, with occasional boarding charged per night for pupils who are otherwise day pupils.

• Full boarding: six or seven nights a week during term, home for exeats and holidays
• Weekly boarding: set weeknights at school, home at weekends
• Flexi boarding: an agreed number of nights a term, chosen to fit the family
• Occasional boarding: day pupils stay overnight now and then, without becoming boarders

What age do children start boarding school?

Boarding starts as early as age seven at some prep schools and becomes far more common through the senior years, with most children who will board full time joining a senior school at 11+, 13+ or 16+. Millfield Prep, for example, publishes boarding places for Years 3 to 8, covering ages seven to thirteen, so a family can start with flexi or occasional nights before moving to full boarding later.

Senior boarding schools set their main entry points at 11+, 13+ and 16+. Oundle School states that pupils normally join at 11+, 13+ or 16+; Benenden School's normal entry points are 11+, 12+ or 13+; and Wycombe Abbey lists entry at 11+, 13+ and 16+. For a child currently in Year 2 to Year 4, the practical choice is usually between a prep school offering flexible junior boarding from around age seven and a senior school taking its main boarding intake at 11 or 13.

What are state boarding schools and who can use them?

State boarding schools provide free education but charge fees for boarding, so the fee a parent pays covers accommodation, meals and pastoral care, not the academic teaching itself, which is state-funded. GOV.UK explains that these schools give priority to children who have a particular need to board and assess each child's suitability before offering a boarding place, and directs families to the State Boarding Forum for further information.

Not every family can apply as of right: Haberdashers' Adams, a state boarding school, requires all pupils, including boarders, to hold a UK passport or Indefinite Leave to Remain before they can take up a place.

How much do boarding schools cost?

Boarding fees are charged per term, and at independent schools the termly fee covers both tuition and boarding, including meals, accommodation and pastoral supervision, within a single bill.

Boarding fees are higher than the day fees charged by the same school, since accommodation, food and overnight staffing add to the academic fee. Most independent schools publish termly fees inclusive of VAT at the standard rate, though Oundle School shows VAT as a separate line instead of folding it into the headline figure.

State boarding works on a different basis: because tuition is funded by the state, parents pay only for the boarding element, a fraction of the boarding fee at an independent school. Cranbrook School's boarding fees are exempt from VAT, and Wymondham College adds no VAT to its fees, so the boarding-only charge is not increased by VAT in the way an independent school's combined fee typically is.

Termly fees for a range of senior, prep and state boarding schools are set out in the table below. Independent schools' day and boarding fees are compared in more detail on our school fees page, and families weighing up the cost of boarding can read our guide to bursaries.

How are boarding schools regulated and inspected?

Boarding schools in England are regulated against the National Minimum Standards for boarding schools, published by the Department for Education, which apply to all mainstream boarding schools for all age groups of pupils under eighteen and set the minimum standards below which no school is expected to fall; one of the standards covers educational guardians.

Inspection against these standards depends on the type of school. The Independent Schools Inspectorate, appointed by the Department for Education, inspects boarding provision at association independent schools in England, while Ofsted applies its social care common inspection framework when inspecting boarding schools and residential special schools. The Boarding Schools' Association represents member boarding schools and trains boarding staff and promotes boarding education, though it does not run an advisory service for parents choosing a school, so a family's main source of independent evidence is the school's own inspection report.

How does admission work at 11+ and 13+?

Admission to boarding school at 11+ and 13+ usually runs through registration in Year 5 or Year 6, the ISEB Common Pre-Test, a school assessment day or interview and, for many 13+ entrants, Common Entrance. The ISEB Common Pre-Test is an online, adaptive assessment taken in Year 6 or Year 7 and shared by many independent schools, covering mathematics, English reading comprehension and grammar, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. Common Entrance is set by ISEB too: the 11+ paper is sat in Year 6, mainly for entry to senior independent girls' schools, while the 13+ papers are sat in Year 8 in sessions in November, January and May or June, and include compulsory English, mathematics and science.

Individual schools set their own registration deadlines and combine the Common Pre-Test with their own assessment. Eton College allows a boy to be registered at any point up to the end of Year 5, and all boys sit the ISEB Common Pre-Tests in October or November of the autumn term of Year 6. Harrow School asks families to register by the end of September of Year 6, then sits applicants for the ISEB Pre-Test at their own school between October and the end of November of Year 6, before a House Master interviews candidates when they sit the Harrow Test in the spring term of Year 6. Winchester College closes registration at the start of October of Year 6 and assesses through school references, General Ability Testing, a writing assessment and an interview, with Winchester Entrance itself sat in the spring of Year 8 without determining entry.

Oundle School offers most of its formal places from the spring term of Year 6, though most pupils joining at 13+ from a UK school enter through Common Entrance, sat in June of Year 8. Benenden School assesses 13+ candidates in Year 6, either through the ISEB Common Pre-Test or its own entrance and scholarship examinations, and Wycombe Abbey has all registered candidates sit an online ISEB Common Pre-Test followed by an assessment day at the school. Across these senior schools, the assessment that decides a 13+ boarding place typically falls in Year 6, some two years before the child actually starts.

Do boarding pupils from overseas families need a guardian?

Boarding pupils whose families live overseas without close family in the UK generally need a guardian, an adult based in the UK who takes responsibility for the child outside term time and during exeat weekends. AEGIS, the independent body that inspects and accredits guardianship organisations in the UK, states that a family without close relatives in the country will need to arrange this kind of guardianship for their child.

Guardians matter in practice because boarding schools do not keep pupils on site continuously: schools set exeat weekends through the term when boarders are expected to go home, and Wymondham College, for example, lists six exeat weekends a year and charges extra for a boarder who stays at school instead of leaving. A guardian is usually the point of contact for these weekends, for half-terms too short to fly home for, and in a family emergency.

How should parents choose a boarding school and what next?

Choosing a boarding school for a child of seven to thirteen starts with matching the type of boarding, whether full, weekly, flexi or occasional, to the child's age and how ready they are to be away from home, since younger boarders are far more likely to board flexibly than full time. Visiting on an open day and reading the school's most recent Independent Schools Inspectorate or Ofsted inspection report gives a direct check against the National Minimum Standards, alongside the school's own account of its pastoral structure and exeat pattern.

For senior school entry, the practical deadline is registration in Year 5 or Year 6, since the ISEB Common Pre-Test and most schools' own assessment days fall in the autumn or spring term of Year 6, well before the child starts in Year 9. Families overseas without close relatives in the UK should arrange a guardian through an AEGIS-accredited organisation at the same time as registering, so that the arrangement is in place before assessment days and exeat weekends begin. Comparing the published termly fees for the schools under consideration, alongside any bursary or scholarship provision, belongs at the same early stage.

Related guides

• Is boarding school right for your child?
• Independent school fees compared
• What is a bursary? Private school bursaries explained
• ISEB Common Pre-Test guide
• 13+ Common Entrance guide
• The 11+ entrance exam explained

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