Boarding schools are quickly becoming a thing of the past, and there aren't too many people mourning their passing, but maybe we are failing to recognise their unique benefits
Fewer and fewer Irish parents are choosing boarding school for their children. What motivates those that do? With each year that passes boarding school places in Ireland diminish. The sector is now seen as the preserve of a wealthy elite for whom the pressure of earning a double income or working globally leaves little space for traditional family life.
Parents who start families in their 30s or 40s often have well-established careers to think about, and salaries that can absorb boarding school fees of €10,000 or more a year.
However, as the National Nursuries Association released figures revealing that some parents are paying up to €15,000 a year for basic nine-to-five childcare, the boarding option starts to look more reasonable.
For now, however, the gentrification of the Irish boarding school sector continues apace. Recent legislative changes in the student visa system mean that non-EU students coming to study for the Leaving Cert in Ireland must choose private schools for their tuition - they may no longer avail of the state school system. This means that wealthy students coming from Asia, Africa or elsewhere are taking up many of the few places left in the Irish boarding school sector. In the Aravon School in Wicklow, for example, there is currently only one Irish boarder enrolled.
The Headfort School in Kells is the last English-medium primary boarding school left in the country. Around 15 per cent of its 80 boarders are from overseas. Many Irish parents, says principal Dermot Dixon, are choosing boarding because of the pressures of modern living in Ireland.
"There are two main reasons why Irish parents choose boarding. Some come to us because boarding is a family tradition. For others, the pressure of working two busy jobs with long hours leaves little time for family life during the week. When the children are boarding parents can work like the blazes when they're away and ensure quality time when they return."
Full-time boarders at Headfort pay €13,000 per annum. The school is full, but even though it is the only school of its type left in the country, it has no waiting list. Many parents, say Dixon, still raise their eyebrows at the idea of sending children away to school before the age of 12.
This trend runs counter to the UK and US where the boarding school system is healthy and growing, at both primary and secondary level. While overseas students form a significant cohort of boarders, the great majority of UK and US boarding students are nationals. The continuing popularity of boarding in the UK has been accredited to everything from Harry Potter to the metropolitan terrorist threat. In the US, there is also a healthy home market for boarding schools, for a variety of reasons reflected in the types of schools on offer. Military boarding schools, boarding schools for troubled teens and maternity boarding schools are all available, reinforcing some of the old ideas of boarding schools as refuges for the dysfunctional student from his dysfunctional family.
Lindsay Haslett, warden of St Columba's College in Dublin's Rathfarnham, is quick to counter the idea that parents use boarding schools to alleviate or avoid problems at home. He says that boarding schools offer a level of education that is simply unattainable within the normal school day. He is happy to publish the school's exam results and his is not the only boarding school that has published its Leaving Cert results - Blackrock College, Co Dublin and Cistercian College, Roscrea have done likewise.
Haslett has raised his head above Columba's walls because he believes his sector, and his school in particular, is undervalued by the Irish public. Boarding school is not the preserve of divorcing parents, wealthy diplomats or non-nationals disgruntled with their native schools, he insists. Irish parents-in-the-know choose boarding schools for their children because the academic and social returns far outweigh the costs.
"There's a lot of wealth in Ireland these days, and quality boarding offers real value for money," says Haslett, whose school charges between €15,000 and €18,000 a year for seven-day boarding. "It sounds like a lot of money until you consider what you're getting - full tuition in small classes, bed and board in top class facilities, any private tuition that the student requires and all his or her extracurricular activities from golf to violin." Given that the average Irish parent is already forking out huge money on grinds each year, it's a point worth considering.
In fees terms, St Columba's is at the top end of the scale. Most Irish schools offering boarding charge between €10,000 and €15,000 per annum. In international terms, this is good value (top UK boarding schools charge an average of €29,750 a year). However, the great majority of the 44 post-primary schools offering boarding facilities in Ireland also offer day facilities and the ratios are slipping year after year. Many schools that traditionally offered boarding, such as St Andrew's in Booterstown, now outsource their boarding to private accommodation services.
With only four exclusive boarding schools left in the country, is there much hope for the sector? Haslett hopes that by publicising the positive aspects of boarding, Irish parents and students might give the sector more serious consideration.
"At the weekend you can achieve a lot with children, that's why seven-day boarding is so good for students," Haslett explains. "Twenty six of our 40 teachers live right here in the school and are available to our students at all times. Our students are always busy playing sports or taking part in music or drama, taking extra tuition - they're not hanging around street corners. We get great academic results but we also have a population of secure, confident students with a great deal to offer Irish society."
Another reason that parents choose Columba's is its Church of Ireland ethos, says Haslett, and that includes the growing number of parents coming from Roman Catholic and other denominations. Of the 44 schools offering boarding in Ireland, over one-third are Church of Ireland schools, and they are holding their own in a diminishing market. "The Church of Ireland ethos is open and tolerant - we are not trying to convert a new generation of little Protestants," says Haslett. He believes that many parents are seeking out a more open educational environment for their children.
So with so much to offer in academic and social terms, why are Irish parents bucking international trends and withdrawing from the boarding school sector? Memories of poor facilities, rigid systems of hierarchy and bad food may have left many former boarders with a sour taste in their mouths. However, in our modern consumer-rights culture, a boarding student is unlikely to experience unchecked systematic bullying or damp dormitories. As the boarding system in Ireland catches up with 21st-century standards, however, few Irish students remain to experience it.
