The closure of boarding schools has been a feature of the educational landscape in the State for the past few decades. However, with increasingeconomic and emotional pressures on families, sending children away fortheir second-level schooling appears to be creeping back into vogue. Catherine Foley reports

For a minority of Irish parents it's a pressing question: to board or not to board the child?

According to the most recent statistical records from the Department of Education and Science, 59 schools in the State enrol boarding students. The total number of second-level schools currently stands at 752.

Does the fall-off in numbers of boarding schools give credence to the view that these are anachronistic establishments left-over from a bygone era? Or do boarding schools provide a vital, valuable service to society?

The number of boarding schools continues to decrease, with a yearly haemorrhage of one or two schools each year, so when a board of management decides to close the boarding element of their school, there is a steady demand for those boarding schools that remain.

Boarding can be costly, fees range up to about around €13,000 per year, yet this is not the key issue for parents who insist on the validity and importance of boarding schools.

"All my children have boarded," says Marie Danaswamy, president of the National Parents Council (Post-Primary).

"Where you have a lot of parents working, where you have single-parent families, it's a very secure environment. Everything is done to routine, there's no such thing as going in to watch the television. The child is kept in order.

"Also it's ideal in a situation where you have a split-up," giving permanence and security to children, she says.

The demand for single-sex girls' boarding schools is steady as she goes, according to Sister Christopher Callen, former principal (for 21 years) and now in charge of boarders at Our Lady's Bower Secondary School in Athlone, Co Westmeath, attests. She is currently coping with an over-subscribed waiting list, which is booked up to 2010.

"Boarding school doesn't suit everyone," she says. "Parental support and motivation is terribly important."

She says schools continue to attract students for a variety of reasons. It can be due to a tradition of boarding in a family and it can be due to a school's highly-prized loyal and quality staff.

Barbara Stanley, principal of Alexandra College in Dublin, agrees that "there's still a significant demand for single-sex boarding".

The whole experience of boarding "quite often enhances relationships", she says. Out of a total of 610 students, there are 170 boarders at Alexandra College.

Parents board their children "largely to have them on site, where they can take part in everything". Doing supervised study is another bonus, says Stanley. "Our boarders work harder and longer than our day students," she adds.

Danaswamy says: "Lots of people want to board their children because of the ethos of the school," and so if the school is too far away, "they might board the children".

Her own six children have benefited greatly from boarding school, she says. Her youngest child is currently in first year. "You have to give it a chance. The first months can be rocky, but if you hold out for the first year it should be fine."

She found her children "appreciated" home more when they came back from school.

"They didn't even want to go out... The benefits are really fantastic. They turn out fantastic, they appreciate their parents, the family life.

"Children need to be monitored. There needs to be dialogue at evening meals together, so that you can pick up on any problems," she says.

Boarding schools have held their own, but there has been "a slight shift in the pattern of boarders", according to the Secondary Education Committee (SEC), which represents the four Protestant groups (the Church of Ireland, Methodist, Presbyterian and the Quaker Society of Friends) who manage Irish secondary schools.

They have seen no falling-off in numbers because "many of the Catholic boarding schools have closed their boarding units" and Protestant schools have taken up "spare places", according to John McCullagh, secretary of this committee. Also, Protestant families "very often send their children to the local community or comprehensive schools," he says.

The Sec represents a total of 21 schools under Protestant patronage. Apart from a concern about ethos, the key reason parents choose boarding is because children who board do so in a family atmosphere, says McCullagh. He went to boarding school himself and "met my wife there".

Boarding school also "gives them a sense of independence and they treasure the friendships they make to an even greater extent than those who go to day schools. There's a real connection that builds up," he says.

McCullagh cites a significant change in boarding schools today. Most children now go home at regular intervals, unlike the old practice of remaining at school for one complete term. "There was a time when you didn't go home for months," he says.

Kilkenny College, which is one of the largest boarding schools on the island, has a total of 780 students, of whom just under 500 are boarders.

While the number of boarding schools has dropped, "the demand is still as strong as ever," says Rev Robert Black, headmaster of Kilkenny College.

"The pressure on those (schools) that remain for space is greater. and there seems to be a trend in favour of the rural school. People are coming looking for an all-round education... It's not really expensive at all if you compare it with any of the English or Northern Ireland schools. Ours costs are about one-third of what's involved there."

Pat O'Sullivan, principal of Rockwell College in Co Tipperary, says the decline in boarding schools is "quite complex to explain", but he cites the emergence of good community schools as one reason, and the difficulty for many schools to find "quality staff".

Rockwell College, which opened its doors to "day-boarders" about 20 years ago, now has a majority of students who travel to school each day and stay until 8.15 p.m. And the school, which also opened its doors to girls in 1988, also has 150 girls on its roll books.

"For a certain number of parents there is still a serious need for boarding schools," he says.

One of the growth areas for such schools is the international market. At Rockwell College, there are now more than 50 students from overseas, including Mexican, Chinese, Spanish and Russian students.

"The Irish boarding school is still relatively inexpensive as opposed to the UK system," O'Sullivan points out. In Britain, a year in a boarding school could cost about €25,000 (approximately £20,000). Like the other, he stresses the importance of the life-long bonds of friendship, which develop in boarding school.

Marie Murray, director of psychology at St Joseph's Adolescent Service in Dublin, says boarding school is an individual choice.

On weighing up the pros and cons of boarding, she says, it's important to take into account why the decision to board is being considered.

"It may not be the right approach if the child sees it as a rejection or if it's perceived as a punishment," Murray says. On the other hand, if boarding school is "seen as an opportunity", then boarding could be a different story.

"An only child might benefit from living with his or her peers," she says.

A boarding school can provide stability and structure "in a world which is pretty immediate and fragmented. It can be very helpful, particularly for the more chaotic, disorganised child," she adds.

A school can get "a more cohesive, integrated view of the child being formed, and get an opportunity to observe the child in a number of different contexts". The "sameness or similarity of experiences of young people in a boarding school" is another plus, she says.

On the negative side, she says "the majority of young people would appear to prefer to be at home". By being at boarding school they are"missing out on the parental contact.

"Childhood is short and there is a great loss on both sides by reducing that contact. They also miss the experience of younger siblings. They miss their development.

"In adult therapy, people will often say things like 'I didn't know my younger brother well - he was at boarding school'. It cuts them off from developing those bonds and attachments to each other."