Boarding School: The Pathetic Attempts of Seana Lucy Smith Trying To Stay Calm In A World That Has Something Against Her : Week 7

My weekly diary to record how I’m doing on my  Do Less and Stay Calm goals for 2015.  A way of keeping myself accountable.

boarding school

Do you ever think of sending your kids to boarding school? Or straight to a young offender’s institution?

We are thinking of boarding school for one (or more!) of our offspring.

This has served to make me feel quite agitated!

But it’s also brought back a lot of happy memories.

I went to boarding school on the west coast of Scotland  for the last two years of school, so from 16 – 18 years old. It was a really terrific experience for me.

So liberating. I got myself there by applying for a scholarship without telling my parents. It was my way of escaping a pretty dysfunctional family situation. But we never speak ill of the dead, hello Dad.

In the end, I did get a scholarship and my my mum and dad paid the boarding fees, which was good of them as they really did not believe in private schools.

Boarding school_1
Lomond School in the early 1980s, you really had to be there

Recently my niece has started boarding for her last two years at the same school. My very wild aunty also went to that same school, when it just had girls at it.

So now it’s had three generations of the rebellious, independent and some would say difficult teenager members of our family.

Boarding school
Here’s me at about 16 or 17 with my bestest pal Jane, we used to have the most marvellous toast festivals.

 What my niece says about boarding school

‘The good points would be the friends you make, as I’m sure you know. I’ve got friends here that are closer than the ones I’ve known for years. Being around my room mate all the time can be a bit of a drag but I like it.

Some people get on your nerves at times though.

It is harder to have a private life, everyone thinks everything is their business which drives me mad. But it also means you can be there for people more easily.’

And here’s my darling Mrs Woog on her boarding school years

I knew that Mrs Woog had been at boarding school and had really loved this post where she spilt some beans on her very educational time there.

Anyway, I popped a few questions over to her about boarding school and here’s what she revealed.

When you went, from what age and for how long?

I spent my entire high school years at Boarding School, from the age of 12.

Were you keen to go?

Absolutely not! I put up such a huge fuss. I was dreadfully upset about not being with my pets, and all my school friends were off to the local high school. I thought it would help that my older sister was also going, but she basically ignored me from the moment we arrived.

Three good points?

Sport – I played a lot of competitive sport and there were fantastic resources available to us.

Friends – Always someone to get into mischief with and grow up with.

No Parents – you could get away with murder if you had any street smarts about you!

Three worst bits?

Food – shocking to say the least. You would have to use paper towels to squeeze the fat out of everything. 

Chapel – Every Sunday morning unless, like me, you chose to sit in your cupboard for an hour.

Housemistresses – Seriously deranged human beings.

When you look back now, was it a good thing to do?

Yes, coming from a large family I was used to so many people around. I spent a lot of time playing sport, so it was easy to get to practices. But I have no idea how the oldies managed to pay the bill!

And… crucially… would you ever send your own kids to board?

It is something that I threaten with with often, but the short answer is no.

 Now pop over and read this post as Mrs Woog’s experiences and novel approach to school will make you chortle.

I tend to be a chatterbox when trying to work things out for my family. So if you have any experience of boarding school, I’d love to hear about it.

And yes, I DO KNOW this is a very high quality stress to have in my life! 

So did you go to boarding school yourself?

 Would you send your kids? 

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