Boarding Life

It is all about the family feel at Hazlegrove and the well-being of our children is the most important aspect of school life. As a team of adults, caring for children, we continually strive to keep the children and their happiness, at the forefront of all that we do, think and say. 

We ensure that our boarding environment is one where:

• there is a genuine family-feel
• there is a trusting and safe environment where everyone feels that they can be the best person they were intended to be
• a community flourishes, that includes others and encourages the involvement of parents, non-resident staff and day children alike.  

Mr Forbes, our Director of Boarding who runs the girls' boarding house with his wife, Emily, oversees and co-ordinates all aspects of boarding. He supports the staff and matrons who have an important pastoral role in addition to looking after the practical needs of the pupils.

Houseparents live in accommodation within the houses. With other houses in the grounds being home to staff and their families, it means there are over 25 adults resident at the school. House parents are on duty five nights out of seven with resident members of staff being responsible on the other evenings.

A Home Away From Home

The sense of family is an integral part of all that we do here and being a full boarding school creates a very special and unique environment for children to live. With lots of family style interaction on a daily basis, such as older children reading to our younger boarders and helping them at meal times, the feeling of being part of one big family is in everything that we do.  

Wellbeing

The well being of all of the children in our care is our top priority and for those who live on site, it is particularly important. We have a Circle of Care, and our pastoral care includes a buddy system, kindness nominations, a nurture room and quiet spaces throughout the school, suggestion box, food committee, treasure groups that teach resilience and bravery, team challenges, in-weekends where all of the children bond together, garden spaces, staff pets and the school farm, and of course the boarding essential - regular hot chocolate! 

Evenings

The children return to their boarding houses after the end of their school day to change into their home clothes and have supper together after which  they enjoy an exciting programme of supervised activities using the sports facilities, art and design room, fields and woods.  Activities include quiz nights, 'Just Dance', House Football, hockey, bikes, scooters and roller-blades, Lego, Farm and Craft, facemasks, hot chocolate and a movie to name a few! There is extra prep for those in Year 7 and 8 and also supervised music practice for all those who learn a musical instrument. A late supper is then available for the senior pupils before returning to the houses.

Each year group returns to their boarding house at their allotted time to shower, change into their bedclothes before enjoying time together while in the common room playing games, chatting or doing a jigsaw. It's then time for bed so, after cleaning teeth, they settle down with 15-30 minutes of quiet time - the children might be read a story or they may just read to themselves before lights out.

Weekends

The most frequently asked questions from boarding families are ‘What do the children do?’ and ‘How do I know that they are busy and fulfilled?’ 

Boarding at Hazlegrove is busy! We have a great many children enjoying activities every weekend. With Saturday school for children in Years 4 to 8 followed by matches in the afternoon, the children have access to the wonderful facilities, including the swimming pool, sports hall, Art Department as well as their own go-kart track in the school woods. The children have a huge range of activities that take place on site and weekends routinely include disco domes, zorb balls, camp fires, spa sessions, mobile wall climbing, pottery making, nerf gun wars, and face painting to name a few! 

The children bake, collect fruit, have bonfires, dance, cycle, explore, climb, it really is a fantastic setting in which to grow up. And the list doesn't stop there, our popular excursions include Dorset Water Park, Flip Out, Ninja Warrior, Weymouth beach, Lyme Regis, Stourhead Country House and Park, We The Curious in Bristol, ice-skating, ten-pin bowling, the Mendip Activity Centre, Bovington Tank Museum, Monkey World as well as Splashdown- the list goes on and on!

There is plenty of relaxed, peaceful time as well. We are a home-from-home for our boarders and know that they need down time in order to be rested and ready to face the new week. Our well being spaces and activities throughout the school ensure that this takes place, whether it be reading, journaling, spending time with the school pets or sharing a hot chocolate together on the bean bags. The children attend Chapel on Sunday morning as well as write letters home and enjoy a fantastic Sunday lunch. We are proud to be a full boarding school with lots to entertain and engage the children who stay in every weekend.

We are simply bowled over by the care, the professionalism, love and attention you have all showed to our son and us.

- Parents living overseas

Food, Glorious Food!

Food and family sit together at Hazlegrove. We have our own in-house catering team who source the best ingredients in order to provide a nutritious and delicious range of food for the entire school community. From the Boarders’ Feast at Christmas, the regular delicious roast on a Thursday to the food celebrated for International Languages Day not to mention the famous Hazlegrove brownie, the children experience a broad and varied range of tastes and textures every day. Staff eat with the children and ensure that each child has a good variety of food on their plate. 

In the evenings, ‘Family Service’ ensures that children sit as families, siblings are together just as they would at home. All dietary requirements or allergies are very well catered for. Getting food right in a boarding school is essential, but more so, it is the time spent with one another over a meal which lies at the heart of our approach.