The value of boarding can be no more keenly seen than on a summer’s evening in rural Perthshire when our 153-acre campus is a hive of activity and social connection. From the sound of bat on ball in the cricket nets to the laughter of groups of pupils gathered on Riley Paddock.
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National Boarding Week allows for the celebration of all things boarding and a recognition of the powerful holistic education that such a model provides for our pupils. But such a week also allows for reflection as to the uniqueness of boarding in fostering genuine social belonging and community connection more widely in the school.
Boarding at the Prep School in Riley House provides our youngest pupils with a wonderful opportunity to flourish in a supportive and enriching environment. Within our close-knit boarding community, children quickly grow in confidence and independence, while being cared for by a dedicated House team who foster a home-from-home family environment. Life in Riley is full of fun, structure, and friendship- with plenty of time for play and socialising both within the house and in the safe and open spaces around the Prep School. Whether it's enjoying evening activities, sharing stories with friends, or learning to take small steps towards independence, boarding in Riley House helps children build resilience, responsibility and a strong sense of belonging and, ultimately, providing a natural pathway into the Senior School.
Boarding houses are a core feature of life at Strathallan Senior School and are in themselves warm, caring and inclusive environments. These are spaces where pupils can authentically be themselves through the support network of their excellent Housemasters and Housemistresses, Matrons and tutors. These nurturing spaces allow pupils to flourish and to explore their both passions and intellectual curiosities through the vast range of opportunities afforded to them at Strathallan. It is easy to think that such spaces are unique to those pupils who are full time boarders but in the Senior School at Strathallan, whether you are a day or a boarding pupil, you are a member of a boarding house. There is not a separation of day and boarding pupils, rather a wonderful cohesiveness where, on nights such as the annual House Music Competition and, more routinely, simply walking around campus on a summer’s evening, a real feeling of togetherness and mutual support for one another.
In the Summer Term, which has the thread of examinations and end of year events naturally running through it from the off, these connections and support networks are undoubtedly, and understandably, more needed and visibly felt in the school. A collective energy pervades the campus in both Prep and Senior with exams to be sat, university and degree apprenticeship offers to be met, a Fantastic Mr Fox production to prepare for the shared rhythm of revision sessions, peer support, rehearsals and moments of welcome respite on the golf course or in the Art Cafe. It is during these months that the strength of the boarding school ethos truly comes into its own- when pupils, staff, and community come together to support one another- the collective tide that a school with boarding at its core provides.
It is this spirit and belonging, so deeply woven into the fabric of our community, that gives Strathallan its heartbeat. The friendships formed in the kitchen and games room in Riley, the friendly competitiveness of the capture the flag game in Prep, the encouragement exchanged after a tough house match, the impromptu piano playing in a common room late at night- these moments are not extras to the educational experience; they are integral to it. They help forge resilient, grounded, and socially aware young people, prepared not just for academic success but with an ingrained understanding of the bonds and moments that bind our community.
National Boarding Week offers an important lens to reflect and celebrate but to also to reaffirm the belief in the value of an education where boarding houses are the beating heart of the community. One where character is shaped not just in the classroom but in the common rooms, on the sports pitches and Paddock, in chapel and around the table in our wonderful dining space Harry’s. It is the people and connections, both formal and informal, that make boarding at Strathallan not just a structure of routine and tradition but a vibrant living community.
- Jonathan Mace, Senior Deputy Head at Strathallan
