Boarding Houses for Boys and Girls

Family-style support

Pupils return to a family-like environment when the school day ends

Our boarding houses are split between five senior boys’ houses, five girls’ houses and two junior boys’ houses. They are places where pupils grow into independent, kind and confident young individuals. From breakfast to lights-out, we provide family-style support every day, ensuring the highest quality of pastoral care.

Living in a boarding house enables pupils to form friendships that last a lifetime. From early on, pupils build a foundation that leads to a pupil body with high self-esteem and an empathetic culture.

As pupils progress through the school, the type of support they need may change. However, at every step of the way our pupils can rely on their boarding house to be a supportive and kind environment, offering continuous guidance and care.

We asked our pupils for their favourite thing about boarding at Bryanston …

Boarding life

Boarding houses are pupils’ homes seven days a week, with each one having its own distinct personality and culture within a nurturing environment. By living together boarders form a strong sense of camaraderie, allowing them to celebrate each other’s achievements and develop life-long friendships.

Living in a boarding environment encourages emotional intelligence – a skill set fundamental to life beyond Bryanston. Pupils become comfortable in their own skin and confident in their own abilities, allowing them to thrive independently when they move on to university and life beyond school.

Bryanston’s 400 acre site, with a glorious riverside location, offers pupils a wonderful space to develop and grow, away from modern day noise and pressures.

Weekends

The social side of boarding offers opportunities to unwind and enjoy time with friends, after lessons and at weekends. There are many spaces to socialise, both in and out of boarding houses, including a bar for older pupils and a popular café in the centre of the school.

Weekend social activities include house dinners, concerts by school bands, theatrical performances and popular events such as the annual A3 Festival and the annual Charities Fair.

Weekends are busy with a wide range of extra-curricular activities on offer, such as mixing in the school’s DJ booth, taking part in BRY.RADIO or enjoying the extensive creative arts on offer. Sports activities include matches and house sport, rowing or canoeing on the River Stour, horse riding in the school’s equestrian facilities and skateboarding in the skatepark.

Boarders enjoy the school’s state-of-the-art sports centre facilities, including a swimming pool, climbing wall and supervised gym.

View photos and videos from our weekend activities below (from September 2024 onwards) and on our Facebook and Instagram pages.

We have two main types of weekend

Approximately half the weekends in the year are designated ‘whole school weekends’, when all pupils stay in and the entire school comes together to work towards a common goal, such as a charity fundraising event, take part in one of our pupil-led arts festivals or participate in a house event, such as house singing.

The focus and participation during these weekends teaches pupils many of life’s essential insights and skills, including working together, valuing your own contribution and those of others and valuing the community in which you find yourself.

On open weekends, pupils may choose to go home after Saturday morning lessons and sport commitments. For those staying in school, there is a varied programme of recreational activities, such as cinema trips, pizza-making, paintballing and shopping trips. In addition, Houseparents will often arrange events within the house, for example cross house socials, to complement activities going on across the School.

Junior Boys Boarding House - Beechwood Boys on Lawn

The House Team

Each house team is run by a House Parent, a Deputy House Parent, a Matron and two Resident staff.

House Parents and Residents live on site and are around for pupils from wake-up until lights out. Matrons are in the boarding house every school day, from Monday to Saturday.

House Parents

The bond between a House Parent and their house is strong. They set the tone – acting as the pastoral lighthouses for every pupil as they sail through Bryanston life. They are there to celebrate every achievement and to be the backstop for most behavioural matters.

The role of a House Parent is to champion, guide, and care. Over the course of five years, House Parents collaborate with tutors, parents, and the rest of the House Team to ensure each pupil is happy and achieving their potential.

House Parents oversee the development of the house as a whole, making sure that the culture of each house is conducive to a happy home environment. They understand the needs and interests of every pupil in their house and are committed to the wellbeing of each one.

Our House Parents

Dr Hannah Fearnley

Greenleaves House Parent / Teacher of Classics

Mark Christie

Salisbury House Parent / Teacher of Economics

Tom Strongman

Shaftesbury House Parent / History Teacher

Ben Craig

Deputy DSL / Portman House Parent / Teacher of Mathematics

Janet Velasco

Hunter House Parent / Teacher of French

Jo Simpson

Purbeck House Parent / Teacher of PE and PSRE

Emma Morris

Harthan House Parent

Nicholas Welford

Connaught House Parent / Teacher of Biology

George Drake

Dorset House Parent / Teacher of Economics

James Ralphs

Beechwood House Parent / Teacher of Geography

Katie Kean

Allan House Parent / Teacher of Mathematics

Liam Haynes

Cranborne House Parent / Teacher of French

View all

Matrons

Matrons have one of the most important jobs in the school. They help every pupil become independent and well-rounded young adults.

The start to Matron’s day is much like a parents’. It’s their job to help every pupil on their way from breakfast to their first commitment at Main School.

Throughout the day they are often the first port of call for pupils. They take care of everything from mending clothes to health and hygiene. Together with the House Parent they know how every pupil is getting on with their daily routines and are there to provide support and guidance.

All of our Matrons are first aid trained and experts in kindness and compassion.

Residents

Residents help make up the DNA of every boarding house. As additional members of a House, they have a variety of roles that act as the eyes and ears of the House Parents.

When a House Parent is off duty, every pupil’s next port of call is a resident. There are two residents in every house, each a member of teaching staff. Often as younger members of staff they provide a different perspective to House Parents and Matrons. They help maintain the culture of the house and also provide support and care where needed.

Residents are on a rotational duty with House Parents from morning wake up to prep and bedtimes. Pupils will see at least one of their residents every day which provides a great sense of stability and reassurance for pupils when they come back to house.

Safeguarding and pastoral care

Our award-winning approach to health and wellbeing is present in all aspects of school life.

We are dedicated to continually enhancing our safeguarding policies and procedures and we ensure an environment where any pupil’s concerns or worries can be raised and addressed.

We encourage every member of the community to ensure the effective implementation of our safeguarding practices.

Boarding House FAQs

If you have any further questions, please contact our admissions team.

What type of boarding do you offer?

Bryanston is a full boarding school with some day pupils. Full boarders are expected to be at school at all times apart from school exeats and holidays and, with their House Parent’s permission, on Open Weekends.
Can boarders come home at the weekend?
As a seven-day-a-week boarding school, weekends are vibrant, fun and busy. The school has three types of weekend, which are posted in the school calendar:
- Whole School Weekends, when pupils are expected to be in school.
- Exeat Weekends, when all pupils must be leave school on Friday at 4.20pm and return by 9pm on Sunday.
- Open Weekends, when pupils can choose to remain at school or choose to go home after lessons, sports matches or other school commitments on Saturday, returning by 9pm on Sunday.
Is there any flexibility in the weekend arrangements?

For those families wanting their child home regularly, the pattern of weekends is such that a weekend leave is possible every two weeks. While a weekend leave request for a Whole School Weekend will be considered sympathetically, they are not encouraged. The House Parent will use their discretion, based on the needs of the individual pupil, as well as those around them.
How many children stay in at weekends?

The school is aware of the various needs of its boarders and their families at weekends, so is committed to ensuring a formula is achieved that can suit everybody and that exceeds the expectations of families who choose a full boarding education for their child.

The weekend activity programme is carefully managed by the Weekend Coordinator, who organises a range of activities that take place both in and out of school. This being said, pupils often organise weekend activities themselves; for example, the House Drama Festival, Balloon Debate, A3 Festival and A2 Charities Day. This means that there are always pupils present at the school outside of Exeats and school holidays.
How many day pupils (with bed) are there?

Approximately 20 per cent.
Is there a day house?

No, Day Pupils are integrated into boarding houses alongside their peer group. They have a designated study area within the boarding house which is shared with other day pupils.
How long is the school day for day pupils?

Day pupils are expected to be in school from 8.15am. They can leave at 6pm (during the winter timetable) once their classes and any co-curricular activities have finished (from Monday to Friday) and after their school commitments on a Saturday. Current pupils can discuss specific arrangements with their House Parent.
How many boarding houses are there?

We have 12 boarding houses: five girls’ houses, two junior boys’ houses and five senior boys’ houses.

There are up to 40 boys in each of the two junior boys’ houses and 60-70 children in each of the senior houses.
Are parents required to choose a house?

The composition of each house is directed by the Head’s Office. Our boarding houses do not encourage the cliques and intense tribal loyalties sometimes found in schools whose social arrangements are based on a strong, inward-looking house tradition. Bryanston is a living community working together rather than a federation of separate houses.
Why are the boarding arrangements different for girls and boys in Year 9?

Bryanston is one of the most experienced co-educational boarding schools in the country and understands that girls’ and boys’ needs differ when they enter the School in Year 9.

The girls are in the same boarding house throughout their time at Bryanston. The older girls in the house tend to act as ‘big sisters’ to the new arrivals and will help them to settle in. Boys can be less mature at 13 and differ greatly from young adult pupils at 18 and so, in their first year, they join one of the two junior boys’ houses where they find their feet among their peer group.

At the end of the year, boys will express a preference for the friends they would like to have with them in a senior house. Alongside many other factors the Deputy Head, Head of Boarding and the junior boys’ House Parents work hard to ensure that, as with all houses, the senior boys’ houses have a good mix of interests, talents, cultures and backgrounds.

The transition phase from a junior to senior house is skilfully and expertly managed by the House Parents and is less daunting for the boys after having had a year to settle in.
Do pupils eat in their boarding house?

While each house has a social area and small kitchens for making hot drinks and snacks, main meals are taken in the central dining hall, enabling pupils to develop relationships outside their house.