The state school pupils who stay after lessons

Oxfordshire boasts its fair share of high-performing independent boarding schools, but the county is also home to one of a rare breed of state schools with boarding facilities.

Burford School’s boarding provision has just received an Ofsted judgment of good, with outstanding features, and there is a waiting list for places.

Headteacher Kathy Haig, pictured, said: “When the boarders are at day school, you wouldn’t know who was a boarder and who wasn’t, because it’s totally integrated.

“Because our boarding house is on a different site, all the children leave at the end of the day, so it fits really well.”

There are only 37 state schools with boarding provision in the country.

Burford, which has more than 1,100 pupils in total, has 90 places for boarding, 81 of which are currently filled, with 85 boarders expected from September.

The school tries to keep a different mix of ages and genders, meaning there are vacant places in some age groups but a waiting list for others. There are 22 names on the waiting list for girls and nine for boys.

The boarding house is in a Grade II-listed building, which requires considerable investment to keep in good repair – £96,000 in 2011-2012 and £65,000 this academic year.

Mrs Haig said: “In the last few years we have really invested heavily, not just in the actual physical building, but in furniture, decor and curtains.”

Burford itself made it into Time magazine’s list of top places to live in the world, and the leafy Cotswold town does not provide the same mix of ethnic and class backgrounds you might see in Oxford – something the boarding provision helps to counteract.

Mrs Haig said: “It does add to our diversity in terms of children’s backgrounds.

“We get children from Hong Kong, Germany, Spain, and it adds to the mix of cultures in the school that we would not have if we didn’t have boarding.”

All pupils must have a British or European passport. Boarders come from all over the UK and the world. Some come from Oxfordshire, but board because they are so involved in the extra-curricular activities it makes sense to live in.

Most are termly boarders, going home at half-term and holiday periods, while a few board on a weekly basis.

With boarding fees of £3,200 per term, the school is an attractive prospect for those who might have otherwise sent their children to independent schools, where the bill could be several times that amount.

Mrs Haig said: “You are only paying for boarding, not for day school, so it makes us very competitive against private boarding. Independent prep school goes up to the age of 13 and we have had a lot of requests for children to join at the end of year nine. I don’t know if that reflects the economic climate.

“We have said ‘yes’ to some but ‘no’ to others, because we want a balance of sexes and a balance of age.”

She described the boarding provision as thriving and could not see any reason why this would change.

She said: “If I sat here and there were hardly any boarders and I didn’t have a waiting list, I might feel differently, but it’s really vibrant.”

The results posted by boarders at the school exceed those by day school pupils. Last year, 59 per cent of boarding pupils achieved five A* to C grades at GCSE compared with 56 per cent of all Burford pupils.

HARD WORK AND PERSPIRATION MAKE PLACE SPECIAL

Paul Johnson was appointed head of boarding at Burford School two years ago.

He came to the school from Mount St Mary’s College in Derbyshire and previously worked at Shiplake College, near Henley – both independent schools.

He said: “It’s a sensational place in the middle of Burford and has a wonderful atmosphere.

“It’s quite unique. State boarding schools are few and far between.

“What we offer is something special. It’s a home from home and I think people choose it because of where it is and, of course, the good reputation of the school.”

He said “hard work and perspiration” were key to giving the boardng house the right kind of atmosphere, along with being open and honest.

He said: “At the end of the day it’s not a nine-to-five job.

“Everybody knows my business and what my life’s about, because I live here.”

Mr Johnson said he believed boarding in state schools was on the up. Comparing it with independent schools, he said: “It’s a different environment.

“Here there’s a big mix and the diversity is superb.

“At independent schools, you maybe have more people living on site, and probably more facilities, so in that sense you can never compete, but what you can compete with is the help and support you give the students and boarders.

“It’s that sort of care and attention to detail.”

WHAT THE BOARDERS THINK

'BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE'

Estelle Abou, 18, is French-American, and joined Burford School for sixth-form studies two years ago.

She said: “I have moved around a lot, because my dad is a consultant, so I have lived in France, Jordan and Switzerland, so that’s why my parents put me in boarding school.

“It has been the best two years of my life.

“We have a really great community here. We’re quite a small group so it’s like a family. I have settled in really well.”

Despite offers from UK universities, she has decided to go to Canada to further her studies at Concordia University, Montreal, as she has family living there.

'IT HAS WIDENED MY EXPERIENCE'

Hugh Lo, 18, has been boarding at the school for five years.

He joined the school in year nine from Hong Kong, where his family is based.

He said: “It has been really good. It’s a really different experience, you don’t get to do all the sports and music in Hong Kong, which I have really enjoyed.

“It has really widened my experience and developed me as a person.”

He plans to study civil engineering at Bristol University.