Figure 1.--The older boys at this school wre allowed to play computer games during their free time after evening prep. The games were still somewhat basic in the1980s. |
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A lot goes on at boarding schools in the afternoon and evening after the day children go home. We have covered the school day in other volumes of our eBooks. The school day is not to different at day schools and boarding schools. It is after games that the day and boarding school experience becomes different. There are also weekend activities. Here the program varies greatly from school to school. The particular activity program at any school depends on facilities, school philosophy, staff skills and interests, children's interests and other factors. The range of different activities is quite long. Some activities we noted are: board games, carpentry, chess, choir, cooking, crafts (baskets, beads and much more), boating, dance, fencing, first aid, horseback riding, jigsaws, judo, music activities (many kinds), model making, model railroading, painting (different kinds), photography, stamp collecting, technology, and many other activities. There are also a variety of recreatinal sports beyond the major games, including: badminton, fencing, gymnastics, squash, and others. The activities also vary seasonally. Britain is located at a northern lattitude. Thus in winter it gets very dark early and stays light quite late in the evening. This is especially true in Scotland. Generally the children are allowed to stay up longer during the summer term with longer days. Of course the schools vary considerably as to the facilities available for freetime activities. There can be free time, supervised activities like a free swim, tea (evening meal), perhaps some television (usually the news), prep, and finally bed time. Some schools give more attention to free time while others place greater emphasis on prep.
A lot goes on at boarding schools in the afternoon and evening after the day children go home. We have covered the school day in other volumes of our eBooks. The school day is not to different at day schools and boarding schools. It is after games that the day and boarding school experience becomes different. There are also weekend activities. These varies avtivities can provide a very different atmosphere at boarding school than is the case for day schools.
The schedule after games in the afternoon can vary substantially. The major activities scheduled after games include freetime, clubs, dinner, and prep before bedtime. The schools vary a good deal as to the enphasis on these different activities. Some schools insist on a good deal of prep while others allow the children more free time. There can be free time, supervised activities like a free swim, tea (evening meal), perhaps some television (usually the news), prep, and finally bed time. Some schools give more attention to free time while others place greater emphasis on prep. Most schools have at least one prep period. Others have more. Often schools assign more prep to the older children.
Boarding children especially look forward to free time when they can play. The amount of free time given to the children varies quite a bit from school to school. Here age is a factor. The older boys may be thinking more about their studies and CEE. The younger children are much more interested in play time. The schools also vary as to when the children have free time. One of the real attractive aspects of boarding school for boys is there is never any shortage of playmates. During free time a pal can always be found for whatever type of game a boy may want to play. And groups can be found to field teams for sports. And not only are playmates available, but also a range of appealing facilities. And there are facilities and fields easily at hand for play. Many schools in recent years have expanded their facilities and recreation is given more consideration than was the case earlier. Durring the cold weather there are indoor play areas for active games. Schools also have have a good supply of board games. When the weather is better there are also outdoor facilities for the children, often including tennis courts and swimming pools. Som schools have extensive play ground equipment or even an assault-course type set up. Often for younger boys one of the most popular places is a wooded area where they can build dens which often take on the chracter of forts.
Most prep schools significantly restricted television viewing. At many schools the children were encouraged to watch the evening news after dinner. Often the children were allowed to watch major sports events such as test matches. As the schools were fairly small, some flexibility was possible. The boys at want one school were particularly interested in aweekly space series and the headmaster allowed them to watch it. The schools also used some BBC educational programming.
Prep is the term used for both after class assignment and the period of time in which the children do the assignments. Here we are talkig aout a supervised class. Prep of course is short for "preparation"--meaning preparation for class. The amount and emphasis placed on prep varies a good deal from school to school. This has a considerable impact on the atmophere at the school. Educators differ on jut how much prep is the most appropriate and nebeficial. The mount of prep scheduled is a good indicator of the scool's assessment of academics and leisure. This of course affects the school experience. Some schools schedule prep in the afternoon so both dayboys and boarders do it. Other schools schedule the prep in the evening after the day boys go home so the day boys have to di their prep at home. Most schools have prep. At many schols there is oly one prep session. At other schools there is two or three prep sessions. At some schools prep is the major activity after afternoon games. Other schools are more inclined to give the children free time in the afternoon and evening. The amont of prep normally varies by age with the older children getting more prep than the younger children.
The children had time foir informal f=discussions before going to bed. Here the tpoics varied as to the age of the chiukdren and gender. This was especilly the case for the older children who had later bed time than the younger children. Often the discussiuins were on a range of topics which interested the children. Movies and teevision might be discussed. There might be chit chst on a rahge of trendy topics. The girls seemed inteested in movie stars and clothes. The boys might tlk about sports or new ganes and toys. Some of the students were interested in bands and music. There were also discussions on academic topics. The children might compare noites on how to tackle a class assignment such as an essay or research topic. . In additiion to formal prep, the children have the opportunity to discuss aspects of the formal lessons or mpre informal events that they pick up on the TV news and newspaers. Sometimes this is done out of formal interest. There were also a range of projects that the children were assigned to wirk on in smll groups. Or a variety of other activities that hey prepared for in teans. Thus evening free time was agood opportynity to compare notes on a range of these activities as well as a variety of reding assignments. This was all exchanges that were much more difficult for the day students.
The afternoon activities program varies greatly from school to school. The particular activity program at any school depends on facilities, school philosophy, staff skills and interests, children's interests and other factors. The range of different activities is quite long. Of course no one school has all of these activities, but many schools offer quite a number of them. There are both informal free-time activities as well as more striuctured supervised activities. Here there can be considerable overlap. Some activities we noted are: board games, carpentry, chess, choir, cooking, crafts (baskets, beads and much more), boating, dance, fencing, first aid, horseback riding, jigsaws, judo, music activities (many kinds), model making, model railroading, painting (different kinds), photography, stamp collecting, technology, and many other activities. There are also a variety of recreatinal sports beyond the major games, including: badminton, fencing, gymnastics, squash, and others.
The activities also vary seasonally. Britain is located at a northern lattitude. Thus in winter it gets very dark early and stays light quite late in the evening. This is especially true in Scotland. Generally the children are allowed to stay up longer during the summer term with longer days.
Of course the schools vary considerably as to the facilities available for freetime activities.
A British reader tells us that his overwealming memory of his prep school in the 1960s was one of boredom with the same routein and activities day after day. Some boarders spend 5-6 years boarding at the same school and may have begun earlier in the pre-prep this is certainly a problem. I think it was especually a problem before the 1970s when schools were less oriented toward the children. The schools by the 1980s were becoming more pleasant olaces to live and adding a greater range of activities for both day children nd boarders to enjoy. In particular more activites beyond sports were being added to the program. An ikmportant factor here is the head master and teachers and the impgination and creativity that they bring to their jobs. Even so the schools tend to be small and boys generally age 12-13 are ready for greater challenges. Generally speaking we found that the ocerwealming number of children liked their schools. There certainly were some of the older children, however, that were ready for a new school and greater challenges.