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By Aileen Kane BSA Assistant Director Boarding School Magazine Editor
Changing s the sector celebrates 50 years of the Boarding Schools’ Association, it is fitting that we launch the revamped and refreshed Boarding Magazine in conjunction with our Annual Conference for Heads.
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The theme for this year’s Heads’ conference is Building Bridges, Changing Lives and as Lord Nash, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools, discusses on page 12, the ‘life-changing’ work the sector is doing with vulnerable children is doing just that – changing lives. On page 6 adventurer and television personality Ben Fogle explains how boarding at Bryanston changed his life and provided him with the confidence that set him up “for a lifetime of opportunity, experience and achievement.” In our ever-changing global world, it is imperative the boarding sector keeps up with family demands, technological advances and changing attitudes to boarding. So it was encouraging to learn Boarding numbers are holding their own (page 14) in both the state and independent sectors. Parental attitudes to the sector are overwhelmingly positive as Jane Robinson from Research Stories
Times tells us on page 15. In our next issue we will examine how the sector is using this data to inform a national marketing campaign to encourage more UK boarders to our schools.
Eve Jardine-Young from Cheltenham Ladies’ College and Mark Semmence from Mount Kelly have provided valuable insights into how they are adapting to Boarding in the changing world (page 36) and Boarding refurbishment from the drawing board (page 22). This academic year has been all change for Honorary President Tony Little following his retirement from Eton College. He examines the major sector changes over the last 50 years (page 18) and sets us up for a successful next half century.
Within this issue you will find a special Golden Jubilee pull-out section detailing our celebrations to date and the upcoming opportunities for your school to take part in during National Boarding Week.
In future issues we would like to create a pull-out section for our boarding pupils. To this end we are calling on boarding pupils to submit news, achievements, artwork, photography and creative writing pieces about life as a boarder to bsa@boarding.org.uk. Please include the name of the pupil, year, school and contact details for a member of staff. Once you’ve enjoyed this issue, do let us know your thoughts via twitter (@BSAboarding) and facebook (BSA Boarding). Happy reading!
The Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA) champions boarding and promotes boarding excellence. The BSA represents around 500 independent and state boarding schools in the UK and overseas. BSA services include professional development, government relations, communications, media, publications, conferences and events.