Integrating Day Plus Alongside Weekly & Full Boarding
Purpose
The purpose of this booklet is to share more details about our plans to integrate Day Plus alongside Weekly and Full Boarding. Furthermore, it will describe how it will work ahead of finalised plans which will be shared with you before the end of term, which will also include a forum for Q&A on Thursday 14 March and a new school video focused on Day Plus, Weekly and Full Boarding in 5th and 6th Form (Year 7 and Year 8).
Prior to the start of the Summer Term, parents of the current 4th Form (Year 6) will need to elect one of Day Plus, Weekly or Full Boarding so this dissemination of information is important.
What is our vision for a thriving, relevant Caldicott?
In fast-changing times, Caldicott must answer the evolving needs of its pupils without losing sight of the core strengths that give this school its dynamic spirit.
It will remain a place of academic rigour and teaching excellence; a place where boys, at a critical stage of their development, are nurtured to become problem solvers and critical thinkers. It will remain a place where camaraderie fuels achievement in a range of sporting and creative pursuits and a sense of brotherhood.
At the same time, Caldicott boys demonstrate compassion and self-awareness. They are eager to play their part in the community and to help address society’s collective challenges. They have the values to guide them, the determination to persevere, and the capacity to lead but, crucially, they also know how to apply those qualities in today’s world.
How does Day Plus fit with this vision?
Historically, schools like Caldicott saw their core purpose to be a prep school that can guarantee a place for a boy at a top senior school. Our evolving vision, which sees the journey as equally important, frames a more relevant ambition which also aligns neatly with the expectations that are described to us by those very same schools at our regular meetings.
Day Plus is a day place in 5th and 6th Form which includes two nights of boarding, which are optional or can be topped up. Together with Weekly and Full Boarding, we will have three pathways heading towards the same ambition, tailored to suit each boy. The outcomes for boys will broadly be the same with the school moving away from a one size fits all requirement to begin at least five nights of boarding at the start of 5th Form to an approach that recognises different rates of boys’ emotional development.
We aim to be the top day and boarding, all boy, prep school amongst the schools with whom we share a catchment area and beyond. No school around us will offer our level of premium experience, where the familiar hallmarks of a boarding ethos such as incredible relationships, a vibrant community and meaningful values prevail within a day/ boarding school model. Far from turning away from boarding, Caldicott’s progressive culture is setting us apart. We are aware of macrolevel trends within education and the evolving opinions of prep school parents, so we have worked hard to ensure that we remain best-inclass and relevant.
We will continue to encourage a boarding ethos and with the feedback from the recent survey all analysed we believe the majority of next year’s 5th Form will be Weekly or Full Boarding rather than everyone opting for it from September 2024. Yet our Day Plus offer will be appealing to parents who would prefer to delay the decision for their sons to board until closer to the end of their time at prep school or until the start of senior school.
Tell us what you mean by ‘three pathways heading towards the same ambition’
Day Plus, Weekly Boarding and Full Boarding are three pathways that lead boys to the best possible outcome, with our vision being realised in every boy. A great deal of thought has gone into ensuring that each pathway has a unique blend of the key ingredients that make a Caldicott education special. With Day Plus placing greater emphasis on the opportunity to decompress at home with family midweek and our Weekly or Full Boarding placing greater emphasis on the camaraderie of boarding, each family will be able to find the right pathway for them.
The two nights of boarding that are included in our Day Plus offer are enough for the Weekly and Full Boarders to have a full programme of activities and for the Day Plus boys to have enough of an experience of boarding that they thrive too. Currently the majority of boys take part in two activities per week and we anticipate that this will continue with Day Plus boys syncing their boarding night to the night of their chosen boarders’ activities. Wednesday will still be for parents visiting for the familiar midweek check in and a full programme will be on offer for any boarder who does not see his parents on a Wednesday.
Caldicott is a school with a rich boarding heritage and we anticipate that many families will continue to choose this route, but with enthusiastic support for our Day Plus plans from both top boarding and day schools, we are confident in our new model.
What is the difference between flexi-boarding and Day Plus?
1. Flexi-boarding is for day boys in 1st to 4th Form. It is an extra that is an additional benefit on top of the experience offered in those four year groups. Day Plus is not an extra as it is one of three core offers in the 5th and 6th Form.
2. Flexi-boarding beds may be used by different boys throughout the week, so it is never exclusively their own bed. All Day Plus boys will have their own bed where clothes can be stored and their dormitories can be decorated as they choose.
3. Day Plus boys will have laundry done for them when they board by the wonderful Matronal and Laundry staff who will return clothes to the drawers under a boy’s bed or the laundry hub before the next night of boarding. Naturally boys will be able to pop upstairs with permission from Matron should an item need collecting.
How will booking work?
Whichever is the preferred pathway through 5th and 6th Form every Caldicott boy will have a bed, in a dormitory with boys who have chosen the same pathway. We will be developing our current minibus booking system to include parents of Day Plus boys. Parents will be able to fix the two nights of boarding all term or change it; parents will also be able to top up or withdraw at the click of a button. Each Friday we will communicate with you about the upcoming week and by Saturday lunchtime your request will be locked in and forwarded to the boarding team, giving you peace of mind. We recognise that boys will try to sync their boarding nights and because each boy has a bed, you will have the opportunity to make Day Plus work for their friendship network and your requirements.
The above will ensure the checkout lists, minibus lists and boarding lists for any given day can be reconciled accurately meaning we will have a very professional administrative function in support of whichever pathway is chosen.
Although Day Plus boys can leave school at 16.00 after Lesson 9, our preference is for them to usually stay until 18.00 having benefitted from supervised prep and academic clinics. A substantial snack will have been served earlier.
What access will Day Plus boys have to the opportunities
on offer after 18.00?
On the days they are not boarding, Day Plus boys must be checked out at the end of the day by 18.00, when the last minibus leaves or an adult collects, with the exception of two opportunities, namely Music and Drama. In the event that a boy is involved in these two important areas of school life on nights they do not board, they can stay for supper, attend the activity and a member of the senior leadership team will check them out when an adult collects them in person no later than 20.00. A parent of a Day Plus boy may be strategic about which two nights of boarding are used in order to minimise disruption as securing a part in the senior drama production may involve an extended rehearsal commitment. [See ‘How will booking work?’ on the previous page]
Pre-school activities and the boarders’ activity programme will not generally be available to Day Plus boys on the days they are not boarding as their parents want them at home. However, it is not possible to frame every possible permutation, so some decisions will need to be at the Headmaster’s discretion.
Can my son move between Weekly/Full Boarding and Day Plus?
A week’s notice will be required to move from Day Plus to Weekly or Full Boarding whilst a term’s notice (or the Headmaster’s discretion) will be required to move from Weekly or Full Boarding to Day Plus.
When the Chairman of Governors writes to you with the school fee schedule for 2024/2025, you will be notified of all rates and parents in our current 4th Form will be asked to choose one of Day Plus, Weekly or Full Boarding. Minibus charges for Day Plus boys will be included.
Can you assure us that your 13+ future school preparation will develop in support of families who want less boarding?
Caldicott’s senior school destinations include the country’s most highly regarded schools and as we pivot to recognise that more parents would rather delay the start of Weekly or Full boarding until the age of 13+, we expect this success to continue. Naturally, the introduction of Day Plus will mean that parents may want to explore other options and we are proud that Caldicott boys have received offers from these schools in the last few years: Westminster, St Paul’s, MTS, Berkhamsted, Latymer, City of London, Emanuel, King’s College Wimbledon, Thorpe House and more. Our academic culture and broad offer resonate with day schools just as much as boarding schools and we are highly confident in the processes leading to an offer being made, in particular with regards to preparation and assessments in 3rd and 4th Form.
To Conclude
We are well prepared to make a success of this new chapter in our school’s history. Removal of the word ‘compulsory’ from our approach to boarding in 5th and 6th Form has appealed to parents who want more choice. Prospective parents have been enthusiastic and even some former parents have said that they wish they had the opportunity for their son to move into Weekly Boarding when he was ready, rather than when he started 5th Form.
Our preparation has been a team effort with much consideration going into every aspect of our provision. What has given us greatest joy is that we can clearly see how our prevailing culture and ethos will thrive with this adaptation. Each family can choose a route that works best for their son with boys moving to more boarding when they are ready if they choose or not at all. To reiterate, we continue to view Caldicott as place with an ambitious vision and from September there will three different pathways to get there.