Boarding
Welcome to Boarding
Stonyhurst offers a range of boarding options from Year 3 (age 7/8) at our St Mary's Hall Prep School, right through to Sixth Form boarding at Stonyhurst College. Pupils can board full-time, weekly or on a flexible basis, however, nearly all boarders stay over at the weekend and enjoy the opportunity to participate in a full programme of enriching activities, including cultural excursions and trips to the cinema or sporting events.
Alongside opportunities with the wider school community, we also believe that having space to play, relax and board within small age-groups allows children to grow in confidence and mature at their own pace, which is why we are recognised as one of the best independent boarding schools in the UK.
Find out more below about boarding at our Prep School, College and Sixth Form, including videos from our boarders and virtual tours of the boarding houses.
St Mary's Hall Prep School Boarding (ages 9-13)
Stonyhurst College Boarding (ages 13-16)
Stonyhurst Sixth Form Boarding (ages 16-18)
Excellent Boarding Community
Beyond the spiritual element of Stonyhurst, the key to our outstanding pastoral support lies in the fantastic relationship between pupils, staff and parents. In our most recent full Inspection Report, pastoral support was rated as one of our outstanding areas of excellence.
As a boarding community, our academic staff are heavily involved in pastoral care, with many teachers also holding roles in our boarding houses and as personal tutors.
Each year group (Playroom) has a Playroom Leader, who has oversight of all pastoral, academic and co-curricular elements of each child in their year group. Each Playroom Leader will move with their year group throughout the school, from Year 9 to Year 13, ensuring consistency and familiarity for every individual.
The strong sense of family within the boarding houses ensures that new boarders integrate quickly whilst maintaining pride in their own cultural identity.
ISI Inspection Report April 2023
Boarders enjoy living and working with others and recognise that this has a positive influence on their social development.
ISI Inspection Report April 2023
Boarding House Structure
Rather than pupils boarding in vertical houses, like other independent schools, at Stonyhurst we group boarders by a horizontal system, or year group. There are five horizontal boarding houses for boys and three boarding houses for girls. Each house is run by a pastoral head with a deputy and team of teaching staff who support their work. Our Pastoral Heads live in the house and each house has a unique family atmosphere.
Lower line (Years 9 - 11) typically share rooms with 3 or 4 others (fewer in their GCSE year). All Higher Line (Sixth Form) pupils have individual study bedrooms, some of which are en-suite.
Weekly boarding means that a pupil is in school from a Monday morning to the finish of games on a Saturday afternoon. Some pupils choose to board on a flexible basis when it suits them – from one or two nights a week to once a term.
Boarders of all ages spoke maturely of how daily routines help them to develop self-discipline and personal organisation skills, and living away from home has made them more resilient.
ISI Inspection Report April 2023
Admissions