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The Bolitho School
Student Life
Day Pupils
During the weekdays, life is busy and full. Lessons are thirty-five minutes long, and there are nine lessons in a day. There is a cooked lunch and then tea in the middle of the afternoon. Activities such as orchestra practices, choir, pottery, play rehearsals, crafts, chess, team sports, archery, gymnastics, judo, ballet and fencing take place during the course of the week.
Day pupils involved in concerts or plays sometimes stay on in the evenings. Other parts of their educationally varied diet are outings, excursions and the occasional weekend event.
Pupils are expected to do homework every day – the time required depending on the pupil’s age. Parents are encouraged to supervise their children’s homework, especially in the case of younger children – though obviously not to do it themselves. They are asked to sign a homework book, adding any comments that they wish. Parents who wish to discuss anything with the staff are free, and indeed encouraged, to do so.
Lessons formally end at 4pm (3.25pm for the infants), with afternoon tea from 4-4.10pm, but leaving times at the end of the day are flexible and it is possible to sleep overnight or during the weekends. A large number of the children stay on after lessons for the numerous after school activities on offer. Many of the children live outside Penzance, and the school provides minibus services along the main routes into Penzance from Truro, Falmouth, Helston, St Ives and the Lizard.
Boarding
A number of factors contribute to the school’s distinctive, successful and happy boarding system. The first is that the matrons are employed full time to look after the welfare of the boarders. They do not teach in class. This helps to create an atmosphere that is homely and intimate – different from the relationship that the children have with their daytime teachers. There are around seventy boarders in total, and they therefore receive highly individualised attention, since the ratio between boarders and boarding staff is very low. This also enables close and personalised supervision from the Houseparents and the matrons. The Cornish love children, and the domestic staff, too, play an important – albeit unofficial – pastoral role. The relatively small number of children per year group and the presence of juniors and seniors within the school is a very real strength because it helps to create an environment where the boarders feel that they are part of a large family, with brothers and sisters. The friendships forged by the children of the same age are deep – and often lifelong.
The boarders have plenty of space in their rooms and common rooms. This is important: space makes for privacy and happiness. It also helps that the school is on the edge of a small and safe town. Boarders can visit the shops and there is no sense of isolation or claustrophobia. How often such visits happen and how far they are supervised depends on the child’s age. Finally – but crucially – small numbers allow a flexibility and informality that are impossible for larger boarding schools, which can only run on highly structured lines.
Like the day pupils, the boarders have a busy and full day during the weekdays. The day begins at 7.15 am. The juniors wash and dress under the supervision of the matrons, while the seniors prepare themselves for the day. Breakfast is a relaxed and communal event. The school day is the same for boarders and day pupils alike, with lessons, lunch and activities. After lessons and activities have finished, the juniors do their homework, while the seniors relax until dinner. After dinner the juniors are prepared for bedtime while the seniors finish their homework – the amount depending on their age. The children then relax in their rooms or their common rooms, and chat with the Houseparents and matrons as they walk around. Bedtime is staggered according to age. The number of children in each room varies from 4 to 1, according to age.
On Fridays, the weekly boarders are free to leave from 4pm onwards. Most return on Sunday evenings in time for bed, but a few return on Monday mornings. By arrangement, the school can transport the children all or part of the way.
After a full and busy week it is important that the boarders should recharge their batteries – and equally important that they are not at a loose end. Happily the weekends are a great opportunity to get into and beyond Penzance. Usually there is an outing of some kind. In the right season and weather that could mean camping, rock climbing, canoeing, swimming or surfing, going to a concert or play, seeing places of local and historical interest, or simply doing something for fun. The aim is a mix of the educational and enjoyable that makes a complete break from weekday routine. It is all very relaxed, informal and flexible – so as to fit around individual needs and preferences.
Boarders are often invited out by day students for the weekend. With parental approval this is encouraged, since it helps to maintain the excellent interaction that exists at the school between the day pupils and boarders.