A Home Away From Home: Boarding at Oswestry School

The principles of boarding are in line with the broader aims of the school.

• We celebrate boarding as a positive experience, providing boarders with academic and extracurricular opportunities to further enhance their education and lives.
• We develop the whole person; intellectually, personally, socially and culturally by offering a wide range of sports, clubs, societies, activities and excursions.
• We are an open, tolerant and trusting school, based on a mutual respect for all. 
• We safeguard and promote the welfare of each individual by providing a safe environment, regular personal social and health education sessions and through our pastoral care and mentoring.
• We provide a welcoming family environment, and activities to foster house spirit and community, including our tribes and families, ‘buddies’ for new arrivals and house socials, competitions and excursions.
• Although living together, we acknowledge the right of each other to privacy and to work undisturbed. 
• We develop boarders’ qualities of leadership and ability to work as part of a team, through regular group mentoring sessions and the opportunity to take on leadership roles within the House and School. 

Passports are handed in to boarding staff for safekeeping. You can get them back at any point, but this will ensure that they don't get lost!

Every pupil has a lockable area (draw, cupboard or safe) where you can store things that are important or valuable. If you have large amounts of cash of you, you should hand this into House staff as it's very difficult for us to trace if if goes missing.

The majority of our pupils have a mobile phone which they use to contact home, and all pupils have a device - either a tablet or a laptop, which they can also use to contact home. House staff are very accommodating to boarders who need to use their device at certain times of the day to fit in with any significant time difference in their home country.

We will accommodate pupils dietary requirements and take allergies and religious diets particularly seriously. As a school we operate on a self-identification basis and pupils with a dietary requirement should let staff in the refectory know, they will then ensure that our boarding pupils receive an appropriate meal. We will also accommodate religious festivals, such as Ramadan, and boarding staff support pupils to ensure they can practice their faith appropriately, even when this does not fit into the usual schedule. 

As part of your fees, Oswestry School offers transfers from Manchester Airport at the beginning and end of each full term. Your House staff will arrange these transfers for you. Transfers to different airports and for half-term breaks are at an additional cost and must be discussed with your House staff. Parents/guardians/agents must provide flight details to House staff at least 3 weeks in advance to allow time for organising transfers.

Pupils under 16 must use school transport or be collected by parents/guardians. Pupils over 16 can organise separate transport but the school will insist on school transport if your plans are deemed not safe or inappropriate.

Please see our uniform page. You are required to order and pay for your uniform online, in advance of arriving at school. Upon arrival, your uniform will be ready for you in the boarding house. The uniform shop will be open on induction day or the first day of term for any swaps that are needed.

We supply bedding (mattress, mattress protector, fitted sheet, duvet and pillow) for all pupils. If you would prefer to bring your own bedding, you can.  The beds are all single. We do ask pupils to bring their own duvet cover and pillowcases, please.

All pupils are required to bring their own towels.

Manchester is 75 minutes away from Oswestry and Heathrow is 210 minutes away.

We have three boarding houses.

School House is a boarding house for boys aged 10-18. 

Guinevere is a boarding house for girls aged 10-18. 

Holbache House is a Sixth Form boarding house for girls and boys.

Non-prescribed medication is not permitted and will be confiscated. We have a full-time nurse on site within the Surgery who will provide pupils with appropriate medication if they are unwell. Of course, prescribed medication that has been declared on your medical form is allowed to be brought to school but it must be shown to the school nurse and might need to be handed to House staff for safe storage.

It is advised that pupils do not bring cash with them. Large amounts of cash must be handed to House staff upon arrival. Every pupil should have a debit card/pocket money card.

Food - Although it is tempting for families to send their children with home-cooked food, we are not able to allow pupils to consume this due to dangers with food safety after the meals have travelled on a plane.

Cigarettes, vapes and alcohol are strictly forbidden. It is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to buy or use cigarettes, vapes and alcohol in the UK.

Breakfast, lunch and evening meals are all cooked onsite and served buffet style in our superb dining hall, ‘The Refectory’. There are varied menus with delicious selections of hot and cold choices to suit all tastes and dietary requirements.

Your timetable will be waiting for you when you arrive at your boarding house. Your House staff will assign you a buddy who will be in your tutor group. You will meet your buddy in the boarding house when you first arrive, and they will take you to your form tutor and lessons during your first few days.

1st-5th Form hand their phones and devices in 15 minutes before bedtime on Sunday-Thursday. It is a little more relaxed with Sixth Formers.

You will have a bag to put your pants and socks in. This will be washed, along with your sports kit, in the boarding house daily. All other items of clothing are washed at the laundry and take around 3 days to return. All you have to do is have it labelled and drop it in the laundry basket as you leave the house.

You will have a club after school until 5 pm at least twice a week. On the other evenings you may visit town in a small group, depending on your year group. Supper is between 5.30-6.10 pm and prep starts at 6.30 pm. Prep finishes at 7.30 pm for 1st-3rd Form, and 8 pm for 4th-6th Form.

After prep a number of activities take place, such as basketball, volleyball, gym, spinning, swimming, tennis, football, Just Dance and cooking. Alternatively, you may want to relax in the common room, play games, listen to music or relax in your room. Many boarders enjoy using their downtime to practise their musical instruments in the music rooms.

Weekends are very relaxed and a number of activities happen. You may have a sporting fixture on Saturday. Most weekends there is a trip such as go-karting, visiting Shrewsbury, Chester, Manchester, Liverpool or Birmingham, the cinema, ice-skating - you tell us what you would like to do and we will try our hardest to organise it! We have brunch at 11 am on Saturday and Sunday, and supper at 5.30 pm. You may have a takeaway, visit your friends in other houses or invite day pupils to stay over and visit. We also have a Chapel service on Sunday.