Boarding

St Chris boarding offers a “home away from home” for students aged 11 to 18 years, who can choose to board on a full, weekly or flexi basis.

Boarding allows students to dedicate more time to their studies and the co-curricular activities that they enjoy most, together with their friends. With supervised prep time, access to extensive facilities across our 25-acre campus, in addition to a range of activities and trips, boarders are able to make the most of school life.

For those in year groups where coursework and exams are more central to their curriculum commitments, in particular Year 10 to 11 and also Sixth Form, boarding is particularly attractive, affording the maximum possible time for additional prep and revision without the worry of commuting.

We find that boarders develop a distinct capacity for tolerance, self-sufficiency and independence that serve them well in later life. They learn through experience the important relationship between rights and responsibilities, and the balance between individuality and being part of a community.

Our boarding house, Arundale, is located at the heart of the 25-acre campus, overlooking the sports fields and gardens, and close to all facilities and activities.

Each student has their own comfortable single bedroom, with shared modern bathrooms and social areas, including sitting rooms, television and games rooms, and a kitchen to make hot drinks and snacks.

Students’ bedrooms are grouped together according to age, with younger boarders in the older part of Arundale, and Sixth Formers in a more recent extension with their own social areas which they can use separately if they wish to.

Arundale is looked after by house parents Chris and Cecilia Drayton, who have been with us for almost 20 years and whose three children attended St Chris. The house parents are supported by resident tutors Joe Sapsford and Emma Bennett-Jones, plus gap students Lili Gossare and Paula Ruiz, who along with Chris also teach in the main school, providing a vital link between pastoral and academic areas.

Pretty, historic Letchworth is less than a ten-minute walk away from the school, with its own cinema, library, coffee shops, independent stores and beautiful green parks. It’s hard to believe the town is so centrally linked to airports and the national rail network with direct trains to London, Cambridge and beyond.

“The quality of boarding [and its] provision and care is excellent. Boarders have an excellent level of personal development. They are confident and erudite.”

ISI Integrated Inspection, 2016

“The best thing about boarding is that you can really do anything you want to within reason. I am able to talk to people about different ideas and really make stuff happen – this term it’s been Taco Tuesday and an Easter Egg Hunt in the house! The teachers and houseparents here are so accommodating and I like that I have such an investment in the house. It makes it feel like a community for me.”

Molly, Boarder, Year 12

“It’s quite a small boarding community so you really feel like you’re at home and just have a big family!”

Paula, Boarder, Year 12