Consultancy with Lionheart

UK Boarding School Consultancy

Here at Lionheart Education, we provide an unmatched insight into the world of UK boarding schools, helping your family select the best UK boarding schools for 11+ and 13+ entry. We create a tailored shortlist for parents and children to review, and discuss the merits of each one in detail to make sure it’s the right fit for your family.

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Selecting full, weekly and flexi-boarding options

One of the first decisions the Lionheart team can help you make is what format of boarding most suits your child and family.

Full boarding is where the student lives at the school for the whole term, and only returns home at half-terms, holiday periods like Christmas and Easter, and summer holidays. With extended full boarding for international pupils, they can even stay with their guardian for these periods too and return home for the long summer period. We will find out from each boarding school exactly what kind of activities and arrangements are in place for weekends and after school to make sure your child can make the most of their time there with fun activities.

Weekly boarding typically means Monday to Friday, with pupils collected Friday after school and returned Sunday evening ready to begin the week. This schedule maintains a family’s rhythm and works well if both parents work long hours during the week, and can then reunite for quality family time on the weekends.

Flexi-boarding is not a common route for boarding, but it can support families who need occasional boarding due to work patterns or children who take part in sport or performances. The flexi boarding school route can help to develop a child’s independence, and we’ll always look at factors such as risk of homesickness, transport arrangements, school culture, and weekend provision when providing families with the details.

Our consultants for boarding schools can help you make the right choice between weekly boarding vs full boarding, and we’ll point you in the right direction for resources including the Independent Schools Council (ISC), the HMC and the GSA.

How Lionheart boarding consultancy works

Discovery

We’ll never just provide you with a list of prestigious names when it comes to our boarding school consultancy, but instead we’ll take a holistic approach to help you make an informed decision. First, we’ll look at your child’s current school and academic performance, their interests, their enthusiasm for boarding school, which can help determine readiness, and the country you are located in.
Boarding school shortlisting

Once we know everything we need to about your family requirements, we’ll get to work and compile a shortlist of boarding schools for you to browse, complete with an information pack for your chosen schools. We’ll present you with everything you need to know, and we’re always ready to find out more about the school to ensure you understand all aspects fully.
Application calendar

For your top boarding school choices, we can arrange school visits for your family, interviews and meetings with the head of the school and Year Group heads, and the boarding faculty members. We will organise everything on your behalf, including deadlines for applications, school-specific tests, scholarships, and term dates.
Making the transition

When you receive your offers back, we can help you to compare each aspect of the boarding school, including things such as house culture, academic routes, travel arrangements and guardianship queries. We can help to bridge any gaps in your child’s knowledge before they start with private tuition before joining, and keep their long-term academic goals in mind.

Boarding school entry at 7+, 8+, 11+, 13+ and 16+

Starting a boarding school in the UK can be a different experience for pupils of varying ages depending on their previous experience of time away from home and confidence levels. The Lionheart team works hard to ensure that each boarding school selected on our shortlist matches the age and personality of each child.

7+ and 8+ entry

Some families choose to start their child in boarding school early, and there are many junior boarding programmes available in the 7+ and 8+ age range. We help you discover the boarding schools with pastoral care systems in place to fully support your child personally, socially, and emotionally, as well as academically at this young age.
11+ and 13+ entry

With 11+ and 13+ boarding school entry, this is classed as the Year 7 senior school boarding environment, and it gives children moving into their teenage years a growth of independence supported by the teaching staff, house masters, and boarding team. For scholarship assessments at this age, Lionheart can provide private tuition and help with pre-tests including ISEB, references, and any examinations specific to the school.
16+ entry

A select number of boarding schools in the UK specialise in 16 plus boarding for students to take A-Levels, and the 16+ Sixth Form boarding entrance route usually requires a certain number of GCSE passes, as well as interviews and subject papers which we can help with.
Choosing co-ed or single-sex boarding

In addition to co-ed boarding schools in the UK, we can help find all-boys boarding schools and all-girls boarding schools which can provide a boost to confidence and a different peer culture.

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Boarding school advice for UK families

If you’re considering boarding schools in the UK, Lionheart Education should be your first port of call for advice, as we’ve been assisting families to choose the best boarding schools since 1989.

When your child attends a boarding school, it’s not purely an academic decision or one based around the location of the school. Instead, it is a life-changing decision about your child’s independence, routine, level of care needs, and what their childhood will look like.

We help you make all of the most important decisions about the type of school community and culture your child will join, as well as the distance from the family home. A Lionheart UK boarding school consultant will listen to the needs of your family and get to know your child on a personal and academic level before making any suggestions for potential boarding schools. For UK families, we can help you decide whether weekly or full-time boarding will give your child the best balance of academic structure and personal independence, as well as coordinating with the wider family life.

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Boarding advice for international families

For overseas families looking to enrol their child in a UK boarding school, our consultants can help you at every step of the journey. This includes explaining how a foreign child might find the culture of a British boarding school, especially if they are under the age of 13, and how well they speak English.

In addition, UK boarding school international students and parents will also need our expert help with all of the other important aspects such as communicating effectively across time zones, guardianship for your child, visas and travel arrangements.

When a child is under the age of 18, and the parents are not based in the UK, boarding schools require a suitable guardian. UK boarding school guardianship, whether it’s an AEGIS guardian in London or somewhere else in the UK, is a serious matter that requires careful consideration, as it can affect medical decisions and safeguarding. Many of the top boarding schools in the UK have guardians on staff they can put you in touch with, but if not,

Lionheart Education can help you find accredited providers registered with AEGIS, the Association for the Education and Guardianship of International Students. We will also help with child student visas for boarding schools, and we act in accordance with GOV.UK Child Student visa guidance, as well as student visas for older children.

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Frequently asked questions

What does a UK boarding school consultant do?

Whether you’re a UK-based family or are located internationally, Lionhearts UK boarding school consultants aim to get the bigger picture of what you’re looking for in a boarding school and aim to create a fully mapped-out shortlist. We manage registrations, references, interview and test preparation, guardianship, visas, entrance assessments, and much more to make sure your child’s boarding is smooth and hassle-free.
When should we start applying for a UK boarding school?

Lead times for boarding schools are often longer than many other kinds of independent schools, as there is lots to consider, including spaces per year at each school. It’s a good idea to get in touch with Lionheart Education in the summer one year before the child is due to start. For 13+, this means starting the process in Year 6, and for Sixth Form boarding you can choose to start your search in the first term of Year 11.
What is the difference between full, weekly and flexi-boarding?

Lionheart helps you decide which type of boarding is best for your child and family routine. Full boarding means the pupil stays at the school 7 days a week apart from holidays. Weekly boarding is where the child studies at the school Monday to Friday, but returns home each weekend. Flexi-boarding can vary depending on the number of nights per week required, and can be aligned with day school if there is enough accommodation available.
What is AEGIS-accredited guardianship?

AEGIS is the Association for the Education and Guardianship of International Students, and it governs the organisations supporting UK boarding school pupils arriving from another country. When you choose Lionheart to pair your child with a guardian, we make sure that they are AEGIS accredited and take care of all arrangements for half-term, emergencies, and oversight of the child’s welfare while living and boarding in the UK.
Do international pupils require a visa for a UK boarding school?

For international students who are coming to the UK solely for education purposes at a boarding school, they will require a Child Student visa if they are between the ages of 4 and 17. Older Sixth Form students can obtain a regular Student visa, and we can help with immigration requirements from varying countries, as well as the school’s sponsor status, so you can be sure your child is fully cared for when attending a UK boarding school.