Boarding School
Boarding School is a school where students live on campus in supervised residential accommodation during term time, so that lessons, meals, sport, study and free time all happen inside one community. Boarding is the standard model for selective international education in the UK, Switzerland and Austria, and the thing parents are really choosing is the structure of a child’s whole day, not only the teaching.
Key facts
| What | Detail |
|---|---|
| What it covers | Accommodation, meals, supervision and activities as well as lessons |
| Supervision | Adults on duty through the day, evening and night |
| Typical ages | From around 11 to 18, depending on the school |
| Models | Full boarding, weekly boarding, flexi boarding, day places |
| Study support | Supervised study periods built into the timetable |
| Term structure | Terms broken by holidays, often with fixed weekends at home |
| Fees | Usually quoted per academic year and inclusive of board |
The part of boarding that is not lessons
The teaching in a good boarding school is not what separates it from a good day school. The difference is the fourteen hours around it. A boarding timetable decides when a child gets up, when they exercise, when homework happens and with whom, when they eat and what, and when the lights go off — and it does that consistently, every day, for a whole term. That consistency is the product. It is also the reason boarding suits some children and not others: a child who needs the structure flourishes, and a child who is simply not ready to live away from home will say so quickly.
What a parent should check
Four things vary enormously between schools that all call themselves boarding schools. Who supervises in the evening and at night, and what their training is. How homework is handled — whether there is a supervised study period with teachers present, or children are left to it. What happens at weekends, which is where the gap between a lively boarding school and an empty one shows. And how the school communicates: how often you will hear about academic progress and about behaviour, and from whom.
Ask for the actual daily timetable rather than the prospectus description — ours is published in full on the boarding page.
At Schloss Krumbach
Schloss Krumbach International School is a full-boarding school for Grades 7–12 in a castle 90 km from Vienna, and since 2024 it offers no day or half-boarding places at all. The daily timetable starts with compulsory morning sport at 7:00 and runs through seven lessons, two supervised homework periods — one before dinner, one after — an evening walk, dorms at 21:00 and lights out at 21:30. Teachers take supervised homework duty in rotation, so questions get answered the same evening rather than the next morning. Students do not keep personal phones. Weekends keep a reading hour, study trips, sport and the student-run Fancy Dinner. Fees and what they include are set out on the admissions page.
Frequently asked questions
How many students share a room?
Two or three. Every room is en-suite, 22–40 m², with an individual desk and work-light for each student.
What happens at weekends?
A mix of organised and free time: a dedicated reading hour, supervised homework, trips to museums and theatres, sport, an evening walk, and the Fancy Dinner tradition that students run themselves.
Can my child call home?
Yes. Personal phones are not part of daily life here, but every room has an IP phone station, and the boarding team arranges contact with families.
Free PDF guide
IGCSE, IB or A Levels: which route fits your child?
The routes from Grade 9 to university side by side: what each qualification involves, how universities read it, and the questions to ask any school.
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