Boarding at the Oratory Preparatory School
Boarding is an integral part of school life at the Oratory Preparatory School. The boarding house, situated on the first floor of the main house, caters for up to sixty boarders from Year five (9 years old) upwards. Children have the opportunity to board either full time, weekly board or flexi-board.
The majority of the boarders are senior pupils (Year 6-8) and it is encouraged for children in year eight to take the opportunity to flexi-board or weekly board. The boarders in year eight, in preparation for their Common Entrance examinations, have also additional study sessions in the evening with a specialist teacher.
Foreign students are most welcome at the Oratory Preparatory School and we currently have several children from Spain and Hong Kong, who board on a full-time basis. We have also had children from France, Korea, Poland, Italy to name a few. Many foreign students have very little English at the start of the school year but we offer specialist English lessons for these students with our (English as a second language) ESL teacher.
The full time boarders have recreational activities organised for their weekends: this may include a trip to cinema, ice skating, walking in the countryside, swimming, and so on. The children who board at the weekends have a wide range of activities over the course of the school year.
There are seven boys’ dormitories and four girls’ dormitories. The current maximum number of beds in any one dorm is ten although most of the dorms sleep six children.
There are three matrons for the boarding house. The matrons look after the day-to-day needs of the children, including health matters, and oversee the organisation of the children’s clothes. The school doctor visits the school once a week, and all boarding are registered with the local surgery.
The children have a varied diet, prepared on site by our head chef and his team. The boarders have breakfast at 7.45am during the week, including a full English breakfast at the weekend. Lunch is served between 12.50 and 1.35 and the evening meal is 6.00 p.m. School starts at 8.25 a.m.
The Boarding House Staff:
| Senior Boarding Housemaster | Mr Jon Holmes |
| Senior Matron | Mrs Jean Campbell |
| Matrons | Ms Jenny Hazell |
| Mrs Norma Winch | |
| Nursing Sister | Mrs Rebecca McKenzie |
| Gap Students | Miss Rebecca Purvis |
| Mr Harry Josephson | |
| Mr Oscilowski |
