The first-ever state boarding school for children as young as four will open this September in a bid to cater to working families who have been priced out of the independent education.
Wymondham College Prep School will charge £11,000 a year for accommodation and food – about a third of the fees in the private sector – and will open in Norfolk for 450 boys and girls aged 4-11.
Kids aged eight and above can board in its 32-bedroom boarding house, Underwood Hall, which, The Sunday Times reported yesterday, will be run “in a homely style”, with teddy bears in dorms, tuck boxes at tea-time. With bedtime stories and Mabel, a golden Labrador, to cuddle. With the school is being opened under the government’s free schools programme.
Jonathan Taylor, chief executive of the Sapientia Education Trust, which manages 15 state schools and will run Wymondham College Prep, said.
“Families feel boarding supports their working patterns. We offer 70 activities a week after school, from cookery to Mandarin, all on tap.
We have a high number of highly aspirant families opting into this state boarding option – who might have been able to afford private boarding 30 years ago but can no longer afford it because the fees have risen so sharply.”
Wymondham College will charge £11,000 a year for accommodation and food, but there will be no payment for teaching.
At present, there are 33 state boarding schools for children aged 11-18 in the UK.
Would you consider a school like this as an option for your child?
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