60 Years of Boarding Excellence

About: Help us in our mission to spread boarding positivity by: 

1. Posting on social media using #iloveboarding 
2. Emailing a 20-30 second ‘#iloveboarding because’ video
3. Emailing a 20-30 word quote about boarding and a photo  

BSA works with schools in more than 40 countries, welcoming students from around the world. We are therefore keen to source translations of ‘I love boarding’ for as many languages as possible, so schools can be inclusive with their messaging. So far we have: 

Afrikaans: Ek is lief vir koshuislewe 
Dutch: Ik hou van het internaat  
French: J’adore l’internat  
Spanish: Me encanta ser interno 
Welsh: Rwyn caru preswylio  

When: 2025-26 and beyond

How to get involved: Please post on social media or email us suggestions. We will be sharing a range of submissions throughout the year. 

You may also be interested in: On October 4, 2025, BSA member schools celebrated international students using #InternationalBoardingDay.

About: We’re diving into member school archives to bring boarding memories from the ’60s back to life! How has boarding life and boarding provision transformed in your school over the years?

When: 2025-26

How to get involved: Send your archive photos to bsa@boarding.org.uk for consideration or share your own #BoardingArchives images from the ’60s on social media tagging BSA.

About: BSA Bear is off on a big 60th anniversary adventure, visiting BSA member prep schools across the country. ​Spending a week with your boarders, joining in lessons, heading out on trips, and getting stuck in to all your favourite house activities. BSA Bear loves making new friends and learning all about boarding life.​ Bear’s boarding school tour began at Millfield Prep School on October 7, 2025.

Thank you to everyone who signed up to host BSA Bear – we’ve had an amazing response and the tour is now fully booked! You can still follow Bear’s adventures across the country by keeping an eye on the hashtag #BSABear and our updates on social media.

Current miles travelled: 131 miles

🐻 You can also track Biscuit’s journey below to see which schools he’ll be visiting next…

1. Millfield Prep
2. Embley School
3. Twyford School
4. Peter Symonds College
5. Papplewick school
6. Prior’s Field school
7. Bede’s
8. Holmewood House School
9. Earlscliffe
10. Brighton College Prep Handcross
11. Leighton Park School
12. St George’s school
13. MPW
14. Westminster Abbey Choir School
15. Bishops Stortford College
16. Oxford International College
17. Tudor Hall School
18. Bromsgrove School
19. Malvern St James School
20. The Elms School
21. Sherborne Girls
22. Taunton Prep School
23. Hazlegrove
24. Bryanston Prep School
25. Saint Felix School
26. Repton Prep
27. Tettenhall College
28. Moreton Hall School
29. St Leonards

About: The Boarding School Book of Remembrance (BOBOR) commemorates boarders who have lost their lives at war, or contributed or served in other ways. An online record was launched in September 2025 in line with BSA’s 60th anniversary and shortly after the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Where: bobor.org.uk

How to get involved: School archivists are invited to submit data to be added to the online record. View the latest BOBOR newsletter here for more information.

COMPETITION COMPLETE 

About: We launched a Friday-night esports tournament to unite boarding house gamers during the autumn term. Thank you to all the schools who assembled their best teams to compete against other BSA member schools in our Rocket League and online Chess tournaments. Congratulations to the following winners and runners up:

♟️Chess
1st place: Bromsgrove
Runner up: Sandroyd

🚀 Rocket League:
1st place: Eastbourne
Runner up: Bromsgrove

We’re curating several playlists during our 60th anniversary year.

• 60 minutes of boarding alumni can be accessed here (and download the playlist poster here)
• 60 minutes of music from 1965-66 can be accessed here (and download the playlist poster here).

Email bsa@boarding.org.uk to let us know what music your boarding house loves to relax or celebrate with. We are also keen to hear music from up-and-coming artists who board at your school, or have boarded at your school in the past.

🎉 Welcome to BSA Brufts!

We’re bringing a boarding school twist to Crufts and it’s all about celebrating the pawsitively amazing dogs in your school communities! Whether they’re school therapy heroes, trick champions or just outrageously adorable, we want to see them shine. 🐾

🐕 All breeds and backgrounds are welcome, our judging is based on personality, impact, and flair, not pedigree.

🐶 How to enter:

Share a short video of your dog on social media and tag us using #BSABrufts, then complete the entry form below and include the link to your social media post in the form. Please keep your video between 30 seconds and 1 minute. Make sure it clearly shows your dog in action, whether it’s showing off a trick, doing their therapy magic, or simply looking adorable!

Submission deadline: Friday Febraury 6, 2026

Categories 

People’s Choice Award: Let the people decide! This one’s all about charm, personality and capturing hearts. The winner will be chosen based on the submission with the most likes, so bring the charisma!

Best Therapy Dog: We’re looking for the ultimate school companion – calm, kind, and comforting. Does your dog make students’ days brighter and help them feel at home? This is their moment to shine.

Best Trained: From sit and stay to high fives and hoop jumps – show us what your clever canine can do! We’re looking for skills, flair and fun.

Best Trick Best in Show: Strut that stuff! Whether they’re sleek and stylish, fluffy and fabulous or just naturally photogenic, this category celebrates dogs with serious style.

Dog's name *

Dog's age *

School *

Staff member submitting the entry *

Email address *

Entry Category *

• People’s Choice Award
• Best Therapy Dog
• Best Training or Best Trick
• Best in Show

A short description (max 150 words) *

member Email description

Link to your video submission *

Please copy and paste the link to your social media post here (e.g. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok). Make sure the post is public and tagged with #BSABrufts so we can see it!

9. Permissions *

• I confirm that I have permission to share this dog’s photo/video and that it may be used in BSA marketing and social media.

Submit

What is Boarding Rocks?

We’re partnering with The Band Project to showcase the brilliantly talented rock and pop musicians across our member schools! The Boarding Rocks competition is open to boarders at Prep and Senior schools with a chance to perform live at BSA’s headline conference in May 2026.

Criteria

Bands can include any combination of instruments and should have 5–10 members; larger groups may include strings, brass and wind players. Bands can be formed from Year 6 to Year 13, with each school responsible for grouping students by age and experience. All band members must be full-time, weekly or flexi boarders.

The competition

If selected to participate, each band must choose and learn two songs – one track from a BSA 60th anniversary playlist one track from The Band Project playlist. Bands will take part in three 90-minute workshops led by The Band Project. During these sessions, bands will arrange their chosen songs and build performance and ensemble skills.

Bands will film a final performance at the end of their third workshop which will be reviewed by leading UK session musicians, who will provide personalised video feedback. Two bands will be chosen to perform live at the BSA Annual Conference for Heads in Stratford-Upon-Avon, May 5-6, 2026.

VIEW MORE DETAILS

Register your interest

If your school is interested in participating in the Boarding Rocks competition, please email Chris Mountford, The Band Project Director via info@thebandproject.co.uk to register your interest.