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Creating great boarding spaces
🏷️ From £175
🎧 Deputy heads, heads of boarding, boarding staff, pastoral leads
📍 Online
Course outline:
This interactive seminar will explore current trends and best practices in boarding house design, offering valuable insights into how schools can enhance their residential provision in a practical and cost-effective way. Whether you are planning a full refurbishment or seeking small improvements, this session will help position your boarding environment in line with sector expectations and pupil needs.
Led by BSA Director David Walker, the seminar will examine what makes a boarding house truly effective – from layout and decoration to furnishings and student experience. Drawing on real-world examples, the session will provide inspiration from across the sector, offering a chance to reflect on your current facilities and identify areas for improvement.
Key topics:
- The role of the physical environment in wellbeing, recruitment, and retention
- Room-by-room review, including entrances and welcome zones; corridors, walls, and noticeboards; social spaces and communal areas; bedrooms and bathrooms
- Creative, budget-friendly suggestions for enhancing existing spaces
- Cost-effective suppliers and reliable products suited to boarding schools.
Learning outcomes:
- Greater awareness of sector-wide boarding facilities trends, standards, and expectations
- Practical ideas for upgrading boarding houses with minimal investment
- An improved ability to assess your own school’s provision and identify key areas for development
- Access to recommended suppliers for good value furnishings, materials, and equipment.
Speaker:
David Walker FTIOB, Executive Director, Boarding and Director, BSA/TIOB
David Walker has over 20 years’ experience in boarding education, having worked in a variety of schools across the UK and Africa. His career includes leadership roles in both senior and prep school settings, complemented by service as a prep school governor and trustee of a multi-academy trust. Before joining the BSA, David was Deputy Head Pastoral at a large co-educational independent school in the South-East, where he oversaw student welfare and pastoral care. His extensive background in safeguarding, boarding leadership, and governance gives him a broad perspective on the sector, enabling him to support schools in delivering outstanding pastoral provision.
