Boarding School
entry by Julie M. Marx, Global Family Expert at Expat Valley
A residential school in which students live on campus during the academic term, separated from their families. In the international living context, boarding schools are frequently used by expatriate and diplomatic families as a solution to educational continuity challenges, and by parents who themselves attended boarding school as part of their internationally mobile childhoods. The boarding school experience carries its own set of identity and attachment implications for mobile children.
Comparable terms
Residential school (education — equivalent; preferred in some national contexts) · Prep school (UK usage — often refers to junior boarding schools) · International boarding school (education — a boarding school specifically designed for or serving an international student population) · Home-away-from-home schooling (informal — contested; the “home” framing is problematic for many mobile students)
Why this matters
Boarding school can protect curricular continuity when moves are frequent. It also introduces early separation and complex attachment and grief patterns that may be minimized. Families and professionals need to weigh educational benefits against emotional and relational costs.
Cross-references
Educational Continuity (Education); Anticipatory Grief (Wellbeing & Mental Health); TCK (Identity & Belonging); School Transition (Education); Transition Program (Education); Ambiguous Loss (Wellbeing & Mental Health); SEN/SEND (Education). Educational continuity is the primary organizational rationale for boarding school enrollment in mobile families; school transition documents the adjustment process that boarding school entry represents. Transition programs in boarding schools vary enormously; ambiguous loss describes the particular grief of separation from family that boarding school imposes — a loss that is ongoing, unresolved, and frequently unacknowledged. SEN/SEND is relevant because boarding school selection for neurodiverse children requires particularly careful investigation of learning support provision, which varies widely across institutions.
Sources
The boarding school experience of internationally mobile children is addressed in the TCK literature but lacks dedicated academic treatment as a distinct entry point. The most relevant source is: Duffell, N. (2000). The Making of Them: The British Attitude to Children and the Boarding School System. Lone Arrow Press. For the TCK-specific dimension — including early separation and its identity implications — see: Pollock, D.C., Van Reken, R.E. & Pollock, M.V. (2017). Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds (3rd ed.). Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
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