The Harry Potter spell has been broken as boarders decline
EDUCATION EDITOR JUST over a decade ago, the Harry Potter effect was credited with something of a renaissance for boarding schools, which had seen a steady decline in numbers over the previous 20 years.
Several leading institutions set about building new boarding houses to cope with the surge in demand from a generation of children – and parents – who wanted to recreate the enchantment of boarding schools conjured by JK Rowling’s novels.
But now the chairman of the Boarding Schools’ Association (BSA) has said that the Hogwartsinspired wave of popularity is waning, and institutions must think about ways to modernise their image to attract new pupils.
Leo Winkley, headmaster of St Peter’s School in York, one of Britain’s oldest boarding schools, said: “The Harry Potter effect created something of a boarding school revival, but it cast a false spell.” He added that schools should not seek to “bamboozle” children or their parents into boarding. Speaking at the opening of the association’s annual conference in York this week, he will tell head teachers their message to parents must be that boarding is “not about enchantment or escapism”, but is instead about “real community life – it is about being part of a family”. He will say: “No human institution can ever consider itself perfect, and schools, like any organisations, need to be open to change for the better.” Mr Winkley is expected to say that we are “light years” away from the days when parents “sent their children away” to board. He will add that in his 24 years of teaching in boarding schools, he has seen a “remarkable, perhaps even revolutionary, change” in pastoral care and wellbeing at boarding schools, which must be conveyed to parents.
There are now 70,265 children at British boarding schools, according to a census this week by the Independent Schools Council.
Numbers were in steady decline from 1987 until the early 2000s, when the trend reversed – around the time when the Harry Potter series was reaching peak popularly. Numbers have fallen slightly over the past few years, according to the council’s data.
“There are nuances and changes in patterns,” said Mr Winkley, whose association represents 550 boarding schools, of which 40 are state-funded.
“Fewer children are boarding at a younger age, but there has been a real growth in people boarding at sixthform level.”
He said that boarding schools must convey to parents that they are not “isolated bastions” of a bygone era. He said: “I think what Harry Potter did was present this very strong sense of what youngsters can gain from a thriving boarding school community. We are very grateful to him, but we don’t need to rely on him to sell boarding.”
In 2015, Cheltenham Ladies’ College said it was reassessing its homework policy and launching a wellbeing programme, including reducing time pressures, to reduce stress, depression and mental-health issues in pupils.