Charity calls for funding for boarding school places

A leading figure in education called on the government to provide more funding to increase the number of vulnerable children in boarding schools today.

Colin Morrison, chairperson of The Royal Wanstead Foundation, a charity that supports vulnerable children in boarding schools, told a conference in London that boarding schools could provide this group of children with the stability and emotional support they need.

Another speaker, Cyril Taylor, chairperson of the Specialist Schools & Academies Trust, told delegates that research showed boarding school could prevent vulnerable children from developing behavioural difficulties.

He went on to criticise statutory services alleging that there was “ignorance and suspicion” among some local education authorities and social services departments about the role boarding schools could play in improving outcomes for looked-after children.

There are currently 34 state boarding schools in the UK accounting for 6 per cent of all boarding places.

Morrison concluded that “foster-boarding”, where working couples foster children in their holidays from boarding school, could help to tackle the acute shortage of foster carers many councils face.