Boarding school and peer pressure...

Q How risky is boarding school with respect to a young girl being influenced by those around her and maybe those older than her in a boarding house environment, and applying peer pressure over drinking, smoking, drugs or sex? How much is this managed or controlled at the prestigious GSA boarding schools? My daughter is now 9 and we are strongly considering boarding for her from age 11, but this remains a worry.

A. Boarding schools aim to provide a safe and structured environment for girls. The older girls take very seriously their role in helping and guiding the younger girls and work very hard to give them sound and sensible advice. As teenagers believe that older teenagers know far more about life than parents or teachers, this counsel offered by older pupils is invaluable!

Yes, some drinking and smoking takes place, but it is not allowed and sanctions are fairly fierce and most schools make it very hard indeed to achieve. I would hazard a guess that there is very much less of it in most GSA boarding schools than amongst pupils who live at home but attend day schools.

You cannot remove risks from a young girl’s life and education but the prestigious GSA boarding schools to which you refer provide a warm, caring, well-structured and risk-reduced community. As a mother of teenage daughters myself, there is plenty to worry about. But sending them to a really good boarding school will reduce the worries and not increase them.

Claire Oulton, Headmistress, Beneden School