Boarding & Pastoral - Merchiston International School

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Overview

Our boarding practice and environment aim to:

• Promote the health and welfare of each individual and well being

• Encourage physical, social and emotional development

• Develop a sense of identity in a community through common practice and activity

• Embrace partnership with parents/guardians through effective communication

Why Boarding at MIS

Enhances Your Child's Future

Learning independence, understanding priorities

Independence might be the greatest gift that parents can give to their children. Today, when so many parents are over-vigilant and want to be involved in every aspect of their child's life, boarding school can be the perfect remedy.

Children are required to navigate through aspects of everyday life, organise their own laundry, get up in the morning and get themselves to breakfast and balance their study and leisure time. Parents are not there to shield them from natural causes and effects. Boarding schools are good places to fail and succeed—which makes them great places to learn. It's a controlled freedom.

When boarding students arrive at University, they arrive prepared to succeed, with the ability to manage their own lives. They become strong individuals capable of leadership and have initiative: a culture difficult for parents to replicate.

Students don't just have to manage their own affairs, they learn how to live and deal with other people. They are challenged to develop their interpersonal skills because there is no hiding at boarding school.

The sense of community and personal growth

Academic pursuits are important, but when students move on to university and then successful careers, it's not the great history class they remember, but their time in the wilderness, the dorm life, or other memorable moments. It's a bond that binds all the children, of different ages, genders and cultures.

Boarding at MIS offers the opportunity for students to foster strong connections with their teachers, in part due to smaller, more intimate class sizes but also because teachers MIS regard their position not as a job, but more of a vocation. Their Tutors and Houseparents become important role models in each of their students' lives. Teachers work with students, share meals and many also live with the students, making it a difficult environment to duplicate anywhere else.

While the educational experience of boarding at MIS is important to personal and educational growth and

development, fundamentally it's also a great rehearsal for life.Boarding at MIS offers a wealth of opportunities to

encourage the all-round development of both the individual and the community. We want our students to be fulfilled and happy and, at the minimum, this means they must feel secure and as such are properly cared for by well qualified and experienced people who are well disposed to children and continually updated through appropriate in-service training.

Our boarding aims at MIS are underpinned by the following principles which reflect the way that everyone in our community should expect to be treated：

• With dignity and respect
• With compassion
• To be included
• To have access to responsive care and support
• Supported and consulted about their wellbeing

Students are placed in one of three, age appropriate, boarding houses giving them the opportunity to mix with a range of people of different talents, cultures and backgrounds and are cared for by a Houseparent, who lives on site alongside a number of other Resident Tutors promoting a strong family atmosphere. MIS is an all-through boarding school and as such we have the staff who understand the valuable role they play in creating a place that is an exciting and enriching experience for the students and one where we have the opportunity to enhance their lives. We are all part of this dynamic and caring community and to build and foster strong relationships within we must "live the lives of our students".

There is also a fully staffed medical centre to support your child should they become ill.

Boarding students follow the same pattern of working day as other students and after their evening meal will have structured homework time overseen by a member of staff on duty before some social time and bedtime.

At weekends boarders at MIS have access to a variety of activities offered by members of staff that are on duty. Some of these activities are on site whilst others give students the opportunity to venture further afield under the guidance of experienced members of staff. There is also the opportunity for students to manage their own time and carry out independent study.

We encourage students to be as fully involved throughout the working week and weekends and we believe that, under the guidance of the dedicated and experienced staff who live with them, each and every student will reach his or her full potential and be part of a rich and engaging community that allows the students to broaden their horizons and learn important skills and social and human values that complement their academic development.

Your choice and decision should not just be based on the words in this document. I would welcome you to visit the school to have a look for yourself at the friendly, happy faces in our community, visit the boarding houses and even organise a night for your child to stay over and experience the life for themselves.

I very much look forward to meeting you soon.

MIS is proud to be a school that students love to learn in, a school that builds character and soul, a school that achieves academic excellence, a school the creates a truly British boarding environment whilst understanding Chinese parents.