"now boarding" is a blog about our son Tom who is seven years old, who next week, on September 03 2008, for the first time in his life will be starting boarding school.
We live here the UK in a regular house with a garden. I'm a designer and my wife, Jill is a nurse. Tom has a younger sister, Imogen who's five years old and goes to a popular local state school. We have a good, supportive extended family.
Tom will be starting at one of the 49 Cathedral Choir Schools in just one weeks time. Neither I nor my wife attended boarding school as children, in fact we can't quite believe this is happening.
This blog is intended to do a few things.
First, it's a place for us as a family to capture and share our thoughts about the experience.
Second, I hope it will be a useful resource for those contemplating sending their son - or daughter - off to board at choir school.
I'm sure that over the next days, weeks, months and years - God willing - many things will change; we're just not quite sure what or how. It's this sense of the unknown that we want to keep here in this blog.
One thing. We have decided to change all the names, so although what we report will be factual, names of persons and places are made up. This is in part to protect the privacy of our son, his school mates, and our family, but also the school, it's teachers and staff.
Hello there.
I've just found your blog and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Our son started as a probationer chorister at a cathedral in the north of England last September and a lot of what I've read here sounds familiar! He also came from a state primary school and has a younger sister but they are both a little older than your children (he is 10 and she is 7). Despite the inevitable ups and downs, we are confident that the decision to give him this fabulous opportunity has been the right one for him and, in different ways, for us as a family.
Very best wishes and I hope you all continue to enjoy his choristership.
Posted by: Judith | January 10, 2010 at 12:53 AM