School Life

This article offers answers to some of the more common concerns we parents have when our child goes off to boarding school. Most, but not all, of these questions and their answers come from my own personal experience.

While some admissions policies and educational practices have evolved since this article was originally written, the concerns parents face remain remarkably similar. Whether your child is applying to boarding school, currently enrolled, or preparing to graduate, understanding how schools typically respond to these situations can help you navigate challenges with greater confidence.

1. What Happens If Your Child Is Expelled?

Expulsion is a big deal.

You will have much explaining to do when applying to another private school. It may just be that you will have to send your child to public school for the rest of the academic year while you try to find a new school willing to take her.

I have always taken the view that it is how we handle failure which is the true measure of our character. Shall we learn from our mistakes and become the success we know we can be? Or do we blame others and retreat from reality?

Most schools today place considerable emphasis on restorative practices, counseling, and intervention before situations reach the point of expulsion. However, serious violations involving safety, substance abuse, academic dishonesty, or repeated disciplinary issues can still lead to dismissal.

I suspect some counseling for you and your child might also be helpful.

2. What Happens

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Summer is often an ideal time for administrators in a private school to take stock of what worked and what didn't work in the year just finished. It makes sense for the marketing team to step back and spend a few hours reviewing their campaigns. Because marketing sometimes feels more like an art than a science, it is even more important to examine the tools which your school is using.

In particular, the ideas and suggestions offered here are aimed at small to medium-sized boarding schools with limited marketing resources. These schools are often hidden gems, and effective social media use can significantly expand their visibility and enrollment reach.

The Unique Marketing Challenge of Boarding Schools

Boarding schools continue to face persistent misconceptions:

• “Only for wealthy families”
• “For struggling students”
• “Too far from home”

These perceptions still exist in 2026, but today’s families are more open to alternatives thanks to increased digital transparency and virtual engagement tools.

To better understand how boarding schools differ from other private options, see: What is a Boarding School

Your role as a marketer is to reshape these narratives using authentic, consistent storytelling.

Why Social Media Still Delivers Strong ROI

Social media remains one of the most cost-effective marketing tools available. However, the landscape has evolved significantly since earlier platforms dominated.

2026 Trends Schools Must Leverage

• Short-form video dominates (TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts)
• AI-assisted content creation improves efficiency
• Parent research behavior has shifted to video-first discovery
• Authenticity outperforms polish

According to the National Center for

Boarding schools must never forget that they are businesses. Private schools must continually attract new students to stay in business. Public schools have a steady supply of students. That supply is more or less guaranteed by the fact that public schools must take every child living within their jurisdiction. Private schools do not have a built-in supply of new students. They have to go out and find those students the old-fashioned way by selling the school and its attributes to every family they can.

In several ways, boarding schools are a stricter product to sell than private day schools. As much as a boarding school makes great sense regarding its complete package, many parents find it difficult to send their children to a residential school in 9th or 10th grade. Parents may be aware of several boarding schools that family and friends attended. On the other hand, most parents do not know much about individual boarding school programs.

I have written this article about boarding schools that do not have a full-time marketing department in mind. These schools have talented admissions and administrative staff who must wear many hats, often all at once. So, I hope that my suggestions and advice will help them stay on brand. You see, a boarding school has to market its story and make its case to a customer base of families with children in 6th through 9th grades. Reaching these families is the key to complete enrollment in the years ahead. It

Do you realize that there are still nineteen states in which corporal punishment of students is still allowed? Merriam-Webster defines corporal punishment as "punishment that involves hitting someone: physical punishment." Yes, it is legal to discipline students by hitting them in states in the South, the Southwest, and Midwest, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming. It is legal to paddle students with a wooden paddle; while it was much worse ten or twenty years ago, it is appalling that in the 21st century, the wealthiest nation in the world still has nineteen states that permit a child to be spanked by an adult in a classroom. Corporal punishment has no place in schools.

Fortunately, I know no boarding school anywhere in North America permits hitting students. Period. Technically, New Jersey and Iowa are the only states where corporate punishment is forbidden in private schools. But our boarding schools, indeed our private schools as a whole, are enlightened exemplars of all that is good in education. Our private school Codes of Discipline and Conduct do not allow any form of physical abuse. For all kinds of good reasons. Most importantly, our boarding schools understand what is required to create a better world. In this world, children can mature into productive adults who are competent and confident in achieving whatever their dreams are. Corporal punishment is not part of

When I was a youngster, sometime around Victoria Day weekend, my parents moved the family out to a cottage near the village of Chateauguay on the banks of Lac St. Louis. We were there until Labor Day. (In those days, school opened after Labor Day.) My brothers, sister, and I enjoyed swimming and sailing lessons, the occasional dance as we got older, and the usual organized summer activities. Dad worked in Montreal and came out to the cottage in the evenings. Mother stayed at home and supervised us.

When we were bringing up our daughters, it was a bit trickier. We both worked. We had to find things for them to do, both to keep them occupied and to keep them from getting into mischief. A trip, a keyboarding course, and even some tutoring helped make those long summer days in Connecticut move along at a good clip.

Nowadays, depending on where you live and the plans you have for your child's education, you have a variety of options to choose from. Let's look at some of them.

Day Camp

Basically, the idea behind a day camp is that you drop your children off in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon. The routine is similar to what you had when school was in session. The advantage to a day camp is that it is usually a local operation. If you are lucky enough to have an established day camp in your area and your children