A world away

The best of today’s boarding schools are a welcoming, stable home from home, says Fergus Llewellyn – but with opportunities that home might not offer

‘I f schools are what they were in my time, you’ll see a great many cruel blackguard things done, and hear a deal of foul bad talk. But never fear. You tell the truth, keep a brave and kind heart, and never listen to or say anything you wouldn’t have your mother and sister hear…’

— Tom Brown’s Schooldays, 1857

For many, the term ‘public school’ conjures up a host of pejorative images: a little boy shedding a discreet (he hopes) tear as his self-absorbed parents step away to their rediscovered freedom; disturbingly strapping sixth-formers awaiting the new contingent of quaking third-formers; severe, buxom Matrons administering spoonfuls of evil medicine; and terrifying masters ready to pounce with their cane at the slightest wrongdoing.