Westminster has a long history as a boarding school and today we have a lively boarding community of approximately 190 boys and girls.
Living on the school premises has many benefits. It allows pupils to take full advantage of the school’s extended evening programme of concerts, plays, sport and lectures, as well as more easily make supervised trips to various external academic and cultural events around London. Having less travel time makes study easier and all boarders have a structured prep session every evening with the support of Housemasters and Tutors. The boarding Houses are all equipped with dedicated study areas and there is filtered internet access in every pupil’s room, to which they are free to connect any device.
Boarding also allows the pupils to enjoy more leisure time with their friends in the various social spaces, as well as getting to know boys and girls from outside their classes and year groups. Rigaud’s is a boys-only boarding House and Purcell’s is girls only, while College, Grant’s, Busby’s and Liddell’s have both boy and girl boarders, and all Houses have pupils from every year group. There is a strong sense of community between the Houses as well as within each House, as all the boarding buildings – with the exception of Purcell’s – are situated around Little Dean’s Yard.
Boarding is term-time only and most of our boarders also go home at weekends, although some of our over-16 pupils choose to remain at the school and make the most of all that London has to offer on a Saturday and Sunday.