The Future of Boarding
By David Knock, Head of Boarding
“Children are our greatest treasure. They are our future.”
Nelson Mandela
Here at Ardvreck we pride ourselves on giving our pupils, and particularly our boarders, responsibility and confidence within a safe and homely atmosphere so that they can develop seeds of independence and be prepared for senior schools and beyond as adults.
There is an exciting change and future ahead for boarding at Ardvreck as we refurbish and rebrand the main school boarding house as Dalvreck House. We are blending the 19th century building with a modern feel to create our fresh, fun, familial and modern, yet traditional, boarding house filled with home comforts and technology, taking into account your children’s suggestions and needs.
The physical refurbishments to Dalvreck House will create smart new bathroom facilities and sitting rooms, as well as a games room and a kitchen across the two floors, senior and junior. The current dormitories will be improved in such a way as to inspire a more homely feel, not the home, but certainly a home from home!
The refurbishment coincides with the move to bring all our boarders under the one roof and this will help to bring a togetherness to our Ardvreck Family. The staffing in Dalvreck mixes youth and experience, all our boarders will benefit from having a plethora of well-trained safeguarding, attentive professionals to care for them.
Our fun family in Dalvreck will aim to instil an ethos of kindness, friendship and respect along with pride, courage and resilience. Boarding at Ardvreck does not try to erode the love of family but quite the opposite as we believe that the education of an Ardvreck child is a partnership between the school and the parent. We are here to reinforce the sense of family all the while encouraging your children to be independent and learn to wear the mantle of responsibility as they develop.
We see time as the most important currency for our boarders who are given the time to enjoy being children within our beautiful 40-acre estate and beyond into our extended “garden”, the foothills of the highlands. The boarders at Dalvreck will never be bored as our sector leading outdoor provision, together with the weekend and evening activities brims with fun and inspiration. These include movie nights, games, talks, walks, and thrilling adventures up trees or hills or down rivers, gorges or caves as well as making time for chatting and playing and enjoying their down time. Why waste time in a car or on a bus coming to school when staying at Dalvreck with friends is such fun!
Dalvreck House is going to be able to accommodate up to 70 boarders on any given night and with us expecting to be close to capacity on certain evenings this will add to the fun and buzzing atmosphere we are looking to create. However, we will ensure that the boarding house and individual dormitories are homely and cosy, decorated with children’s personal effects and full of furniture to add character and design.
At Ardvreck we see communication as vitally important and the children will be encouraged to contact home regularly to update their families on all that they have achieved and enjoyed. All the housestaff are easily contactable by phone or by email and will be in touch regularly with parents should they wish. The communication between the Dalvreck staff is also very important and weekly meetings, along with less formal meetings more often, will guarantee that each and every child in the boarding community is well cared for and nurtured. The soft skills of leadership, teamwork, empathy, cross cultural understanding, social ease and self-belief will blossom, and, of course, boarders will learn the all-important skill of where to hide their illegal tuck!
We would love to welcome all parents and visitors into Dalvreck House whenever they are passing through Crieff, so pop into Ardvreck and see how we are helping your children to develop, gain their independence and grow up into grounded young adults with an excellent sense of team, community and society.