Boarding

Living among friends
With its roots firmly planted in the gorgeous, rolling Dorset countryside, Milton Abbey School is primarily a boarding school. We also welcome some day pupils, both boys and girls (in the Sixth Form), and hope that they too might sign up for a period of boarding at some stage. We have played an important role in bringing boarding up-to-date, and believe that it provides a tremendous opportunity for self-discovery, social development and focused learning. Plus, of course, living among friends is some of the best fun there is.

How it works
Every pupil belongs to a house. There are five boys’ houses in the main school building – Athelstan, Bancks, Damer, Hambro and Tregonwell – and a separate house for the Sixth Form girls, Middleton. All of the houses have their own common rooms, and the Fifth and Sixth Forms also have their own social clubs – dedicated spaces in which to meet people from across your own year group.

In their first year the boys live in shared rooms in a separate building, which we think is the best way for them to settle in and get to know their year group. By the Sixth Form pupils will be in single or double study bedrooms.

Each house is run by a housemaster or housemistress, a team of tutors, one per year-group, and a matron.

Weekends and time off
Boarding means there is more time for everything, be it learning, playing sport, performing or going on an expedition. At weekends we want your child to be busy, to meet other people and to enjoy high-quality recreation, so we will encourage him or her to have a go at all sorts of things. You can download our annual information booklet here , which contains the full list of activities currently on offer.

There is also a lively programme of social get-togethers and trips to the theatre, the cinema and nearby towns.

From Saturday lunchtime, when lessons end, the weekend is also when pupils can relax and do their own thing in their own time. Parents are welcome to visit and, at the discretion of individual housemasters and housemistresses, pupils may also go home. In practice they rarely do, except at official weekends out (exeats). You can check current term and exeat dates here, and have a look at the weekly calendar here.

Bus service
Every official weekend (Exeat) out and at half term we run buses to and from London/M3, the West/M5 and Sussex/Kent.
Click here to view bus routes.