Faye - Assistant House Parent

What is your role at summer boarding courses?

Last year I joined SBC for my first summer as an Assistant Houseparent at the Headington School site. At the core of the house team roles, it comes down to two specific priorities; to make sure the children are happy and safe!

Your role as an Assistant Houseparent is to execute all the small home life jobs such as waking up the children and putting them to bed, monitoring and reminding the children to keep on top of teenage mess, making sure they are on time to all their lessons or activities, and creating a comfortable and fun boarding environment.

It is important as an Assistant Houseparent to remember that the majority of children that join us at SBC are a really long way from home; possibly for the first time. In my opinion, the most vital role we play as Assistant Houseparent’s is being a safe and approachable adult that the children can come to if they are home sick or feeling down for whatever reason.

What’s the average day like at summer school?

Working in the boarding house, you start by waking up all the children and getting them ready for the day ahead. Before leaving the house, we all gather in the common area to have a house meeting to inform the children on the events of the day, any news they may need to know about, and to double check they have everything they need. We then all walk to the dining hall to have breakfast together.

The afternoon is a breeze! You may have a staff meeting after breakfast and you will be assigned certain break times to cover but other than that, it is your free time. I usually spent this time napping or popping into town for a quick dose of window shopping.

After the children have finished their lessons and activities, you will bring them back up to the boarding house to have a quick freshen up before they head to dinner. We will have another house meeting and chat about how their day has been before all walking down to the dining hall. Once everyone has finished eating, the children will go off with the activity leaders to have some fun by taking part in their evening activity. This is another small gap in the day for some treasured ‘Me Time’. After the children have finished their evening activity, you will collect them and walk back to the boarding houses together for some wind down time before you send them to bed ready for another big day!

What have you enjoyed the most about working with Summer Boarding Courses?

People have mixed emotions about this, but I love the little bubble that we all lived in when on site. You end up putting all your little life problems on hold, you make a new community of friends and just step into a whole other world. I have created lifelong friendships with the people I met at SBC and I am looking forward to stepping back into my little SBC bubble of laughter. (Especially because I won’t need to cook or wash any dishes for a whole six weeks!)

What advice would you give a staff member going into their first summer with Summer Boarding courses?

Depending on the person you are, you will want to use your free time in different ways. But the best advice I can give you is to take every opportunity you get, whatever that opportunity may be! If the camp is going on a trip to London and it’s your day off, use one of the free coach seats and have a retail therapy day. Got a free evening? Go out and explore the nearest town. If there is a 2-hour gap in your schedule… TAKE A NAP!

On the other hand, I found it quite useful to pop my head into some of the children’s lessons and activities to understand what they are doing throughout the day. I played a few games of volleyball and basketball, made some friendship bracelets, and watch loads of belter films on a very comfy mountain of beanbags!

What’s your favourite summer school memory?

My favourite memory from the summer was the Disco that is held on the last evening. It’s so heartwarming to see the children soak in the last few hours of fun with all the friends they have made over the summer period. But what’s even better was how much enjoyment the staff were getting out of the evening; we were dancing, singing, dressing up, and getting our faces painted. Some would even say we were the stars of the Summer Photo album slideshow… T’was a night to remember!