Boarding school 'can be a trauma'

Photo / Paul Estcourt

Children sent away to boarding school can suffer psychological damage akin to being taken into care, a leading psychotherapist warns.

"Boarding School Syndrome" can leave adults struggling to form intimate relationships and unable to communicate emotions after being traumatised by forced separation from friends and family at a young age.

Despite the damage, therapists fail to recognise the significance of boarding school in their patients' problems because such an education is still regarded as a character-forming privilege, according to Professor Joy Schaverien in next month's British Journal of Psychotherapy.

But no matter how privileged the surroundings or wonderful the education, children who board are left in the care of adults who do not love them - itself deeply traumatising, she warns. "Children need to grow among people who love them. Things have improved but children are still exposed to regimented lifestyles, loneliness and separation."

Isolated and confused, children learn to hide how they feel, becoming outwardly confident and successful but emotionally retarded adults.

Hilary Moriarty, director of the Boarding Schools' Association, believes things have improved since the introduction of inspections 10 years ago, and that boarding school is best for some children.

- INDEPENDENT