The Alt Parent

Generally speaking when asked about this specific question, there’s the simplistic answer, the I don’t really want to explain answer “Fake Parent” and then there’s this:

A House Parent essentially is someone who resides in the student accomodation (in a self contained accomodation seperate to the students) more often in a Boarding school but there will be other institutions who have adopted the model for providing care e.g athletic groups, with the responsiblity of providing supervision and pastoral care for students. Often these staff members are entrusted to act Loco in Parentis, which essentially means that with reasonable judgement they must act with a duty of care for the child as they are not residing with their own parents. The purpose of residing in the same building is to be available to support the student at all hours, so in the unfortunate event of a situation arising overnight whether it is medical, emotional, or even a house fire – there is always someone to provide essential support.

In England the House Parent follows a set of guidelines in adherence to the National Minimum Standards¹ and KSCIE² and in their appointment have sufficient training and awareness of supporting young people for their welfare needs and focus holistically on creating a safe environment for the students and establishing a home away from home.

The Boarding world itself has many models of how they staff their student accomodations, with different titles, teams and levels of leadership. Below I’ve included a list of different job titles, some of these you will find are combined, many can include the title Senior, Assistant or Deputy and some hold titles through tradition especially in boarding schools that have been established for hundreds of years.

In many cases, these roles will all have in common some level of pastoral responsibility and training in safeguarding – the extent depends on multiple factors such as experience, requirements of the school and the needs of the students. Different settings also have different team sizes per student residence:

Examples of this set up from my own experiences would include–

Example 1:
Multiple large boarding houses, the staff structure per house includes the structure of Gap Assistants, House Tutors, Senior House Tutor, reporting externally to the house with Boarding Management team members  and a Head of Boarding.

Occasionally residential teaching staff may assist with some duties in the boarding houses or participate in leading activities and excursions. House Tutors and Senior House Tutors are responsible overnight for the care of the children and do not have teaching responsibilities.

Example 2:
Few but large boarding houses, house teams consist of: House Mistress/Master 1-2, Deputy House Mistress/Master 1-2, Assistant House Mistress/Master, Graduate Assistants. The staff may also have academic responsibilities as Teachers.

Example 3:
Small boarding houses with 1 or 2 members of staff per building. The House Parent may also have other roles such as a Head of Boarding, Teacher, Health Centre Assistant or Sports Coach.

There are however many, many variations and you will absolutely find almost every and any combination for different boarding provisions – in some settings the Deputy Heads of school also holds the role of House Parent. It is also entirely possible the House Parent may serve in additional roles within the school community such as by being qualified as a teacher, a health care practitioner or assisting the in Library. I will at some point write a post in further detail debating pastoral and academic combined roles especially in what can be a very full on role, however this piece was written in mind of providing an explanation of what a House Parent role is.

But what does a House Parent do?
House Parents have a variety of tasks and responsibilities, a misconception often occurs of simply sitting in the office and not having much to do whilst the school children are busy with their tasks. House Parenting often consists of:

• Registrations
• Student checkins
• Patrol duties
• Meal time duties
• Hygiene checks
• Administration tasks involving emails or telephone calls with stakeholders
• Medication administration
• First Aid
• Recording Welfare, Child Protection, Safeguarding, Medical concerns
• Supervision of student prep
• Monitoring duties
• House Meetings
• Staff Meetings
• Academic Link Meetings
• House Maintenance
• Budget Management
• Activity Management
• Event Planning
• Trip Planning
• Exeat Arrangements
• Travel Planning
• Confirmation of details for UKVI
• Report Writing
• Sanctions and Rewards
• Attending and supporting school events
• Assistance in other departments
• Student 1:1 meetings, reviews and check ins
• On call duties for overnights/breaks/weekends
• Escort Services (Travel & Medical)
• CPD

This is not an exhaustive list of the tasks, and stay tuned for a post on the routine of someone working in boarding, but the experience does of course keep a House Parent busy with plenty of tasks, and as a career has been one of the most informative and culturally valuable experiences I have experienced to date.
House Parenting comes with the understanding that parenting is a thankless task, but an enjoyable adventure no less.

The greatest reward is the knowing and understanding that the young faces that enter the boarding house at the start of their stay, grow in confidence and knowledge. The people who they leave as at the end of their stay has become who they are not because of you, but with you, especially with the lessons that they too have taught you, and you know when they leave: you could not be prouder of the person you know that they have become and look forward to hearing about who they are yet to become as they continue on their journey.

1. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64787a31b32b9e000ca96010/National_Minimum_Standards_for_boarding_schools.pdf ↩︎
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education–2 ↩︎