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Boarding at Barney during lockdown

30 Mar 2021

Despite an unprecedented and challenging period, the Barney boarding family has thrived as a direct consequence of the loving care and homely atmosphere provided by our dedicated staff.

Our boarding team has continually gone above and beyond for our pupils, many of whom have been at Barney for some time.

Over Christmas and the New Year period, 12 of our international students were unable to go home for the holidays because of global travel restrictions in place.

Shortly afterwards, before the government’s decision to close UK schools in early January, our 12 international boarders were joined by scores of their fellow boarders as Barney became one of only a few schools in the country to safely welcome back its boarding community.

They, along with the wider School Community, continued their learning using Barney’s successful Learning@Home programme, and were able to enjoy valuable free time with their boarding family bubble ‘after school’ and on weekends.

While under our care during this time, boarders benefited from a host of activities, themed evenings and entertainment, which provided many smiles, laughs and countless memories.

It was nice to welcome some new faces to the boarding houses too, with several day pupils extending their stays as flexi or full-time boarders during the lockdown and in March, when schools were permitted to reopen.

These unprecedented times have brought about many challenges and much uncertainty, and Barney has continually persevered to make the best out of the current situation.

Above all, we are thankful for being able to call upon such a dedicated staff, who often-sacrificed spending time with their own loved ones to care for their extended, boarding family.

A phenomenal, collective effort by our staff, and we are ever so grateful to the Barney Boarding Family for its continued support.

We hope you enjoy the following video, which highlights some of the exciting things our boarders got up to over the Lent Term: