Boarding Houses
Boarding Houses
Boarding Houses
Farringtons School

Boarding Houses

The boarding community at Farringtons School aims to provide and nurture a caring, stimulating, Christian, family environment that is secure and safe and where pupils’ relationships with their peers and members of staff are open, positive and long-lasting.

Principles

  • To provide a caring Christian home for all boarders, regardless of race, age, gender or belief
  • To encourage boarders to support one another and learn to live together as a community, developing skills of responsibility and reliability
  • To encourage honesty, trust and respect between staff and boarders
  • To educate boys and girls together in the same community, to give them the capacity to relate to and understand the other sex on equal terms
  • To foster the development of confidence, courtesy and compassion
  • To encourage learning and growth so that each individual reaches his or her full potential, developing their personality and self-esteem
  • To encourage friendships both within a peer group and across a range of age groups
  • To promote teamwork and develop community spirit
  • To provide a broad education, offering academic, cultural, social, creative and sporting opportunities
  • To foster co-operation and collaboration between parents, staff, guardians and pupils
  • To develop an appreciation of, and sensitivity to, the needs, dignity and rights of others, as well as moral and aesthetic awareness
  • To balance freedom with responsibility and promote a culture of self-discipline

Girls boarding common room


Facilities

The majority of boarders have single or twin study bedrooms. Boarders’ rooms are, like their bedrooms at home, safe, comfortable, personalised and with access to WiFi to help them study and relax. Both South House and West House have well-equipped kitchens, washing machines, contemporary bathroom and shower facilities and Common Rooms with sofas, games consoles, Netflix, table tennis tables etc. to help the boarders mix at the end of a long day!

Boarders also have access to school facilities outside normal lesson time, including the Sports Hall, Gym, Swimming Pool, Tennis Courts, Library, IT facilities and the Art Block.


House Information

Boarders live in one of the two boarding houses:

  • South House for boys in Year 7 to Year 13
  • West House for girls in Years 7 to Year 13.

Each house is led by a team of House Parents and supported by the School Healthcare Team.

South House

Facilities

South House is our boy’s boarding house. South House boasts enough rooms for up to 41 boys which will make you right at home (with all the other boys) in single, double and for the younger students, triple rooms. The Sixth Form boys are primarily located on the ground floor of the house and have priority for single and double rooms. 

The kitchen has a lovely breakfast bar that boarders can sit at, and the fridge is regularly stocked with plenty of refreshments for the growing young men. The kitchen also includes a large TV with a communal PlayStation 5 which has all the latest games (FIFA 23, Fortnite, Spiderman: Miles Morales just to name a few), and our activity room has a PlayStation 4 along with gaming chairs. If gaming isn’t your thing, we also have a table tennis table in the activity room, along with a piano and plenty of seating for socialising after school.

For the sports enthusiasts we have access to footballs, rugby balls, basketballs and other equipment to play outside or in the Sports Hall, and we are able to arrange trips to the local driving range for the golf-minded boarder.

In South House, your room will be one of the many stops on the Circle and District or Central lines, and our corridors, much like the infamous station platforms, are a hustle of activity. In each bedroom, boarders have individual space for their clothes, each having a wardrobe and several drawers. They also have a personal desk and shelves for books and belongings, so they are able to complete after-school prep comfortably. Each boarder has a lockable cupboard to ensure valuables are kept safe.

House character and activities

South House lies nestled away from the busy traffic of the school day, facing the famous Scadbury woods, and we are fortunate enough to have large playing field on our doorstep which is used regularly during the summer months.

On the weekends, the boys along with the girls, will head offsite and do activities such as go-carting, visiting London, Thorpe Park and bowling. Other activities to do onsite include basketball, futsal, tennis, dodgeball, badminton, using the gym and the heated swimming pool. We also encourage boarders to take part in school clubs such as Ultimate Frisbee and we have our own boarders running club dubbed 'The Farringtons Fliers', who run each week around the beautiful school site.

During the summer term, we have regular barbeques in the evening and there are always drinks and snacks available followed by some marshmallow toasting on the fire at the end of the evening. It’s a great place to have a chat and get warm too as you stare into the flames or up at the stars. 

West House

History

Farringtons School was founded in 1911 as a sister school to the Methodist Leys Boys’ School in Cambridge to educate the daughters of Methodist families. The site in Chislehurst (10 miles from central London) was formerly the estate of the Farrington family who lived there in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The original school building was East House then called School House. By the beginning of the 1920s it was not sufficient for the school’s needs so further building work was done. The new building now called West House, is linked to the original building by the central area, called Queen’s Court, having been given permission to do so by Queen Mary when she officially opened it in 1925.

West House is where the girl’s boarding House is situated, and covers two floors.

Facilities

West House is a very comfortable home from home, housing up to thirty-six girls in single and double rooms. We have one very large room which takes four girls, which is for our younger girls who like to share together. We ensure our Sixth Formers are accommodated in single rooms, but all rooms are furnished with desks, lamps, with adequate storage space and a modern wardrobe.  The rooms have been renovated recently with new furniture, carpet and linen.

There are excellent facilities in the house with a modern kitchen in which the girls can prepare light snacks after school and hot drinks.

House character and activities

West House is a lovely meeting place for the girls in the evening too, where the staff make popcorn and hot chocolate and discuss their day together! There is a very large and comfortable lounge, used as a multi-functional space for yoga, pamper nights, manicures nights, fun game night, birthday parties, film nights etc. The girls also put on a fashion show, do regular cooking competitions, and manage to fit all this around their studies. Other activities in boarding include, the gym, basketball, tennis, swimming and barbecues. We feel like a big family in boarding and have a lot of fun!

The Team

Mrs Sue Arnold (Housemistress and Teacher of PE & EAL), Miss Kayleigh Southward (Boarding Assistant) and Miss Molly Stephens (Boarding Activities Coordinator). Mrs Arnold and Miss Southward live on the same corridors as the girls in their own apartments and are always on hand to help the girls day and night. They share a passion for this work and genuinely love spending time in the house, helping with homework, running activities, eating with the girls at mealtimes and being around after school for a chat and to deal with anything that pops up.

All three are dedicated to making our boarders’ time away from home feel like they are their extended family in the cosy home here. They work tirelessly together to ensure that the girls’ boarding experience is the happiest it can be and memorable for each and every girl.

Mrs Arnold writes:

I am an enthusiastic teacher who fully understands the considerable commitment and qualities required to lead a house.  It has been a pleasure to enjoy such a wonderful career working in boarding schools both in England and in Switzerland.

I am a very happy, kind and positive person with a keen sense of humour, leading by example, dedicated and wholly committed to the personal, social and academic development of children. I have boundless energy and have always been prepared to go the extra mile for the benefit of our boarders.

I am never happier than when running an activity that the boarders enjoy, or running a school team, or ‘Pet Protector Club, or ‘Ski Club, and certainly like to keep busy and involved with our boarders. Children in my care have always flourished, gaining self-reliance, self-discipline, and enjoying a valuable and memorable boarding experience.

We are a happy team, and would welcome the opportunity to show you around West House and to meet us and our girls in the near future.


Welfare Support

  • Medical support for boarders is available 24 hours a day during term time
  • Counselling is available at set times by appointment.

Special Requirements

The School can cater for certain additional educational and welfare requirements, such as learning support or extra English language tuition for overseas pupils.
 

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Farringtons School
Perry Street
Chislehurst
Kent
BR7 6LR
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Farringtons School