If you are planning to study at, or are planning to send your child to a UK independent college or school, you will most likely be offered boarding at that institution. Independent boarding schools offer a relaxed, home-like atmosphere. Pupils stay in bedrooms or dormitories on the school site, living under the same roof as residential house staff and their families. Younger pupils usually share a room with up to four others of a similar age; older pupils may have a study-bedroom to themselves. Boarding schools take great trouble with caring for their students - house staff are never far away and there is normally a qualified nurse on duty.

Independent schools are complete communities. As well as the pupils, many of the teachers and care staff, such as the school nurse, also live at the school.  At evenings and weekends, you'll have access to all sorts of leisure and social activities. You can join school sports teams, drama groups, choirs and bands; learn to play an instrument, dance or play a whole host of games.  Schools often also arrange trips to local theatres, museums, tourist and sporting attractions as well as other places of interest.

A UK independent school provide a complete package. As well as your lessons, you will get the use of science and practical laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art equipment; fantastic sports fields, gyms, swimming pools, music rooms, drama studios and a whole variety of other opportunities. You'll be living and studying in amazing buildings, often with a fantastic history and containing libraries that have been built up over centuries.

At school you'll be mixing with students from all over the world, whose different backgrounds and new perspectives will add to your experience. At any one time, around 16,000 international students are studying in UK independent schools. You'll meet people from Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australasia and even the pupils from the UK may have parents who live and work abroad, gaining an insight into other customs and cultures.

Many independent school students say how this environment has meant they have made friends they'll keep for the rest of their lives.  It's a unique experience that you couldn't put a price on.