In the Spotlight: House Parent
Work For Us
What is your role at Summer Boarding Courses?
My role at SBC is as a House Parent, this encompasses a lot of different responsibilities. We help with aspects of daily life, organisation, provide a caring support system and ensure that the house is full of entertainment for the children that we look after.
What’s the average day like at summer school?
Every day at summer school is different to the next! The children are in house for four house times during the day, which is our main contact time and includes everything from making sure that they brush their teeth to reading bedtime stories at night. These house times are the perfect opportunity to get to know the children in the house and make sure that they have a parent figure while they are away from home.
What have you enjoyed the most about working with Summer Boarding Courses?
The SBC staff are amazing and so supportive, they make it worth coming back every year to work with old faces and to meet some new ones! The hard work is made rewarding by the children in the house and how much fun it is to spend time with them.
What have you found difficult or challenging about working with Summer Boarding Courses?
The hours that you work as a House Parent are challenging and you find yourself fairly tired by the end of the summer. Although the job involves long hours, it doesn’t feel like work- who else can say that playing games, running around having water fights and playing hide and seek could all be part of their working day?!
What have you gained from working with Summer Boarding Courses?
Each summer is different and so allows you to gain new skills and deal with situations that you may not have come across before. I have gained so much confidence in my work and thoroughly enjoyed being a part of SBC. I look forward to every summer that I am able to spend working at summer school.
What advice would you give a staff member going into their first summer with Summer Boarding Courses?
Be prepared for an amazing summer! There will be times when you are exhausted, but all of the fantastic times in and out of the house will make all the effort worth it. Also, remember that the managers are all fantastic at supporting you and there is always someone that you can ask for help.
What’s your favourite summer school memory?
Most likely the impromptu dance party that occurred in the house one evening during phone time in the common room which had the whole house ‘reach(ing) for the stars’ – S-Club 7 style!
