6 Winter Weekend Activities To Try At Your Boarding School

Weekends at boarding schools aren't just for catching up with homework. They're a time for rest, recuperation and for enjoying activities that don't fit into the school timetable. Extra-curricular activities provide students with opportunities to learn new skills, get to know other pupils and widen their interests.However, it falls to boarding school staff to come up with new ideas to keep their students entertained from one weekend to the next, and prepare the resources needed. Wintertime is particularly tricky, with cold weather preventing some favourite outdoor activities from taking place.To help, we've come up with some ideas for your 2019 winter boarding activities schedule.

1. Weekend Theatre Production

Boarding schools often take students out for weekend or evening visits to local productions. But to keep your students entertained all day long and give them the opportunity to practise teamwork, why not get them to create a script, rehearse and perform all in one weekend? This is especially great for rainy weekends where the outdoor options are limited.

2. Indoor Treasure Hunts

Boarding schools tend to have a fair amount of indoor space, with student dormitories, classrooms and larger areas like sports facilities. Come up with a treasure hunt that takes in many of the school buildings and requires pupils of all ages to work together to solve the clues.

3. Book Club

You'll probably be encouraging your students to read as widely as possible. Organise book clubs so that students can read the same book and then come together to discuss it. Book clubs provide a different perspective and help students become more critical while reading.

4. Yoga and Meditation Retreats

Look after your students' wellbeing by organising specialist teachers to provide a full day of yoga and meditation. Events like these provide your students with essential tools for relaxation when school and examination deadlines loom. You could provide extra healthy refreshments throughout the day too.

5. Specialist Cooking Lessons

Instead of focusing on everyday fare when teaching your students essential cooking skills, why not theme your culinary classes? You could have days focusing on a type of cuisine, such as Thai or South African food. Alternatively, you could look at how to create meals for large groups, offer nutritional advice or learn how to mix herbs, spices and flavourings for the best effect.

6. Themed Movie or Documentary Nights

Movie nights might be a regular occurance already, but theming your evenings is one way to make it into more of an event. One idea is to tie your movie themes into topics they'll be learning about in lessons, such as American or European history. You can also select interesting documentaries that centre around a theme, such as lifestyle, science or technology.

Managing Boarding School Events

Despite it being the weekend, keeping your student's safety is still a top priority. Your boarding staff remain responsible for the wellbeing and safety of all your pupils, and need a system they can rely upon for keeping track of who's where.Your event management software should allow your staff to do more than just create events and set deadlines for replies. It should enable them to automate follow-up communications, notify attendees of appropriate health and safety requirements, provide an overview of who's attending and let them know of any special needs.Boardingware's event coordinator does all of the above, with a simple to use interface for both desktop use and for the staff and students apps. Take a look at our event coordinator demos for further information.