The Times: He lived on the streets and with drug dealers. Now he’s a top head boy

Julien Andre is the poster boy for a scheme that is convincing councils to use boarding schools as an alternative to care

They are denounced for preserving privilege and ensuring the wealthy keep their grip on society’s glittering prizes. But one boarding school charging up to £35,000 a year is accepting pupils from troubled families in a move that could ease the pressure on Britain’s care system.

Kingham Hill School, set in 100 acres of Cotswold countryside near the home of David Cameron, has admitted its first pupil part-funded by local social services. Oxfordshire county council is contributing £14,388 a year to the boarding fees of a girl whose fostering arrangements fell through. The same sum will be contributed jointly by the school and Buttle UK, a children’s charity.

Kingham’s headmaster, Nick Seward, said the girl, who started school last month, is “our first placement — we hope she will be the first of many”.

While he had previously “sensed an institutional hostility to private schools or independent schools... from social workers and local authorities”, the attitude of the council has recently thawed.

The change in stance was hailed as a breakthrough for the concept of providing “assisted boarding” for children from troubled families who might otherwise be sent to stay with relatives, fostered or placed in children’s homes.

The full online article can be found here.