Welcome to Lathallan School

Our boarding facility is unique to Lathallan in the local area. We are not a full boarding school, but offer both weekly and flexi-boarding option. Weekly boarders come to us on Monday mornings (or by arrangement on Sunday evenings) and return home on Friday evening at 5.00pm. Flexi boarding is a popular option with both parents and pupils. Children can board for 1 or more nights a week on a regular basis or just on ad-hoc nights to suit family circumstances and can be booked at the start of each week. It is the ideal solution for busy working families and gives children an early taste of independence away from home.

Boys and girls are accommodated in separate wings of our castle building in small dormitories with between 2 and 6 pupils in each room.

Children are encouraged to personalise their rooms with their own home duvet covers, posters, soft toys and whatever other decorations make their space seem like their own. There is a common room for watching films and TV and playing games. Senior pupils have external visits to the cinema or for meals out and life long friendships have been forged within our walls.

Prospective weekly and flexi boarders are invited to stay overnight as part of their “taster day” in school to give them a flavour of life as a boarder at Lathallan. Our boarding house and care arrangements are inspected twice a year by the Care Commission and our most recent inspection reports have praised the warm and friendly atmosphere and the quality of our care.

Pre-preparatory department
The school day for children in Pre-prep 1 and 2 ( P1 &P2) ends at 3.40pm, but there is a range of after school clubs ranging from arts and crafts to music and out door play which enable children to stay at school until 5.00pm. This is most useful for parents wishing to collect older children from the school whose school day ends at 5.00pm. A daily charge is made for this service.

Lower Preparatory School

The school day for children in Forms 1 and 2 (P3 and P4) ends at 3.40pm, but there is a range of after school clubs including  arts, music, country dancing and outdoor sports which enable pupils to stay on until 5.00pm. For children in these years groups there is no additional charge for this service.

There is the opportunity for children in these years groups to stay on with supervised care until 6.00pm to meet demands of parental working, attending school functions with older siblings etc, but this facility must be booked in advance and incurs an additional charge for children from Pre-prep 1 to Form 2.

Tea is available at 6.00pm and consists of a hot two course meal for which a modest charge is made. Details of all costs can be obtained from the fees section of this website.

Main Preparatory School and Senior School

For children in Form 3 ( P5) and upwards, the school day ends at 5.00pm. Children may be collected at this point or they are able to stay at school for an hour of supervised homework for no additional charge. Tea is available at 6.00pm and consists of a hot two course meal for which a modest charge is made. Children can be collected at 6.30pm or may stay on to join in our evening activity programme which varies each day and finishes at 8.00pm. Most clubs and activities are included in the main school fees.

The school is very proud of its food provision. Lathallan employs its own catering staff and has not outsourced this to a large mass catering company. The school management has a major input into its food provision (as do the children through the Pupil Council). All produce is locally sourced and cooked fresh. A wide choice of food is always available at lunch: a hot meal with all the trimmings (see Menu in Parent Information) jacket potatoes with choice of fillings, salad bar with cold meats, baguettes or sandwiches are the usual lunchtime choice. There is also a hot two course “tea” at 6.00pm for those staying for evening activities or boarding.

Healthy snacks are available at break times (twice daily). Fruit and milk are available throughout the day. Lunch is included within the school fee and day pupils staying for tea pay a small charge for the evening meal. Most restricted diets can be catered for in consultation with the Head of Pastoral Care and the Catering Manager. We currently cater for vegetarian and gluten free diets and for children with allergies.

The school is very keen to encourage healthy eating. This begins in the kitchens and filters across the academic curriculum through the Science and PHSE programmes. The children engage in regular sports at school and are well educated about and conscious of the need for a healthy lifestyle.