Click the link to view the full version: Excellence Grown Over Time: Nine Years of Boarding Behind WASCZ’s Highest Global Scores
When he first arrived at WASCZ in Grade 2, he cried for an entire week because he missed home. Nine years later, he has grown into an outstanding scholar, holding the global highest score in IGCSE Advanced Mathematics and the national highest score in GCSE Statistics. He is now confidently planning his future path to his dream university.
Bruce, currently a Grade 11 student, is beginning his tenth year as a boarder at WASCZ. His experience exemplifies the progressive development typical of students within the WASCZ boarding program, while illustrating the institution’s core boarding values. At WASCZ, boarding extends beyond residing at school; it represents a comprehensive educational approach embedded in daily routines, fostering self-discipline, resilience, leadership, and academic achievement as essential qualities cultivated over time.
A Day in the Life of a WASCZ Boarder
A Structured Routine, A Start of Self-Discipline
“Wake up at 7:00 am, wash up, tidy my room, and then have breakfast at 7:30 am. After that, we have tutor time followed by the first lesson.” This is how Bruce describes the start of his day. These seemingly repetitive routines form the foundation of self-discipline and establish a steady rhythm of life within a stable environment.
The day’s lessons are enriching and orderly — STEM, natural sciences, humanities, languages, and global perspectives. Students of different year groups follow an efficient academic schedule, with clear course arrangements and well-organised time structures ensuring steady academic progress.
Once lessons end, boarders and day students shift into another equally important aspect of growth: extracurricular activities (ECA). Bruce, for example, has taken part in game programming, AI projects, rugby, floorball, and football teams. Driven by passion, these activities allow for both academic extension and a balanced approach to physical exercise and music or arts, something many students enjoy as well.
In the evening, back at the dormitory, boarders spend their 15 minutes of screen time talking with family and sharing their day. The subsequent college meetings, personal sports training, or club activities immerse them in real social interactions. Here, they need to express opinions, collaborate with others, and learn self-management and responsibility when faced with disagreements or pressure. The evening includes quiet study time and free interaction periods, which foster time management and self-regulation skills.
This is a typical, warm, and everyday experience for a WASCZ boarder. From morning to night, from learning to living, each moment of boarding life intertwines academic ability, life skills, and social competence, creating a steady upward growth curve for each child.
How Long Does It Take to Adapt to Boarding Life?
24×7 Pastoral Care
From “Homesickness” to “A Home Away from Home”
Reflecting on his feelings when he first arrived as a Grade 2 student, Bruce can’t help but laugh: “I cried for a whole week, calling home every day while crying.” Homesickness and adjustment challenges are common experiences for younger boarders.
At WASCZ, we don’t rush to suppress these emotions. Instead, within our pastoral care system based on the house system, where teachers live alongside students and the school becomes a home, children receive constant attention and emotional support from the Head of House, Deputy Head of House, and Resident Tutors, 24×7. This constant care provides companionship and understanding, helping children gradually build a sense of security in an environment where they feel truly seen.
“If something is bothering you, or you need help with daily life, they are your closest people to turn to,” Bruce explains about the house teachers. Through his Grades of boarding life, he, like many others, has built a trusting, almost familial relationship with his house teachers, seeing this place as his “second home.”
The house system offers students both peer companship and the support of older students, while teaching them to care for younger ones. “As I interacted with my roommate and participated in house activities, I gradually forgot about homesickness,” Bruce says. From initial discomfort to fully adapting to life in the boarding system, it took him about a year, which is a common adjustment period for many boarders.
Like other students, Bruce has also made lasting friendships in this process. On weekends, they go to the inflatable gym together; during house competitions, they fight for the honour of their house side by side; during study sessions, they help each other with academic problems; during study trips, they cheer each other on. The regular routines help establish good life habits, while the diverse activities in boarding life naturally nurture friendship and a sense of belonging. Here, they are not only classmates but also solid companions on their personal growth journeys.
Shaping Academics and Character
The Natural Outcome of a Boarding Environment
In the WASCZ boarding environment, time is structured, continuous, and predictable. With no time wasted on commuting, less fragmented distractions, and solid study habits, students make significant progress in language proficiency, receive patient guidance during evening study sessions, and engage in peer discussions. This long-term accumulation of learning and time management skills has enabled Bruce to achieve his academic breakthroughs.
Boarding life also offers students ample opportunities to take bold steps. This is not limited to participation in activities but extends to taking responsibility and expressing themselves in those activities. For example, Bruce clearly remembers a weekend football competition where he stepped up to fill in for a missing team member, helping his team win the championship. The sense of working together towards a common goal and celebrating success as a team instilled in him a deep sense of belonging and collective pride.
This year, Bruce also took on the role of leader for the House Unison competition. Initially more introverted, he found the courage to manage and express himself in front of others for the first time. His leadership and self-confidence have quietly blossomed. Interestingly, when we spoke to several graduates with boarding experience, many highlighted the House Unison competition, a tradition rooted in the British house system, as a key turning point in their growth.
Boarding
The Future Backpack Prepared for Children
“I believe these nine years of boarding life will have a profound impact on my future. The experiences I’ve gained will be an essential part of my path to success,” Bruce concludes.
Boarding life at WASCZ is like an unending stream, quietly shaping the essence of every child’s life through the seemingly ordinary rise and set of the sun. It teaches time management through regular routines, teamwork, communication, and responsibility through collective house life, and offers 24×7 care to ensure children still feel the support and safety of home even when far away. Most importantly, through countless trials and challenges, it quietly builds the psychological resilience required for the future world.
If you were to ask any WASCZ boarder how boarding life has changed them, their answers are often simple and heartfelt — for example, they’ve become more confident, better at communication, more organised in their work, and braver in facing change and pressure.
As children move from WASCZ to broader stages, they carry not just knowledge but a “life backpack” packed with confidence, independence, responsibility, and adaptability. Perhaps this is the deepest expectation of every parent: that while their child studies far from home, they are not only well cared for, but are also shaped into stronger, more complete, and more composed individuals.
This is the essence of WASCZ boarding: at this moment, we offer them a “home away from home”; in the future, we equip them with the confidence to walk the world.
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