UK NEWS

HOWARTS EDUCATION FOR THE ARMY

“Hogwarts effect”

Sunday April 27,2008

By Hilary Douglas

A NEW generation of state boarding schools are to be built around the country as the Government taps into the “Hogwarts effect”.

Thousands of youngsters will be packed off with their suitcases to live and learn away from home.

The first wave of pupils will be children of serving military personnel, but they will be the children of rank-and-file troops rather than officers.

Traditionally, officers’ children have been taught in public schools. Now ultra-modern boarding schools will provide the same educational advantages to the children of non-commissioned officers from the Army, Navy and RAF.

A senior education source told the Sunday Express: “The state boarding schools used to be the best kept educational secret but now the government is expanding them and it seemed a very good idea to build special ones at military bases around Britain to help give a stable education to the children of our soldiers who serve around the world.

“Many youngsters have to transfer from school to school time after time as their parents move to different military bases, obviously making it very difficult for them to have a settled education and achieve the results that they should. This is a way of giving every military child the same chance.”

At present parents in the services are awarded £15,000 a year towards the education of each child, but they have to find 10 per cent of the cost themselves. Tuition at the new schools will be free.