Date: Saturday, 1 November 2025
Times: 09.00 – 17.00
Location:
The Light Auditorium, Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ
Cost: £105.00
The fee includes hot fork lunch and tea and coffee throughout the day.
All are welcome (click to read/hide)
We welcome all-comers: ex-boarders who have started to question if their life has been impaired by their boarding experience; family and friends of ex-boarders who wonder the same; parents wrestling with the decision to send their children away; care professionals with an interest in ex-boarder clients; and anyone who is curious about the lasting effects of boarding school. It can be especially useful for partners of ex-boarders, helping them learn about the impact of boarding on their relationship.
Support on the day (click to read/hide)
We believe that for the majority of people the conference is a stimulating, positive and affirming experience where we can tell our stories, be heard and understood. However, the conference can be challenging, and even distressing, as we face, perhaps for the first time, the full implications of our boarding school experiences. The conference organisers will do their utmost to support attendees who feel overwhelmed or distressed during the day, and colleagues with a background in therapy will be on hand to offer support should you need it. Look out for our brightly coloured badges.
Financial help (click to read/hide)
For those who would find it financially impossible to attend, we are able to give some help with the cost of the Conference. To discuss this in confidence please write to us. If you have already asked for financial help, please register by paying the amount you said you are able to pay. For those who would welcome the chance to help others receive the benefit they have had from past conferences, there is an opportunity to ‘pay it forward’ by making a donation to help those who, often as a result of their boarding experience, find themselves struggling financially. More details are on the registration form.
For all those attending the conference:
The Friends House is on Euston Road, directly opposite Euston Station.
Please let us know (info@boardingschoolconcern.uk) if you have any special requirements.
The Friends House accommodates special diets, but they do need to be ordered in advance. If you let us know your requirements, one of us will make sure that a correct lunch will be waiting for you! If you need dairy or gluten free also let us know for the coffee and tea breaks.
Please register and pay here.
Conference – Saturday, 1 November 2025
The Light Auditorium, Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ
PROGRAMME (timings provisional)
Morning Session
09.00
The Light Auditorium – entrance on Euston Road
Welcome, registration and refreshments
Boarding School Concern directors will be on hand to welcome you
09.30
Welcome – Caroline Rollings
Chair and Director of Boarding School Concern
Caroline will introduce the programme for the day
09.50
Tribute to Joy Schaverien – Nick Duffell
10.00
Guest Speaker – Rose Sawkins
A Slow Dawning, So To Speak
The curious, reluctant or seasoned speaker. Each possesses an instrument uniquely rich in potential to connect and belong… to oneself and in community. In exploring the loss, listening for, retrieving and gradual re-forming of the internal and external, private and professional, physical and naturally expressive, ‘whole’, voice. Rose shares moments from an often testing though invariably uplifting wrangle – of willing versus resistance – within a speaking client, stroke ward patient and indeed herself. This is a ‘performative’ collaboration to overcome shame of acquired injury, imposed silence and, often, the silencing of oneself. The quest: to enjoy this struggle to free the speaking voice and share its kaleidoscopic story.
Founder of Physical Voice: Coaching. Training. Consultancy. Co-Writing & Editing.
Rose’s memoir, Speaking Sw*ss: How to Wake Up in a Second Language, will be published in 2026
10.40
Questions and Answers
10.50
Break – Tea and Coffee in the Catering Area
11.20
Guest Speaker – Suzanne Zeedyk
Sabre Tooth Tigers & Teddy Bears: how boarding school shapes attachment
Our childhood experiences shape us in profound ways that we often do not recognise until well into adulthood. That is because our stress system dutifully learns to cope, even with scary, confusing, and painful events. It’s just that the emotional lessons we learned in childhood often do not serve us well in adulthood. Suzanne will explore these attachment processes using her well-known analogy of Sabre Tooth Tigers & Teddy Bears. She makes scientific discoveries and uncomfortable insights feel accessible and fascinating. Her talk will build helpfully on the talk on attachment given by Anne Power at last year’s conference. Those who are new to these topics will leave feeling intrigued and reassured.
Dr Suzanne Zeedyk is by training an academic, researcher and developmental psychologist. She now works with the public, disseminating the science of connection and attachment in order to foster a richer understanding of the lasting impact of childhood experiences. Suzanne works with a wide range of sectors, including education; early years; criminal justice; health; and lots in between. This breadth enables her to explore intriguing questions about why early relationships matter so much and why it takes courage to face up to these scientific discoveries. Amongst other resources, Suzanne has contributed chapters to several recent books on boarding school syndrome.
Author of Sabre Tooth Tigers and Teddy Bears – the connected baby guide to attachment
Creator of the Tigers and Teddies Nursery Series
12.00
Questions and Answers
12.10
Personal Stories of Creativity
Two stories of creativity coming from the boarding school experience
Nicky Moxey and Linda Devereux – editing a new book – Worlds Away from Home (available at the bookstall)
Piers Cross – making a new documentary – Boarding on Insanity (to be shown in the afternoon)
12.50
LUNCH in CATERING AREA
Afternoon Session
14.00
Announcement about groups and workshops / move to breakout rooms
Participants will be invited to select a group or workshop online shortly before the conference date, or otherwise can make a choice on the day (subject to availability).
14.10
Group Sessions
1. Finding Your Voice Workshop – led by Rose Sawkins (with Charlotte Sharpe)
In a safe and supported space, participants are invited to partake in a two-part exercise before giving voice to a short in-action-created piece of life writing. Sharing work with the group will be voluntary.
2. Intimate Relationships Group 1 – facilitated by Joanna Meynell and Rosie Hodgson
Having clarified the group’s understanding of the term “intimate relationships”, there will be a discussion on how boarding might have influenced these bonds. Exploring issues such as self image, how this is impacted by spending adolescence in an institution and single sex schools, together with attachment and the survival personality.
3. Relationships with Parents Group – facilitated by Rosemary Lamaison and Gordon Knott
This group will be looking at your relationship with your parents at different stages: before being sent away; during your time at school; when you come home; and as an adult. It would help if those choosing this group could give some thought to summarising the headline feelings and headline impact of their relationship – sharing in a short phrase, or with a couple of words, without getting into too much detail.
4. Intimate Relationships Group 2 – facilitated by Colette Dunford and Jane Barclay
Due to demand, a second group on Intimate Relationships as per Group 2 above.
5. Creativity in Action Workshop – led by Marcus Pollett (with Pippa Palmer)
An opportunity to explore safely how creative performance (eg: theatre, poetry, spoken work, stand-up comedy) can bring about tangible healing form boarding-related trauma. Marcus is the creator of Mummified, the acclaimed play about a former boarder coming to terms with the devastation of his mother sending him to boarding school.
6. Returning Home to Self – led by Carolyn Wood (with Caroline Rollings)
Want to express what is trapped inside? Does your body need/want to move? This is an introduction to embodiment. Through music and movement, we will actively engage with the elements: Earth, Fire, Water, Air, and Ether. We’ll explore how these elements move inside: feeling the ground in your bones, accessing your inner fire, letting go into your natural flow, and letting your breath shape and guide you. We will play with this elemental synergy to unlock a deeper sense of self. This is about reclaiming your power, releasing stagnant movement, and returning home in your body. No dance moves required!
7. Boarding on Insanity – Piers Cross
A showing of the ground-breaking new documentary by Piers Cross followed by a Q&A
15.40
Break – Tea and Coffee in the Catering Area
16.10
Boarding School Research Hub – Pippa Palmer
Update on the research group at London South Bank University
• Participants and activities
• Hopes for the future
16.20
Wrap up
• Round-up and reflections from the day
• Where and how to find help and support
• Thanks and close
16.30
Tea and Coffee in the Catering Area
A chance to decompress before travelling home