Mealtimes can be one of the most social and important part of your child’s day, but if the students dislike the food within a boarding house there is a chance they will be unhappy, and your child’s welfare and happiness is of paramount importance to us. Good food and healthy eating is certainly part of that process. We have an excellent in-house catering team who provide three meals a day for our boarders.

During the week all the boarder’s meals are served in the school dining room. They have a choice of cereals, yoghurts, fruit and a cooked breakfast. Break and lunch on school days are taken alongside day students. The boarders then come back together for an evening meal. The dining room operates on a cafeteria self-service system. The menus are varied and imaginative and are changed regularly.

The meals are nutritionally balanced and offer boarders a full choice, always with a vegetarian option. If your child has a food allergy of any special dietary requirement then please let us know and we will be able to provide a suitable diet to take this into account.

At weekends they have a “lazy” breakfast in their boarding houses which includes fruit, yoghurts, croissant, pane au chocolate, and then a brunch is served in the dining room. Our catering staffs arrange themed evenings to give the boarders something special to look forward to. These have included Indian nights, Chinese nights, African experiences, and Mexican fiestas. During the World Cup in Brazil we aimed to provide food linked to the countries that were playing at the weekend. At all times there are healthy snacks available in the boarding houses.

In addition the catering team help the boarders arrange formal dinners throughout the year – these are planned by the boarders with input from staff, and they are an enjoyable and exciting time for all involved. Each year the boarders arrange a Christmas dinner, Easter Dinner and a senior boarder’s formal dinner.

Our catering manager meets with the boarder’s representatives termly to discuss menus and works closely with them to provide them with the best choices possible.

We are proactive in working with our suppliers to ensure that the ingredients used are good quality, reduced in salt, sugar, fat and free of harmful additives. Produce is sourced wherever possible from local suppliers; we aim to use seasonal produce; all of our meat and poultry is traceable and sourced from a high quality local butcher.

Menus are displayed at all meals. We actively promote and encourage healthy balanced meals and our philosophy is that students should be free to make their own choices from the selection available.

Extra curricular activities form an essential part of boarding life at St George's. The school operates a broad and varied after school activity programme for both day pupils and boarders alike and Year 7 and 8 boarders all participate in the BSA's Boarding Skills programme. We are fortunate to be extremely well served with no end of external clubs and organisations and arrangements are made to enable boarders to join local clubs allowing them to pursue hobbies and interests whether it is something offered by the school or not. These clubs include hockey, lacrosse, horse riding, football, rugby, yoga, zumba, karate, fencing and volunteer work in Harpenden's numerous charity shops. There is a full programme of weekend trips and activities. These include annual, and occasionally termly, visits to Thorpe Park, Hillingdon Outdoor Activity Centre, Butlins, Brighton, paint-balling, white water rafting and go-karting. Trips to the cinema, swimming pool and local trampoline centres are popular and, therefore, more frequent.

Social events include the Boarders' Christmas Dinner, the Christmas Disco, the Senior Dinner - a black tie event for boarders in Year 11 and above - and the May Ball - a themed event for all boarders.