Forces of nature

Proper boarding, gleaming pastoral care and the kind of leadership admired in a gentleman officer are top of the agenda for many prospective military families. Madeleine Silver reports

- Madeleine Silver

WHEN a Russian oligarch ‘choppered’ into Shrewsbury School to have an introductory lunch with his son’s housemaster, he was alarmed to discover that he was a retired army officer. ‘He politely asked what on earth a soldier was doing as a housemaster,’ remembers Charles Bonas of Bonas MacFarlane, which places children into leading schools and universities. ‘After all, the Russian communists had any remaining gentleman soldiers shot or sent to Siberia long ago and the Red Army was not celebrated for gently nurturing teenagers.

'Whether soldiers or pupils, the more time you invest in them, the more you get back'

‘We spent the rest of lunch discussing the civility of being commissioned into the British army, disabusing the father of any notion that he had delegated parental authority to a battle-hardened thug.’ For parents in the British Armed Forces, of course, a former military man in charge is a reassuring credential; an understanding of military life is often deemed more valuable than the most generous of financial assistance offered to serving parents who opt for the boarding route.

The Combined Cadet Force

Numerous independent schools have CCF units, which are supported by the MoD and can offer great extra-curricular activities, such as flying, sailing, adventure training and a range of qualifications, including navigation and first aid. In 2012, a Government programme was launched to establish 100 new units in English state-funded schools. There are now some 500 and the current ambition is to expand cadet numbers to 60,000 by 2024.