What the brochure rarely tells you
We've all had a message like this. It's Thursday evening, you've just come out of a meeting, and your phone lights up: "This weekend, can I go to a classmate's? Her parents are fine with it." A few months ago, you read the brochure, visited the campus, liked the feel of the place. And yet, at that precise moment, you don't know what to say. Who has to say yes: you, the school, both? By when? And over those two days, who is responsible for your child?
If you live far from the school, all of this is settled at a distance, sometimes at night because of the time difference, and often quickly.
Rest assured. These questions are usually answered in the boarding school's rules, where they exist and you ask for them. It's a less glamorous document than the brochure, and far more useful. Together we'll look at why to read it before enrolling and how to recognise it under its various names. Then we'll work through a six-question reading grid, illustrated with examples drawn from public, dated documents, before turning to the situation of parents at a distance, and that of families living in French-speaking Switzerland. Finally, we'll give you MSH Advisory's five practical tips.
A word on method. The schools cited here are given as examples of public documents, not as recommendations. Each example applies to its school and its year: there is no rule common to "all Swiss boarding schools". The Institut Montana documents we cite, for instance, are those for the 2025-26 school year (as at 22/09/2025 and 08/10/2025): a more recent edition may exist, and that is the one to have reconfirmed.
Why read the rules before you sign
A brochure tells you what a school offers. Its rules tell you how it works, especially when your child isn't in class: in the evening, at weekends, during the holidays.
Reading them before enrolling means avoiding two kinds of surprise.
- Logistical surprises. An outing-request deadline discovered too late, a campus closure that falls during your business travel, a plane ticket to book for holidays you hadn't planned.
- Responsibility surprises. Who answers for your child when they go out with another adult? What happens if they come back late? Better to settle these questions calmly, not on a Friday evening.
It's a bit like the house rules of a flat you're about to rent: no one reads them for pleasure, but everyone is glad they did the day a question comes up.
One document, several names
The first obstacle is a simple one: the rules aren't always called "rules". Depending on the school, you'll come across:
- Boarding Guidelines (guidelines for the boarding house);
- a School Handbook (the school's handbook, which may cover both school life and boarding);
- a Residential Life Handbook (the handbook of life in residence);
- a règlement d'internat or règlement intérieur (boarding or house rules), in French-speaking schools.
You'll also come across the word exeat: it's the English term used for an authorised outing from the boarding school, at weekends in particular.
Some schools publish these documents online, others reserve them for enrolled families, through a parent portal. In every case, look at the edition date: the documents we cite are dated by school year, and a deadline or a procedure may change from one version to the next.
You might say: "If the school doesn't publish it, I can't read it before enrolling." You can ask for it, specifying the school year that concerns you.
The reading grid: six questions
Six questions to keep in front of you, each illustrated, where possible, by a public, dated example.
1. Who authorises an outing?
This is the starting question, and the answers vary from one school to another.
TASIS's High School Residential Life Handbook 2026-27 gives a clear example: any trip (weekend travel, overnight off campus, out-of-area excursion) requires parental consent via its online platform, Reach, and only a parent or legal guardian may approve a leave request there.
Note the distinction, it matters. A legal guardian is the person who legally exercises authority over the child. A local guardian (guardian), on the other hand, is an adult you appoint to represent you on the ground. In a case like TASIS's, this local guardian is therefore not necessarily entitled to approve an outing. If you're relying on them, ask the school, in writing, what they can and cannot sign.
What you're looking for: who gives consent (you, a guardian, the school alone?), for which types of outing, through which channel, and whether the rule changes with the pupil's age.
2. By when?
A weekend outing is rarely arranged on Friday lunchtime. Both sets of rules we cite here set a deadline for the request.
- At the Institut Montana, the School Handbook 2025-26 (§4.2) and the Boarding Guidelines 2025-26 (§12) agree: a weekend outing, an Ausgang ("outing", the Swiss-German term used by the document), must be confirmed by the parents and approved by the Wednesday at the latest.
- According to TASIS's Residential Life Handbook 2026-27, weekend requests are expected by the preceding Tuesday.
These days apply only to these schools and these years. What matters for you: note your school's deadline in your own diary, taking your time zone into account.
3. With whom? The host and the accompanying adult
This is an easy question to forget, and one that deserves close attention. When your child is invited to another family, someone effectively becomes their host for the duration of the invitation.
A set of rules may specify:
- the information to supply about the host (name, address, telephone);
- a minimum age for the adult accompanying the pupil when that person isn't a parent. TASIS's Residential Life Handbook 2026-27, for instance, sets this threshold at 26 years;
- who is responsible for the pupil during the invitation.
On this last point, a note in the margin. A Brillantmont document entitled "Day-to-day life in the boarding school", dated 1 August 2017, stated that the school was not responsible for the pupil during a weekend invitation. This is a 2017 document, cited solely to illustrate a type of clause to watch for: it does not describe the school's current arrangements.
This kind of clause is neither good nor bad in itself. It's a piece of information, and it changes the way you'll accept an invitation. Hence two questions to put to any school:
- "During a weekend invitation, who is responsible for our child: the school, the host, us?"
- "How is the host known to the school: what information do you receive about them, and who checks it?"
4. How the child goes out, and how they come back
A set of rules may describe the practical "how-to" of an outing.
The Boarding Guidelines 2025-26 of the Institut Montana (§12), for example, provide for a signed outing slip that the pupil keeps on them off campus, and require that any lateness be reported immediately to a houseparent (the adult in charge of a boarding house).
What you're looking for: the expected time of return, the procedure in case of lateness or the unexpected, and who is informed, the school, you, or both.
5. Where does your child sleep when campus closes?
A boarding school isn't necessarily open all year round: some schools close their houses during all or part of the holidays.
Example: in its 2026-2027 calendar ("School Calendar & Important Dates"), Leysin American School states that all pupils must leave campus ("All students must depart campus") during the winter break, from 18 December 2026 to 10 January 2027, and during the spring break, from 20 March to 4 April 2027.
What you're looking for: the year's closure calendar, what the school does (or doesn't) arrange for pupils whose family lives far away, and who organises accommodation during these periods. If you live far from the school, this question links up with that of your child's care on the ground, which we detail in our article on schooling a foreign minor in Switzerland.
6. Who informs you, and how, when an outing is refused or changed?
An outing approved on Tuesday can be refused, brought forward or cancelled on Friday. What matters then is knowing who tells you, through which channel, and within what timeframe.
A handbook can give you some markers. TASIS's, for example, suggests a contact window to families and gives a standby telephone number (Duty phone, literally "service telephone").
For the rest, prepare your questions:
- "If an outing is refused or changed, who informs us, and how?"
- "If our child falls ill, or in an emergency, during a weekend or a closure period, who takes care of them, and who calls us?"
- "During closures, do you offer accommodation? Is there a cost?"
- "What happens if our child doesn't follow the outing rules: lateness, an unauthorised outing? What are the consequences, and how are we informed?"
The parent at a distance
If you live abroad, reread the grid with three reflexes in mind.
The time zone. A deadline set for the Tuesday or the Wednesday, Swiss time, may fall in the middle of your night. If approval goes through an online platform, check that you have access to it, and that a second parent or legal guardian can take over if you're unreachable.
The host you don't know. At a distance, you won't necessarily meet the family inviting your child. Decide in advance what information you want before saying yes, and check what the rules require on their side.
The local guardian. Have the school spell out what it means by this and what this person can do in practice: approve an outing (remember the legal guardian / local guardian distinction), take your child in during a closure? For the sake of transparency: we ourselves offer a local support service (our concierge service). The same questions apply to us.
And if you live in French-speaking Switzerland?
You may be thinking that all of this mainly concerns expatriate families. Only in part. If you live an hour's drive away, the weekend at home is easier to arrange, but the rules still need reading: the request deadline, the time of return, an invitation to a classmate's, campus closures.
And if boarding isn't the obvious choice for your family, day school exists too. Our comparison of boarding and day school sets out the main options.
What the rules don't replace
The rules organise practical life. They don't replace the conversation about child protection, which has its own framework: see our article on the safeguarding questions to ask a boarding school.
And where does your child fit in?
The authorisations, the deadlines, accommodation during the holidays: these are for you, the parents, to settle with the school. Your child doesn't have to negotiate an outing alone or organise their own holidays.
You can, on the other hand, explain the ground rules to them simply: who to ask for an outing, by when, and what to do if they're running late. Take this time before the start of term: better that they know the rule than discover it at the last minute.
MSH Advisory's five practical tips
- Ask for the document before you commit. Write to the school: "Could you send me your boarding rules, or your boarding handbook, for the school year our child is entering?" One sentence is enough.
- Read it with the six-question grid. Who authorises, by when, with whom, how the child goes out and comes back, where they sleep when campus closes, who informs you. Note the answer to each, or its absence.
- Transfer the dates into your own diary. The outing-request deadline, holiday closures: enter them as soon as you enrol, in your own time zone. It's the best way to avoid logistical surprises.
- Have responsibility and signatures spelt out, in writing. "During a weekend at another family's, who is responsible for our child?" and "Can our local guardian approve an outing?" The answers will tell you how to accept, or decline, an invitation.
- Reconfirm every year. A set of rules is dated and may evolve. At the start of each year, check that you have the version in force, and have the school confirm the points that matter for your family.
Frequently asked questions
Who authorises a boarder's weekend outing?
It depends on each school, and it is written in its boarding rules. By way of example, TASIS's High School Residential Life Handbook 2026-27 states that any trip (weekend travel, overnight off campus, out-of-area excursion) requires parental consent via its Reach platform, and that only a parent or legal guardian may approve a leave request via Reach. A local guardian appointed by the family is therefore not necessarily entitled to approve an outing: have the school confirm this in writing. There is no rule common to all Swiss boarding schools: check the document of the school concerned, in its current year's version.
Can my child spend the weekend at a friend's or with a host family?
A boarding school's rules may provide for weekend invitations, subject to conditions: who must give consent, what information to supply about the host, the minimum age for the adult accompanying the pupil, and who is responsible for the child during the invitation. These conditions vary from one school to another. Before accepting an invitation, read the relevant section of the rules and ask the school in writing who is responsible for your child during the invitation, and how the host is known to the school.
Where does a boarder sleep when the boarding house closes during the holidays?
Some schools close their boarding houses during all or part of the school holidays: the pupil must then return home or be accommodated elsewhere. Leysin American School's 2026-2027 calendar, for example, states that all pupils must leave campus during the winter break (18 December 2026 to 10 January 2027) and the spring break (20 March to 4 April 2027). Ask the school for its closure calendar for the year and what it does, or does not, arrange for pupils whose family lives far away.
Where can I find a Swiss boarding school's rules?
Depending on the school, they go by different names: boarding rules, boarding guidelines, school handbook, residential life handbook. Some publish them on their website, others hand them to families after enrolment or through a parent portal. If you cannot find them, ask the school before committing, specifying the school year concerned.
Do boarding school rules change from one year to the next?
Yes, they can change. The documents we cite are dated by school year, and a deadline, a procedure or a platform may evolve between two versions. Rules read online are therefore only a starting point: have the school reconfirm the points that matter for your family, in the version applicable to your child's year of entry.
In summary: read before you sign
Together we've worked through six questions the brochure rarely tells you about, and seen that each school answers them in its own way, in a dated document that sets no rule for the others.
Now take that Thursday-evening message again. Rules in hand, you know who has to say yes, by when, and who watches over your child during the weekend. You can answer with peace of mind: that's the whole point.
If you'd like an outside view to compare several schools' rules, our private educational advisory is there for that, and you can write to us in full confidence.
An hour's reading before you enrol saves you many a tricky Friday evening. Over to you.
Official sources (accessed 2026-10-16)
- Institut Montana Zugerberg — Boarding Guidelines 2025-26 (as at 22/09/2025): https://www.montana-zug.ch/hubfs/25-26_Boarding%20Guidelines-1.pdf (accessed 2026-10-16) — §12: weekend outings approved by the Wednesday at the latest, signed outing slip kept on the pupil off campus, lateness reported immediately to a houseparent; welcome arrangements (sponsor, welcome checklist, houseparents).
- Institut Montana Zugerberg — School Handbook 2025-26 (as at 08/10/2025): https://www.montana-zug.ch/hubfs/25-26_School%20Handbook-1.pdf (accessed 2026-10-16) — §4.2: parental confirmation by the Wednesday at the latest for a weekend Ausgang.
- TASIS The American School in Switzerland — High School Residential Life Handbook 2026-27: https://www.tasis.ch/uploaded/documents/Parent_Portal/26_27/26_27_HS_Residential_Life_Handbook.pdf (accessed 2026-10-16) — parental consent via Reach for any trip (weekend travel, overnight off campus, out-of-area excursion), leave-request approval restricted to parents or legal guardians, weekend requests due the preceding Tuesday, accompanying adults (other than parents) aged at least 26 years, a contact window suggested to families and a standby telephone (Duty phone).
- Leysin American School — School Calendar & Important Dates (2026-2027): https://www.las.ch/about/calendar (accessed 2026-10-16) — Winter Break from 18 December 2026 to 10 January 2027 and Spring Break from 20 March to 4 April 2027, "All students must depart campus".
- Brillantmont International School — "Day-to-day life in the boarding school" (header dated 1 August 2017, file bm_BoardingRules.pdf): https://into.brillantmont.ch/uploads/bm_BoardingRules.pdf (accessed 2026-10-16) — a 2017 document, cited solely to illustrate a type of clause (responsibility during a weekend invitation); does not describe the school's current arrangements.
These rules are a matter for each school and change from one school year to the next. The examples cited apply only to the establishment and the edition indicated. Before any decision, reconfirm the points that directly concern you with the school, in the version in force.
