George Wienekus, Head of Boarding at Cottesmore School in West Sussex, shares his tried and tested formulas for helping his young charges  sleeping at boarding school
The most popular occupation at Cottesmore, our boarding prep school on the Surrey and Sussex border, is sleeping. We spend more time sleeping than doing any other single activity. Other than playing team sport. And I suppose if you count all academic endeavour as one activity, that could also compete.
Cottesmore is one of the largest boarding prep schools in the country, so sleep is a key feature of school life, yet it?s an oft-overlooked pastime. Sleep is so necessary, so vital, and it?s an activity that we spend the most time doing. Yet, we don?t timetable sleep alongside maths, geography, English and art. Perhaps the reason for this is because, generally speaking, we?re naturally talented at it. So if our snoozing skills are so innately developed, why should the girls and boys pay more attention to the act of slumber" It?s all about incremental gains and optimising their beauty sleep, developing their dormancy, improving their power naps, cultivating their kips so that peak performance can be achieved, unencumbered by the effects of extended wakefulness such as grogginess, generally ratty behaviour, brain fog and even ADHD-like symptoms.
After all, we?re all much more pleasant, talented and sharp when we?ve had our full quota of shut-eye. But how much sleep should our girls and boys be having" Ex...