Boarding school virtual tours
For most of the families a boarding school wants, the visit is a flight and a week off work, and it does not happen before the decision is made. The virtual tour is the visit. We build it around what those families need to see: the house, the day, the weekend and the setting, with the admissions team's voice at every point.
- Boarding houses photographed empty, in the holidays
- Audiences and languages for agents and overseas families
- Built to WCAG 2.2 AA, from £700, no yearly fee
What overseas families need to see
Parents choosing a boarding school are choosing where their child will sleep, so the tour goes inside a house first: the front door and the houseparent's flat, the common room, the kitchen, a bedroom as it is in term, the bathrooms and the quiet room, with how many share, who is on duty at night and how far the medical centre is. Then the day as a journey rather than a map: the gate, the walk to the house, breakfast, the classroom, the fields, the chapel, the theatre, back to the house. Then the weekend, which is the question agents are asked most, and the setting from the air, which for a family abroad is the difference between a name and a place.
How we photograph a boarding house
Houses are photographed empty and dressed as they are in term, usually in the holidays or at an exeat, by DBS-checked photographers. Nothing identifiable is published and the school approves every scene before it goes live. The Giggleswick School tour does this house by house; the Gresham's School tour and the Marymount International School tour are built as the journey described above.
Audiences, languages and admissions
One tour can show a different version to a prospective parent, an agent, a current family and a new pupil arriving in September, with the text and the order changed for each, in the languages the admissions team works in. The enquiry form, the registration link, the agent contact and the open-day booking sit inside the tour, at the moment the family is looking at the house, and the enquiry can feed your admissions system directly. Boarding school virtual tours: what overseas families need to see goes through all of this in detail.
What a boarding school tour includes
A bespoke 360 tour designed around the school, not a template with the crest changed.
The houses, inside
Every boarding house, photographed empty and dressed, with the bedroom, the common room, the kitchen and the houseparent's door, and the facts families ask for attached to each.
The day as a journey
From the gate to the house and back, in the order a pupil lives it, with the admissions team's words at each point.
The campus from the air
Drone views that place the school in its town or its landscape, flown by our CAA-registered pilots.
Audiences and languages
Separate versions for parents, agents, current families and new pupils, in the languages you work in, from one tour.
Admissions inside the tour
Enquiry, registration, agent contact and open-day booking where the family is looking, with presets for the main admissions systems.
Accessible by design
Keyboard and screen-reader navigation, captions and an accessibility statement, built to WCAG 2.2 AA so it sits comfortably on any school website.
Updated as the school changes
A new house, a refurbished block or a new head: the tour is updated rather than rebuilt, and there is no yearly fee.
Yours to keep
Supplied as files on your own address or ours, with no subscription and no platform to pay for.
Signposted for open days
Add a Signposted visitor map so visiting families find the right car park, door and house on the day.
From first message to live tour
Four steps, one named contact, and a clear price before anything is booked.
- 1
Quote
Tell us about the building and what the tour is for. A clear, no-obligation price, with no travel charges anywhere in mainland UK.
- 2
Plan
We agree the scene list, navigation and hotspot content with you. Our preparation checklist gets each space camera-ready.
- 3
Shoot
A photographer captures each scene on full-frame DSLR kit, five to ten minutes per scene. Drone 360s and still photography can be added on the same visit.
- 4
Build and launch
Every scene is individually edited and built into your branded tour, with the CMS built in. You review a draft, we refine it, then it goes live with editing access for the admissions and marketing team. Allow one to four weeks depending on the size of the campus.
Boarding schools we have photographed
Bespoke 360 tours for boarding and day schools, from the Yorkshire Dales to Kingston upon Thames.
What it costs
Priced on the number of scenes and buildings, from £700. The CMS is included with every tour so your team can keep it current, and there is no platform licence or yearly fee. Aerial 360s, interactive maps and still photography are optional extras.
Not sure this is the right service? Compare all our virtual tour services.
- Professional 360 photography of every scene and building
- Branded interface with campus navigation, maps or an aerial start, built to WCAG 2.2 AA
- Unlimited hotspots for subjects, admissions, video and prospectus PDFs
- The built-in CMS, so admissions keep the tour current before every open day
- No licence and no yearly fee
- No travel charges in mainland UK
Further reading
Boarding School Virtual Tours: What Overseas Families Need to See Before They Choose
Virtual Tours for Estate Agents in the UK: What Works on Rightmove and Zoopla
Virtual Tours for Factories and Manufacturers: Marketing, Recruitment and Safety Without the Site Visit
Frequently asked questions
Can’t find the answer you’re looking for? Just get in touch, or even better, book a video consultation.
Can the tour show the boarding houses without showing pupils?
Yes. Houses are photographed empty, usually in the holidays or at an exeat, with rooms dressed as they are in term, and the school approves every scene. Nothing identifiable is published.
Can families see it in their own language?
Yes. A tour carries audiences, each with its own text, captions and order, so an agent in Hong Kong and a parent in Lagos see the version written for them.
How long does a boarding school tour take?
A day or two on site for a full campus, usually in the holidays, then two to four weeks to build, with a free concept agreed first so the school sees the design before it commits. A single house is a day.
What does it cost?
Bespoke 360 tours start from £700 and are quoted on the number of areas and the design; a full boarding campus with drone views and audiences is quoted on the plan. There is no yearly fee and no travel charge anywhere in mainland UK.
Will it work with our admissions system?
Yes. Enquiries from the tour can go to your inbox, to a form embed or by webhook into iSAMS, Admissions+, OpenApply, HubSpot, Salesforce and most others.
Who you are working with
Page reviewed by the 360 Virtual Tours team, October 2026
- Since 2008
- Virtual tours for Oxford and Cambridge colleges, Airbus, Netflix, the NHS and hundreds of schools, care homes and businesses
- Real photographers
- Full-frame DSLR 360 capture and Pro3 LiDAR Matterport scanners, never one-shot cameras
- CAA-registered drone pilots
- Fully insured, with risk assessments and airspace permissions handled for you
- DBS-checked photographers
- Used to schools, nurseries, hospital wards, laboratories and care homes, working around pupils, residents, patients and timetables
- No travel charges
- Anywhere in mainland UK, from Dundee to Dulverton, with overseas projects quoted individually
- A named project manager
- One contact from first enquiry to launch, and after it goes live
Talk to us about your school
Boarding and day schools, prep to sixth form, across the UK.
Tell us about the school, the houses and when the site is empty, and we will come back with a plan, a timescale and a clear price, with a free tour concept first.