residential school

American  

[rez-i-den-shuhl skool, rez-i-den-shuhl skool] / ˌrɛz ɪˈdɛn ʃəl ˌskul, ˈrɛz ɪˌdɛn ʃəl ˈskul /

noun

1. a boarding school, especially one for delinquent or disabled children or youth.

   They recommended placing our daughter in a residential school for troubled teens.

2. (formerly) one of a network of boarding schools in Canada for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis students, typically founded and operated by a church or religious order and eventually receiving partial or full funding by the federal government.

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residential school British  

noun

1. (in Canada) a boarding school maintained by the Canadian government for Indian and Inuit children from sparsely populated settlements

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Etymology

Origin of residential school

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

In Canada, we call it the residential school system.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 30, 2023

When Simon Lawrence was eight he was sent to a residential school miles away from home.

From BBC • Aug. 13, 2023

"In the indigenous community, we're very familiar with residential school history. It isn't news to us," Goulet, the Cree-Métis filmmaker, told Salon in a recent phone interview.

From Salon • Aug. 9, 2023

July 26, 2022: On the grounds of a former residential school in Canada, Francis apologizes to Indigenous peoples for the “catastrophic” and “evil” policy of forcibly assimilating Native peoples into Christian society.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 13, 2023

The child in a residential school knows very little of life outside the buildings, knows little of the trials and struggles going on in its own home, perhaps.

From Five Lectures on Blindness by Foley, Kate M.