Looking for full boarding girls schools

Yes, you're right about Woldingham and the full boarding.
I also can't spell Sherborne. There is a train station in Sherborne- Waterloo in about 2.5 hours.

OP wants a school that does not empty out at weekends.

Woldingham is lovely, but is definitely not that.

WA is still very academic. Heathfield is most definitely not full boarding. Whilst Sherborne girls and St Mary’s Calne have many full boarders, St Mary’s Calne has more full boarders than Sherborne. Definitely add St May’s Calne to your list for a great allrounder school.

Out of all the schools listed I would discount WA and Downe House, too near London with a lot departing at weekends. WA and CLC both slight hot houses.

Benenden a little bit of a bitchy school, with a few very wealthy over indulged girls. So I've been told!

Mayfield is very good, quite a gentle school but academic and good for art, drama, sport, equestrian too.

Sherbourne girls very good, but a little far out.

What about Woldingham?

Both Mayfield and Woldingham are both Catholic. My choice would be between those two.

Sherborne girls - my daughter went there and loved it.

My DD is at Roedean. There’s a mix of full, weekly and flexi boarders plus day girls. Lots of girls join in year 9 as boarders, there was a lot of local girls as day girls in year 7. There’s a full weekend programme for the full boarders but they can do as much or as little as they want. Younger girls have more supervision and encouragement to take part! There’s some sports fixtures on a Saturday but no Saturday school. Weekly boarders go home Friday night and return Sunday night. The girls are a mix of UK and international girls, DD has friends from around the world and loves the perspectives this brings. It’s definitely not 70% full boarding across the school but within the houses there are more full boarders than weekly or flexi from what I can make out. There is an exeat weekend each half term but a lot of full boarders remain at the school anyway, it’s not mandatory.

Boarding staff are fabulous, caring and dedicated and the headmaster promotes the girls happiness, ‘happy girls want to learn, we don’t need to push them’ is his mantra and this certainly is our experience. Teachers are super and the pastoral care set up is really well thought through and visible. Throughout lockdown they provided a personal tutor system where the girls wellbeing was checked on by the tutor every week for a chat and were also contactable whenever needed on MS Teams.

Lots of extra curricular activities for sport, music, drama, dance plus lots ofother things they can do and the younger years do a HHH lesson - head, heart and hands to develop other skills.

My DD is really happy there and has been since day 1. Really recommend a tour when you are allowed as you get toured by the girls and not the staff so you can really get a sense of the school.

Please ask if you have any other Qs.

St Mary's Ascot doesn't have Saturday school but is hugely boarding-centric. The Saturday school rule is not entirely accurate.

@PresentingPercy Things have changed a lot at Heathfield, even more so under the new head.

They have daily transportation services for the local area and weekly transportation to and from London (home Friday night, back Sunday evening). They still have full boarders but given there’s only 30-40 girls in each year the numbers are dwindling.

This information is from their last virtual open morning so bang up to date.

I’ve attached the info from Heathfield which is as my DD found it in the 6th form. Weekly boarding isn’t what it says.

I honestly think if DD need to catch up at WA, they won’t get a place at all. Downe House also look at all round suitability.

DD left Heathfield a few years ago and no Saturday school then. Girls schools have dropped it mostly I think. I’m surprised so many go home now. I think Friday nights in was always special after the busy week. When DD was at Heathfield, the parents lived far and wide and were not wanting to collect every weekend. International girls certainly full boarded.

Roedean's boarding ratio is only 50%. Another good option is St Mary's Calne with 80% boarding ratio. In terms of boarding ratio, Benenden should be the highest, followed by Downe House. Both are 95%+.

Don’t rule out Wycombe Abbey too quickly. It is academic but also helping girls to improve academically.

In terms of the fit process I completely agree and it is good. The last thing you want is unhappy girls. I think (but may be corrected) that the typical WA girl is mature, fairly competitive and happy in herself.

It is not a place for easily intimidated girls. The level of sports, music and academics is extremely high for some girls (think grade 8 instrument in year 7 and competing nationally or county in sports) but there are many girls who aren’t like that at all. Most girls seem to have “a thing” they are reasonably good at though, and don’t worry about not others being better - unless it is “healthy competition”.

Hi there - Have you found talk education talkeducation.com ? You say "This kind of information just can't be found simply from the ranking table or from the school websites" but I think they do - they have just done a boarding focus and do have this data as well as parent reviews etc. I found them useful in my school search (though this was not for girls full boarding).

WA only accepts girls that “fit” though. Their selection process includes not only academic testing but group exercises, observed lessons and suitability for boarding. They know which sort of girls are going to fly there and select accordingly.

Of course it is full of extremely bright, motivated and very talented girls but they do seem very happy - that environment suits them but it definitely wouldn’t work for all. Their admissions department is extremely helpful and will help you work out if it’s right fit.

I know Roedean also doesn’t have Saturday morning school. In response to being dominated by international students not so long ago, the number of local day girls increased significantly and they offer proper weekly boarding with a chaperoned train service to London on a Friday evening / Sunday night.

I think more and more school are adding flexibility to their boarding offering as it really works for busy parents. My daughter boards four nights a week Monday to Thursday for example. The schools I listed above are ones we had discounted as they were too “full on” for us with boarding commitments.

Have you considered Tudor Hall? Sounds like a good fit.

I think WA is very academic so maybe strike that one from your list. There may be others that are very academic too. Also strike any without Saturday school and any with weekly boarding options. As a parent of children who have done both weekly and boarding (at different schools) I cannot stress enough how important it is for full boarders to be in a proper full boarding school where others are not free to go off at the weekends.
Some great girls schools on the list above.

ugh need edit button-

should say "might be much too pressurised" no need for extra "too"

Wycombe Abbey very academically selective so based on your update I sense it might be too much too pressurised a school for your DDs.

I have a lot of friends whose DD's have gone there and it is a very competitive (not necessarily a bad thing but may be a bad fit for you)

I would take Heathfield off your list. They have increasing numbers of day girls and a lot of boarders are now going home at weekends. A key indicator a school is full boarding is whether or not they have Saturday morning school. Heathfield does not. It did always used to be full boarding though which is why previous posters will have listed it.

Benenden, St Mary’s, Downe House and Wycombe Abbey are probably the most full boarding.