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Original poster

state boarding school

31 replies

greekmumkay · 04/12/2024 09:32

Considering sending our year 9 son to a state boarding school (living abroad currently) - the hot list is (1) Steyning Grammar School, (2) Cranbrook School, (3) royal alexandra & albert school/gatton park and (4) Wymondham College. Each school has pros and cons, so asking if anyone out there has opinions of these schools, especially if they also know about the boarding aspect! My current favourite on academic terms is Wymondham, but it might be a rather big jump socially as our current school is a lot less formal than Wymondham...Steyning seems very friendly, and the other two are somewhere in between the two extremes. Help me please mums!!!!

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seeya24 · 01/06/2026 00:32

Boggyjo · 05/06/2025 08:49

You have overlooked one of the best. The Duke of York;s Royal Military School in Dover. Facilities are incredible as is the pastoral care and excellent teaching. the co-curricular offer is second to none.
DOYRMS

I’d thoroughly review The Duke of York’s Royal Military School before committing. With a fine tooth comb...

XelaM · 11/09/2025 14:21

Going back to the thread - we're considering Royal Alexandra & Albert for 6th form, but now I'm very nervous having read the comments about bullying on this thread. 😕

We are specifically looking at boarding 6th forms with equestrian facilities. Do any other state boarding schools have equestrian facilities? I've seen that The Duke of York Military School has some incredible sports facilities, but sadly no equestrian arenas I believe.

I know Hartpury is an option, but its accommodation is over subscribed from what I was told, so no guarantee we would get a boarding place.

Boggyjo · 05/06/2025 18:23

BreakingBroken · 05/06/2025 15:01

Progress 8 is only useful for struggling and average students, in no way is it helpful for bright students in invested families.

I don’t think you understand P8 if that is what you think.

BreakingBroken · 05/06/2025 15:01

Progress 8 is only useful for struggling and average students, in no way is it helpful for bright students in invested families.

Boggyjo · 05/06/2025 10:47

FalseSpring · 05/06/2025 09:06

Cranbrook was excellent for boarding and academic results, but my experience is a while ago so may not be very helpful now. It was highly competitive and even more so to get a boarding place which was a good indication of its success.

Of course a grammar school will have good academic results. Does not mean that the teaching is good (but it may well be). The best measure of how good a school is academically is the Progress 8 score.

FalseSpring · 05/06/2025 09:06

Cranbrook was excellent for boarding and academic results, but my experience is a while ago so may not be very helpful now. It was highly competitive and even more so to get a boarding place which was a good indication of its success.

Boggyjo · 05/06/2025 08:49

You have overlooked one of the best. The Duke of York;s Royal Military School in Dover. Facilities are incredible as is the pastoral care and excellent teaching. the co-curricular offer is second to none.
DOYRMS

Home - The Duke of York's Royal Military School

https://www.doyrms.com/

Original poster
greekmumkay · 04/06/2025 06:12

Ripon would have been in my original list but I can't remember why I discarded it. Certainly flights would not have worked well for us as i dont think tgere qre routes into bradford from our location. Ultimately we chose cranbrook, where we are very happy so far.

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Toadsrevisited · 03/06/2025 21:48

Have you looked at Ripon Grammar? Much cheaper, academic, not too far to fly from Leeds Bradford?

Original poster
greekmumkay · 30/05/2025 05:37

Thanks for your feedback. I found multiple similar stories about RAAS and we were nit very impressed by the interview organisation either. So there were sufficient alarms that we discarded this school as a serious option without bothering to visit. Hope your children found a better new school.

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Hurd1980 · 29/05/2025 22:28

We have moved our children out of RAAS. Very easy to be taken in my the lovely site and facilities but the teaching standards are poor and there are huge behavioural issues and disruptions in class. Senior leadership is arrogant and does not seem to listen to, or care about parental feedback. It’s a poor state school with lovely grounds and facilities.

Original poster
greekmumkay · 10/03/2025 08:02

None of the schools I looked at were 21k a year - they were all 5-6k a term, three terms a year. There is no 'international fee' as all students must hold UK citizenship (the schools cannot register a child until they have seen a british passport), even if they are resident overseas, so the fee you see on the website is the fee you pay regardless of your country of residency. The thing that you need to check out is the (returnable) deposit you pay on registration - this seemed to vary quite significantly between schools and I dont think the information was necessarily available on the school websites before the formal offer of a place was made. Finally, for the schools that have an entry exam, our child sat the exam remotely at their current school, who agreed to provide an invigilated space for the exam and send the script over to the UK for marking - I doubt you can avoid this exam as a grammar school is required to admit only students who have passed either the 11+ or 13+ exams depending on their age.Note that Steyning is not actually a grammar school - it used to be a grammar school and then kept the name when they changed to a regular secondary school, so our of the four schools I mentioned in my original post, only Cranbrook is a true grammar school (this is where our child is now registered, having passed the 13+ entry test).Good luck!

OP posts:
hummingbirdvn · 10/03/2025 03:35

greekmumkay · 04/12/2024 09:32

Considering sending our year 9 son to a state boarding school (living abroad currently) - the hot list is (1) Steyning Grammar School, (2) Cranbrook School, (3) royal alexandra & albert school/gatton park and (4) Wymondham College. Each school has pros and cons, so asking if anyone out there has opinions of these schools, especially if they also know about the boarding aspect! My current favourite on academic terms is Wymondham, but it might be a rather big jump socially as our current school is a lot less formal than Wymondham...Steyning seems very friendly, and the other two are somewhere in between the two extremes. Help me please mums!!!!

Hi @greekmumkay please may I ask if the international boarding fee is higher than the listed fee on their website? (currently around 21k GBP / year)

Did your child need to sit in an exam as it's a grammar school, or they could be admitted based on their transcript abroad?

Thanks so much as I might be in the same situation in a year or 2.

Zeusrules · 09/03/2025 21:44

@activelydiscussing we didn't have any settling in problems so I can't really comment on that. I think there are a wide range of abilities and as a large school there are many sets for all subjects so should find others at same ability. For travel the school will drop at nearest station and there are others who fly abroad. Yes there are other international students but also many day pupils and local boarders who do go home. Sounds like something to question them quite carefully about.
I wish you luck in making a decision, we found it very stressful.

Neil08 · 09/03/2025 18:20

I would avoid boarding at Wymondham College - I think the day school works fine and generates decent academic results, but honestly the boarding facility is not great, largely because I dont think the teaching staff have the first idea how to run it. Discpline is slack, no attempt is made to manage phone and screen access and all that goes with that, prep seems almost optional and for some reason the 6th form are all sequestered in a separate house, so there is no system of house prefects, perhaps as a result I honestly don't think the boarding staff have the faintest idea of what is going on in the houses. Our experience of a child boarding there has been very poor.

activelydiscussing · 04/03/2025 12:45

Thanks for sharing. Cranbrook has a waiting list in the year group we are looking for and it seems unlikely we will get a boarding place there. Can understand why you picked it though, looks great. Wishing your child a fantastic and successful time there.

Original poster
greekmumkay · 04/03/2025 12:27

In the end we got offers in all schools, visited cranbrook and wymondham and finally accepted at cranbrook. our child is now in his 2nd week at cranbrook and so far so good - it seems to be a great school.

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activelydiscussing · 04/03/2025 12:00

@greekmumkay which school did you go ahead with? We are still very much in the deciding process....

Original poster
greekmumkay · 04/03/2025 07:20

thanks for your feedback - I had similar feedback from many families and we decided after the interview that it was not a good fit for us, so we proceeded to accept at another school.

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Thiswillprobablyfail · 03/03/2025 19:50

RAA I wouldn't recommend. The pastoral care is dreadful and if there are any SEN issues your child will not be supported. I say that as the mum of a flexi boarder in the senior school who is trying to get her child moved. No SEN issues prior to starting school and no issues at primary school. Now EBSA and dreadful anxiety, caused initially by bullying. I would not leave a child to board there.

activelydiscussing · 06/02/2025 18:39

Sorry to revive an old thread, but interested in all the school mentioned. @Zeusrules we are already talking to Wymondham and will probably travel to the UK to have a look (we live abroad). Main questions would be: How do they support kids to settle in/handle problems, how are the academics for a relatively less academic child? How was the travel? Are there lots of international boarders who don't go home at weekends? Would you overall recommend?

Zeusrules · 07/12/2024 17:47

Hi my children went to Wymondham College, is there anything specific you want to know?

XelaM · 07/12/2024 17:11

greekmumkay · 06/12/2024 10:09

thanks. we aren;t terribly interested in ponies, but the piano aspect is attractive, even if its not our main focus. Sounds like you didn't follow-up and send your child(ren) there after the open day - can I ask if there was something that turned you off the school?

Nothing at all - it was geographically far from us as a day school and my daughter didn't want to board. I thought the school was beautiful and would have sent my daughter there if it was closer to home.

DezBoro · 07/12/2024 15:06

We looked at Gordons in Woking for my daughter. But are now moving back to the UK and have settled on local school. Good luck.

RedKiteMaidenhead · 06/12/2024 10:42

Have you looked at / considered RGS High Wycombe? (assuming they have a space)
Super accessible from Heathrow - there is a regular coach service to the Park&Ride in HW. Very friendly school, great staff, excellent music and decent sport.