Canford or Sherborne

[tachetastic]

We are looking at boarding schools in Somerset/Dorset for our DS who is super-sporty but is not very academic, and so I would prefer a school that does not rely on common entrance for admissions. I know they all use it for setting.

I think we're a bit too traditional for Bryanston and I was all set for Sherborne. However, our current headmaster said we should also look at Canford and was surprised that I considered it harder to get into academically than Sherborne.

Does anyone have experience of admissions at Sherborne and Canford, how easy it would be for a non-academic but very sporty boy to get in, and how life compares for full-boarders? We will visit the school in the autumn but would be grateful for any views.

Re other schools, we are also looking at Millfield but I find the size of that school and the sheer level of sportiness a bit daunting; King's Bruton is a bit small for our taste; and I thought all the Taunton schools a bit unexceptional (no offence).

Quite a lot of my ds's friends went to Sherborne even those less academic and a couple I know are at Canford but were the high achievers. I didn't like the single sex aspect and had heard of bullying at Sherborne at that time though I have spoken to a couple of parents and have been very happy with it.
Ds went to Kings Bruton and is a full boarder and we have been very happy with it. Yes it's small but just a great feel about the place. It's worth a look and Bruton is a cool place to hang out. :-)

I have two DS at Sherborne. From your description I think it would work very well for your son. Academics are becoming more important but it still has a genuinely broad entry, so some highly academic boys but certainly plenty of others whose talents lie elsewhere, and I'd say sporting prowess is very much valued as an alternative, as is music. In my view, boys in an all-boy boarding environment need something that gives them status, whether that's academic, sport, drama, humour, sailing, being brilliant at CCF etc. They find their areas of expertise and their tribe as they grow into the school. But being a strong sportsman is probably the most direct route to standing with that peer group. I say this as mother of two academic but not hugely sporty boys. If your DS is at Hazelgrove Sherborne would be a fairly natural progression. I hope you enjoy your visit- perhaps my DS will tour you!

“In my view, boys in an all-boy boarding environment need something that gives them status”

Curious as to why this is?

Have you considered Oakham School? Brilliant for rugby (they've just won the schools cup), good academic school but not super selective and a general good all rounder.

If his strength is hockey how about Repton?

The only person I know who went to King's Taunton absolutely hated it from beginning to the bitter end. Although you say your ds is not very academic, I also was given the feeling their facilities especially the learning ones e.g some labs weren't top-notch.

Because it helps if your peer group respect you and there's a sense that you can hold your own. It doesn't have to be the obvious things like being a top athlete- one boy I know is highly regarded as the unofficial year group mediator because he's sensible, trustworthy and happy to stick up for the underdog. A good school creates opportunities and helps pupils discover what they enjoy and are good at, and this lends self esteem and status within peer groups that isn't based on money, physique or experience with the opposite sex.

@comingorgoing the op is looking for Somerset or Dorset

I think they are both great schools. DS starts at Sherborne on Sunday but Canford was definitely one we looked into. He was invited back for the assessment day at Canford following the pre-tests but we withdrew once he got his Sherborne place. In all honesty, I am not at all sure where DS will end up academically. He was never among the top ones at prep so we worried that Canford might be too academic for him (hence the withdrawal from the process). However, he did much better in Common Entrance than anyone expected. I think Sherborne is more of a "broad church" so I feel happy he will be stretched if he continues to do well academically and supported if not. I do think of Canford as being quite "up there" academically and placing a fair bit of emphasis on that. Hence my take would be to bear that in mind with Canford. It certainly aims to be the more academic!

Recent first hand experience of both. Happy to answer/lesson worries or questions. Good schools, different cultures.

@darkmayhemdad what do you think the culture of Canford is if you don’t mind me asking?

Our experience has been positive. Have sent a pm.

Given your criteria, I would say that Sherborne would suit over Canford. It's definitely sporty and with a wide variety and lots at top level and very good academically also - caters to a wider intake I think, without reducing the very top. Definitely full boarding also, so he'll be looked after 7 days a week, with his friends still around.

If your aspirations for your child include University … choose the school that will get them there. The bar is high for admissions these days. Just google a Uni, and a course and look at the Typical Offer. Waiting til Upper 6th is too late to see what’s required.

Both Cranford and Sherbourne are fine for going to university! In fact pretty much every school in the UK is. This is a ridiculous comment.

This comment was in response to a particular school being “too academic” … if you aspire to academic Uni, It’s a good idea to choose an academic school. Very revealing that you think that is ridiculous comment and that any school can get your child into a top Uni. Quite quite ignorant.

It's interesting that your mindset assumes that the school will "get your child into" your preferred university. It doesn't work that way, and nor should it. I have one at Oxford and one doing an apprenticeship; different kids with different abilities and inclinations. Both went to our local comprehensive school. It's sad that parents still believe they can buy their way into academic excellence; they can't.

Interested in your comments on King’s Hall. We’ll be looking at prep in a couple if years so can I ask why you felt this? Thanks

Kings Hall has been rebranded as Kings College Prep. The Jr school has reputation as the “posh” school in town, it’s very traditional in terms of culture and behavior … boys will be boys and banter makes a man. Parents say Sporty kids and land owners are top dogs at this school. No longer doing common entrance exam at the Prep School and actively discourage children changing schools at year 9 by handcuffing families with scholarships that must be paid back if change schools at yr 9. Read the fine print.
Kings College Taunton upper schools & 6th form have been in decline. Sporty reputation, cricketers have done well on County teams. Richard Huish across the street from Kings gets most Kings College local students (non athletes anyway) at 6th form as they have had more students heading to top universities than Kings without the fees. And wider course choices. Apologies this is for those who have academic children and seek a school that successfully supports academics which in turn supports them in achieving their Uni & career choices.
Kings is excellent for sporty boys, & offers many sports & other scholarships. Girls complain that they don’t get the resources compared with the boys.

There’s been a shift towards Taunton School which appears to have better facilities, more staff and also Wellington, better pastoral, and oddly lower fees.
Huish is everyone’s choice for 6th form.

Definitely a school which favours the boys, especially sporty ones.

I would agree with other comments on King's Hall/King's College, and I find the scholarships policy disgraceful. KH is not the only prep in the region which has stopped preparing pupils for common entrance/ISEB pre-tests, which I think is dreadful as it actively disadvantages their pupils when applying to other senior schools in order to ensure they remain with their linked senior school. As I say, KH is not alone in this, so do check whichever prep you choose, unless you are 100% happy to commit to the senior school the prep feeds into.

In rugby this year King's Hall was definitely the school to beat in the region, at least for my DS's school year (in the last match of the season we celebrated the fact that we lost to KH by only one try!). That said, last year the same year group was much weaker in hockey and athletics, so I guess it does vary from sport to sport. I don't remember their performance in cricket, though I know this is a major sport for King's College itself.

When we were looking at preps it was difficult to distinguish between the academic provision of various schools, so my earlier comments were based on other aspects of our visit, which may matter less to you.

We were in particular looking for a boarding prep, and we found the boarding provision quite weak. The boarding house was tatty with peeling lino flooring and a generally down at heel feeling (in our view) and arrangements for the boys seemed quite chaotic compared with other schools we looked at.

While the grounds themselves were impressive, the walk from the school to the sports pitches involved walking past a whole load of broken down, rusty gardening/grounds keeping equipment that was clearly no longer functional and in my own opinion would be frankly dangerous if (god forbid) a 10 year old boy decided to go exploring. Not a massive issue I admit, but not a good look for a 25k+ a year boarding prep. I have attended numerous sports fixtures at KH since then and the pile of decaying machinery seems to be growing rather than shrinking, so it is not a case that we visited on a bad day.

The lessons we visited did not seem to be well controlled, and there was a general feeling of chaos.

However, probably the biggest issue was that we found the head entirely uninspiring, and if you view the head as setting the standard for the school then that probably explained everything else we saw. Compared with the other preps we visited he was the least interested and the least accessible. When we did see him he seemed more concerned with talking himself up than hearing about our plans. Once he heard the prep school we were moving from (which has a very impressive head) he was very keen to emphasise that he and the head of that prep were good friends and (to use his own words) were "cut from the same cloth", but when we discussed options with the head of the school we were leaving we did not get the impression that he either shared or appreciated that comparison.

So nothing catastrophic, but lots of little things that added up, especially when we were comparing KH with schools that didn't have any of these downsides. A private education is not cheap. You have the right to be choosy.

@RazzlePuff "There’s been a shift towards Taunton School which appears to have better facilities, more staff and also Wellington, better pastoral, and oddly lower fees."

Wellington School? Really? With Blundell's and the three Taunton schools practically on the doorstep, and Millfield/Bruton/Sherborne within 45 minutes, I struggle to see why anybody chooses Wellington no matter how low the fees, unless they can literally walk from home.

For anyone outside the Somerset/Devon borders, this is Wellington School, not Wellington College which is clearly a different kettle of fish.

Wellington is more than capable of holding its own against the competitors.

Fair enough. We've obviously seen different sides to the school, and I know parents with kids there but I have never been able to get an answer as to why.

It has over 900 pupils so it must be doing lots of things right. I will try and see those next time I visit.

It's going back a bit now, but it's always been my perception that Canford was much more academic.

Sherborne is a lovely school, and I would have thought would suit your DS perfectly. I know at least two boys who really struggled academically - to the point where their parents weren't even sure they would do well enough in CE to secure a place - but who both thrived at Sherborne. One was very sporty, the other very musical.

Thank you. Your and other comments confirm my own thoughts that the two schools are not direct competitors. I agree that Sherborne is certainly a more suitable school for my own DS, with Canford an amazing school for other children.

Out of interest, does anybody know examples of boys that didn't get into Sherborne? I know schools like King's Bruton are specifically non-selective. Sherborne claims to be moderately selective, but what does that mean in practice? My son's DH said that he could have a "good stab" at Sherborne (and Canford) but it wasn't a slam dunk, as he suggested it would be at others such as Bruton and King's Taunton.