Boarding school for dyslexic rugby playing boy

[Oystercatcher2]

Can anyone recommend a boarding school for a dyslexic boy who is a good rugby player. We are hoping to find somewhere that will give him proper help with his dyslexia but that might also be good for a non dyslexic quite academic brother. A rugby playing school within an hour and a half or two hours drive of Swindon would be the ideal. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Millfield certainly sounds worth investigating, although it is well over 2 hours drive away. I am a little worried about the mention of lots of day pupils. What is it like for a full boarder? Friends’ children at Bradfield found that at the weekend it was only overseas children left at school.

Sherborne was already on my radar but it, too, is a long way at over 2.5 hours.
Bradfield is one we have thought about, but it is a football school, not rugby.

Shrewsbury, Uppingham, Oundle, Oakham, Malvern have also been suggested - mostly because of location. Does anyone know anything about these? It is hard to tell from websites what the learning support provision is like.

I really appreciate all the answers written on here. Thank you.

Surprised no one has said Bryanston. There’s loads of rugby, and good at catering for a range of academic abilities (but I’m not sure about specific dyslexia support). It’s North Dorset, so should be easy for you.

DH is severely dyslexic and he played rugby at Colstons Collegiate under Alan Martinivic.

Millfield is only 90 minutes from Swindon, surely? Sherborne only 10 minutes more. This is exactly the distance specified in the opening post, @Oystercatcher2

Millfield is 75% boarders and so plenty of students around at the weekends. Some go on exeat at random times, but most stay. Lessons Saturday morning and sports training / fixtures in the afternoon mean it’s often not worth going home for the weekend as it only becomes 24hrs really.

Yes, this my fault. We are actually quite well north of Swindon. It seemed easier in my original post to put in a large, well known city, but perhaps this wasn’t very sensible.

The other thing to note about Millfield is its size. It is the biggest independent boarding school in the country, I think by some margin. The school currently reports that it has 1330 pupils including 990 full boarders. Not sure if that is a good or bad thing, or if it matters at all, but it is noteworthy.

Confused about the concern raised with the number of boarders, given these statistics.

Shiplake looks nice but has very few full boarders. I think their website said there were 28 or 30 full boarders last year.

Totally understandable to specify the well known city, but then adjust the distance you are willing to travel accordingly.

I’m lost as to what to suggest as we don’t know where you are or where you would be willing to travel to.

Radley?

Number of boarders at Millfield is clearly not a problem.

It’s a big school. Like you, I don’t know if that is a good thing or not.

It is interesting that several people have sounded a note of caution about Millfield. I wonder why that is. I have known of it for years, but know very little about it.

I think you need to attend some open days and get a feel yourself for different schools. Millfield is huge compared to some schools and that may not suit your son, only by visiting will you get a gut feeling. You haven’t said what year he’d be going into, whether prep or senior etc, all of these things make a difference.

Yes, you’re right about going to open days. Going into Year 9. Currently in Year 6.

Would Cheltenham. Dean Close or Malvern fit the bill? Teddies? Monmouth? I know boys past or present at all of these but not enough about them to gauge whether they would fit the bill in terms of your rugby-dyslexia-academic criteria...

Currently in Y6? Did you take the ISEB in November and are you registered anywhere? You may have missed a few deadlines but don't let that put you off, lots of schools are willing to be flexible.

I don't know anything at all about Millfield but reading between the lines of the "notes of caution" it does sound like a bit of a sports hothouse that maybe might crush a kid's spirit if sports is their "thing" but they are not top flight?

I wouldn't worry too much about size. Eton is 1350 students but they divide them down so much into house and year group that in fact it's much more manageable than the size makes it seem. And for a co-Ed school with 25% day pupils, it won't feel as big.

...and of course Marlborough, which should be within your search area, has pretty strong SEN provision and academics. I guess it's a school where rugby is played rather than a 'rugby school' but it's a terrific all-rounder.

And- I know next to nothing about this- I've seen recommendations for Bromsgrove for keen rugby players, which might be within reach. Can't vouch for it in any other aspect though!

Dean Close Cheltenham.

Just googled Bromsgrove and not sure it would work from a boarding perspective as it has a large day contingent.

My DC is at millfield currently and is one of the few non-sporty kids there!
They absolutely love it and have had a great experience. There's a very high proportion of boarders and it's inherently a competitive environment, but it seems to be competitive in a supportive way. The whole school turns out to support teams at big matches.
Because of the wide range of sports on offer, there isn't the single focus on the rugby team say like there can be at other schools. The facilities are second to none, just absolutely superb. The fees however are pretty high!
It's a much more down to earth environment than you'd expect. Some pupils are from incredibly rich backgrounds but everyone mixes together. It's a bit eye-opening when some items in the fundraising auction cost more than my year's salary though 😆

OTOH a top sports school will usually have high quality coaching across the board, which can be really important to teenage development generally.

An obvious advantage of a big school is more options for friends.

Two options closer to you of Kingswood Bath and Dauntsey's both which have a strong rugby track record as well as being good all rounders that offer weekly or full boarding.

www.schoolsrugby.co.uk/Team.aspx?ID=157&TID=1386726

www.schoolsrugby.co.uk/webapp/fixtures.aspx?id=91&TID=1360776&s=20232024

Hmm several possibly conflicting requirements or at least, competing requirements:

1. a school that has extremely good SEN provision will likely attract lots of children needing this provision ergo it may well not be considered very academic overall.
2. Strong at rugby. Do you mean wins a lot at rugby or has excellent coaching ? Surprisingly the two don’t always appear at the same school. Schools that import rugby talent from academies may win everything on the circuit (look for a jump in performance from u14/15/16 to sixth form which is a tell tale import issue). Then your existing sporty child will be relegated in favour of sixth form academy imports.
3. Full boarding. Broadly speaking if children CAN go home at weekends, most WILL. Or the ones with friends will as they peel off for parties at friends. schools/parwnts will try and spin this quoting high numbers of full boarders , which they may well be on paper but if you want a true full boarding environment , don’t select a school that allows flexi or weekly boarding. The school (save for the overseas kids) will often empty out after matches on Saturday.

to meet ALL your requirements will take a special school. If full boarding is non negotiable, start with a list of true full boarding schools than veto any flexi weekend arrangements. Then filter by SEN provision. Your academic child may well thrive in any school but a child needing SEN and a less cut and thrust academic environment will not do well at an academic school.
then for me the rugby consideration is at the bottom of the list. Rugby playing is all over bar the shouting at upper sixth. 1 in every 50 academy 16 year old boys will make it professionally so I wouldn’t base a school choose based on rugby.

i can’t help much on schools near Swindon as it’s out of my area but regarding Midlands schools suggested, I would discount Oundle as the cut of its gib is academia. Uppingham is less academic but rising … it’s all verrr verrr tweedy/farmery. Might not be the vibe you’re after.
unlike U and O, Oakham allows flexi and weekly boarding but otherwise fits the bill. Bedford can not be described a full boarding school. It’s day and weekly at best!

good luck

Radley? Certainly a rugby playing school, but don't know about learning support there. Certainly all the boys seem to do pretty well there.

All schools will require an up to date Ed Psych assessment for dyslexia - book it now. Ask the Ed Psych about schools, they do assessments at the schools, working with Learning Support. Will have valuable advice.