Radley or Sherborne?

[LadyLovealotte]

DS has got a place at both- we love both and struggle to decide! Would love some feedback from current parents if possible.

Radley. Higher entry standard just for starters. No idea why you are struggling with this decision. Actually, you may be more comfortable at Sherborne. Yeah, Sherborne is fantastic, go there Lady.

Are you drunk?

🤭

@theduchessofspork little bit, good call, standing by my comment though.

@Greybath 👋🏻

Seriously I do know both these schools really well and just thought for once I would just cut through the crap (having name changed) and say what I thought without all the self editing.

Tbf you've answered the question perfectly and the thread is now redundant 🤣

@Greybath you are my new pal. Nighty night fellow traveller. ❤️

Nite nite! 😴💕 Oh if only all the problems of the world were this easy to solve 🙏☺️

Well decisions are easy if you check the facts and don't dither around

Oh well, forget I asked. If it’s harder to get in it must be better. 🙄

Tbf OP you might get more info if you share a bit more about your DS, what you like about both schools and any specific things you want to know.

I don’t know either in any detail but know that they’re quite different!

Your DS might be the one best placed to decide, ask him where he think he’d be happier.

I won't aspire to equal the supportive and helpful replies the OP has generally had so far, but, going back to the original request for feedback from current parents, please PM me if you like since DS is at Sherborne and happy to discuss what he is like, how we have found the school etc.

Both very good schools, @LadyLovealotte . Choices might come down to whether your DS would prefer a rural campus or town setting, links to girls schools, potential for independent travel and access to friends in holidays. I have the impression Sherborne has been upping its standards academically in recent years and Radley has been trying to reduce the proportion of boys entering by right of registration. But unless things have changed radically since my DS' cohort moved up, there is still a difference whether your DS was on the Register or a Warden's List candidate, which determines who gets first choice of Socials etc.

Hi @LadyLovealotte I have two sons who are academic scholars at Sherborne- happy for you to PM me too if helpful.

Is that you, Flora?

Sherborne have just changed the curriculum, and it is significantly less academic: less science, no English Literature requirement, and BTECs. Bright boys are starting to leave, especially after year 11 (I have a close friend who pulled her youngest DS out because his older brother’s A level English Literature teacher was so bad that they had to take the whole set off him — and he is Head of Sixth Form (!!)).

Sherborne has a very broad entry, it is the right thing to do to have curriculum options for everyone. The most academic boys are doing 'accelerated' lang and lit in fewer curriculum hours, everyone else has the option to choose lit- and have more curriculum hours for it. Those that don't have an interest in lit can drop it. Something for everyone.

There is no change to the science, so I'm not sure where that has come from. The most academic do triple, the rest do dual, some do foundation. This has been the case for at least 10 years.

There is no point or benefit in forcing every boy to do English lit and triple science- it just leads to miserable boys, which is not the school's intention.

If you want to protect your son from being contaminated by less academic children, obviously more selective schools are available.

Bump. I'm interested in this thread too. My son is on the waiting list for Radley and has an offer from Sherborne. Radley is recognised as the better school but my son preferred the feel of Sherborne when we visited and now I wouldn't know what to do if Radley showed up with an offer. (DS liked Radley too but felt more welcome at Sherborne). Comments here might help. Thanks!

@Puttinontheritz Who recognises Radley as the better school? What does “better” mean anyway? They have a lot in common - similar types of parents and boys, not as flash or international as some schools, but turn out generally nice chaps. Radley has rowing, which Sherborne doesn’t. Sherborne has much closer links to Sherborne Girls than Radley does to any girls’ school. But I don’t think the differences are so vast as to matter.

The element I underestimated when choosing a senior school was the setting. My DS are very rural, outdoorsy boys and were at a very open air, all-boys, country prep. In Y6 or Y7 they weren't interested in an external social life or access to a town. They are Y11 now, and do value the chance to meet friends from Sherborne Girls for a coffee, order a Dominos on Sunday night, wander over to Waitrose (great snacks) and get a direct train home. Sherborne as a town is pretty staid- hardly the fleshpots! But I think it is quite a good socialisation opportunity and pressure valve for teenage boys. I think it's perhaps more normalising than a campus environment.
As@WASZPy put it very well, a genuinely broad entry school needs to have a broad offer, and that includes stretching the more academic while providing interesting, more practical options for those whose strengths lie elsewhere. My experience, with two highly academic DS, is that Sherborne maintains that balance very well but it's not going to show at the top of exam league tables because it doesn't select purely on academic potential.

Thanks @Blastosis1 and @WASZPy. Can anyone comment on the pastoral care at one school and the other and how equal the experience across houses might be? (My feeling is most pupils are happy at their houses at Radley but it's more uneven at Sherborne. Please correct me if I'm wrong).

I meant to thank @stickystick too. It's very helpful to read individual people's comments. I've been forming an opinion from the Good Schools Guide and my son's Headmaster's comments.

I've been really happy with pastoral care at Sherborne for DS15. The school allocates boys to Houses, with parents shortlisting their preferences. They seem to distribute boys evenly across the Houses as each take a roughly equal share of academic scholars, sportsmen, musicians, space out boys from each prep etc. So there's not really a hierarchy amongst Houses, and boys quickly make friends across in other Houses where there are boys who share their interests- it seems to turbocharge their integration. When DS was in his first couple of terms it felt like all his buddies were in other Houses, but during the first summer everything fell into place in House and he has friends who have v different strengths, backgrounds etc than if they had self-selected their housemates etc.
Our HM is a former Royal Marines officer and brilliant at understanding how young men tick and how to challenge, support and get the best from them. We had a worry last year that DS was taking on too many things and couldn't sustain the pace- HM and resident Tutor were all over it, checking on his wellbeing, helping him manage his time, advocating for him with teaching staff where he needed forbearance on assignments, and keeping us as parents in the loop throughout. DS wasn't molly-coddled, but was supported and assisted to navigate through a tricky period and out the other side with lessons learned but no damage done.

Gosh your HM sounds wonderful @Chilbolton , we are considering Sherborne for DS2 after a dreadful experience at another boys boarding school for DS1. He has a place at DS1's school but we won't be taking it up. DS1 will move after GCSE'S next year, your post made me quite emotional. The lack of care at DS1 school is unbelievable tbh.

Happy for you to PM if you want to know any specifics, @Teddysbear . I'm sorry your DS1 had a miserable time at his school- hope he can settle happily elsewhere for 6th form