Weekly boarding schools without Sat lessons?

[TurkeySoup]

Hello wise mums --

I'm trying to compile a list of weekly/flexi boarding schools that are within striking distance of London that do NOT have Saturday school lessons. Saturday morning fixtures are fine, just not Saturday lessons.

I'm aware of Brighton College. Are there any others?? There must be!

Thanks in advance!! x

Caterham

There's loads. Ask to move this to the boarding forum.

Sutton Valence School in Kent, are starting this from September 2024.

St John's Leatherhead

Godstowe

Hurst

Steyning Grammar School (State)
Eastbourne College
Bedes
Ardingly College

marking place as this is what DC2 currently wants.

Looks like Ardingly fits the bill, and so does Woldingham (if you have a girl).

Thanks everyone!

@Foxesandsquirrels - How do I ask for it to be moved?

I'd actually leave this one here & post again in the boarding school forum when you want to get feedback on specific schools.

Most of the schools you're looking for will have large day contingents. Non-boarding parents will be able to tell you which ones they know fit these criteria, and for this list-making stage this forum is far more active

Dulwich College
Whitgift

Hi OP,

We've moved this now.

Girls or Boys?

St George’s Ascot or Heathfield (both girls)

City of london freemans (ashtead)

edited due to auto correct

@beckypv - For me, it's boys/coed schools I'm after (though I'm sure the full list is helpful for others generally!).

DS is v sporty and needs regular exercise to get the best out of himself academically so we are looking for school options with great sport provision. As we are in London, this naturally leads you to look at boarding schools but DS will only consider weekly boarding options where he gets to spend some of Saturday (and all of Sunday) at home.

Seems like a lot of the best options are south of the river -- we are NW and struggling to find something that ticks the boxes!

@TurkeySoup , have you shown your ds a boarding school calendar and explained about the short terms and exeat weekends? It's not that many Saturday mornings for lessons over 5 years eps when you take out the summer terms for year 11 and upper 6th as they are for study leave/ exams. I would visit a few boarding schools near you and ask more questions. I have a ds at a London day school (Hampton) we still spend most of Saturday dropping or collecting from sports fixtures, it isn't a "day at home". If your ds committs to a sport like Rowing at a day school then your weekend becomes totally rowing dominated.

Very helpful, @tennissquare. To be honest, I am not even familiar with a boarding school calendar myself! I am not from the UK and my home country has no boarding school culture. We expect (and hope!) that he'll be participating in fixtures on Saturdays. At the moment he does two sports on a Saturday and three on a Sunday so we definitely do a lot of shuttling...🙄
I guess our thinking is, we'd like Saturday to be a sport and family day. DS says he doesn't want to board but he is definitely drawn to the idea of having access to sports (and mates that will play with him) in the evenings M-F. Even though he is reluctant on the boarding concept, I want to sit him for 1-2 boarding schools anyway (in addition to a few local day schools) so that he has options. A couple of families at our school told me that their sons did not want to board when they started the 11/13+ process at age 9 but by the time they were old enough to actually take up their places at 13, they were keen.

@TurkeySoup , you need to visit lots of schools and ask lots of questions. Exeat weekends are when dc go home for the weekend. Boarding school terms tend to be around 30 weeks in total per year.

We are in a similar position Turkey but with a girl (very sociable and sporty).
Like you I expect we will try for a mix of day 11+ and boarding 13+ places in Y6, and will consider accepting one of each to give her the option when she is 13. I wouldn’t want her boarding before 13 anyway … and I secretly hope she’d have a great time at the day school and choose to stay there and not board.

There definitely are plenty of boarding schools W/NW of London. I think they have not tried to tap into the London market quite as much as the ones S/SW of London, so they may not offer quite so much in the way of weekly or flexi boarding or easy transport on a Sun/Mon/Fri. But they exist. Teddies Oxford would be an example. You could have a look at the Good Schools Guide for a starter.

This may be obvious but one thing I would watch out for is how many pupils are day/weekly boarding/full boarding at each school. In a school which is majority day, boarding may seem less fun and more like being stuck at school, especially if your child makes friends with day kids. Conversely in a school which has lots of full time boarders, a weekly boarder may end up wanting to stay for weekends as they feel left out of the fun weekend activities.

Great advice @minipie, thank you. You've hit the nail on the head-- it seems harder to find the same type of commute/weekend-friendly option N/W/NW of London. I've spent hours upon hours looking at schools (using the Times, the info our prep school gave us, GSG, etc) and feel none the wiser. I thought there must be some schools I'm just fully overlooking (and that quest brought me here)...

I'm the wrong side of the country to you both, but most 13+ "boarding" schools round here want the kids in on Saturday mornings, then fixtures lunchtime onwards. Even at DD's day school the sports teams tend to be playing 70% of weekends (and drama and music pupils have a fair few Sundays).

A lot also offer day pupils 10-15 days of boarding (not sure how much notice you have to give re dates).

Aldenham? That would be close and they offer flexi boarding

Haileybury - boarders can go home after sport on Saturday

Shiplake offers flexi boarding

I actually think the Saturday thing wouldn't be so bad for your son tbh as it means they usually have a nearly full day if sport on a Wed, fixtures in Saturday after school and go home on Sun. That's how it is at Haileybury.

I wouldn't recommend aldenham if your child is a high attainer. They're quite good for low attainers though.

@HlnHny Thanks, Aldenham might be worth a visit. I think I had discounted it when I had initially come across it as it had no ranking in The Times' league tables and I couldn't get a sense for the academic level of the place. Do you know what the academic level is like broadly? We are looking for something that's quite academic but not a full blown hothouse (ie something within the top 150, give or take). (Why do some schools have no rankings/data? Are the schools just being cagey with their results?)