Full boarding schools

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Dear all, we are looking for a full boarding school for my son for Year 9 in 2025. We have visited some schools and shortlisted the following 3 schools:

• The Ley School
• Cheltenham College
• Cranleigh School

Would like to seek your comments about these 3 schools in term of boarding experience, academic support and pastoral care.

Thank you for your valuable comments in advance.

Christs Hospital near Horsham in Sussex is very much full boarding with 3 weekly exeats. Might be worth a look if he can stomach the uniform.....

Full boarding - I can recommend Kings Canterbury and Rugby. Both full boarding and both do a fantastic job. Had elder one at Kings and had a fantastic time. Younger one currently at Rugby & happy as can be. Both schools worth a long look!

Canford is full boarding. An exeat every 3 weeks or so.

I visited the Leys it looks good. None of these 3 are wildly academic as far as I know but should be relatively classic boarding provision

Millfield in Somerset isn't full boarding (80/20ish) but the houses are split into boarder and day houses so the boarding houses don't empty out. They also don't have fixed exeats, they are flexible.

I’d look at Ampleforth College too. It’s a great boarding experience and there is loads going on at weekends. Excellent pastoral
support these days. I don’t think it’s as selective as some but they concentrate on each individual achieving their best.

Leys is day/flexi/weekly at best. Not someone I’d choose for a full boarding experience. Also suffers with sixth from transfers to the state school Hills Road (as many Cambridge private schools also do to try and improve Oxbridge success from a state school).

Ampleforth gives many parents the shivers. It was banned from taking new pupils on until very recently as it was steadfastly refusing to update his safeguarding procedures. It’s all deeply baked in his Catholicism which runs through many a family’s blood when selecting Ampleforth.
I do hear that it is a very happy place for the pupils there however regardless of what some faceless inspection organisation may have decreed over the years. Academic bar is set low though. It’s a great option for pupils who wouldn’t get in (or thrive) at the more academically select full boarding schools. Choice is a good thing at the end of the day and Ampleforth certainly fills a niche requirement!

All I can say is we pulled our (high-achieving) children out of another school I won’t name and could not be happier with Ampleforth College. They aren’t as academically selective but there is a full range of academic abilities from those going to Oxbridge through to those with SEN and there is outstanding music and excellent sport. They bring out the best in everyone. The only downside is that Yorkshire is a long way away. I certainly wouldn’t be put off by previous problems. If anything it’s improved the standards more than other places!

If you want full boarding you are better off looking at an International school. they tend to be full at weekends. Are you aboard?

They have ACS Cobham and TASIS in Surrey??

But not too flexible. Milfield has a strict limit on the number of weekends boarders can go home, so while families can choose which weekends they come home, most weekends they have to be in.

Harrow is borderline weekly boarding as it’s so close to London. A lot of boys disappear from Eton too.

The properly full boarding schools are those which are in the middle of the countryside and/or a long way from London eg Sherborne, Oundle, Radley. Also perhaps Winchester too as they set prep for Saturday evenings.

There are relatively true full boarding schools left i.e.where students typically stay at school over the weekend. SO these are not flexi boarding, nor home for weekend after games. These schools typically operate on 2 fixed exeats a term, but otherwise you're expected to be school incl over weekend (but yes your folks can visit).

There are some top-flight co-ed options In this camp such as:
King's Canterbury
Rugby
Oundle
Uppingham
Malvern
Canford
Dauntseys
Sedbergh
Ampleforth
Stonyhurst
Cranleigh
possibly Greshams Holt

Something there for every one

Gresham’s in Norfolk is majority day with some flexi and almost none (except a handful of overseas) staying in every single weekend. Most of its pupils live within 40 miles of the school.

Shrewsbury is full boarding co-ed original old style with no leavers at weekends and is superb.

Canford is full boarding as in there is no flexi boarding option ( it is 35% day though). However, it’s not the case that no one goes home at non-exeat weekends, especially in Years 9/10. The general practice seems to be stay in first weekend after a holiday/ exeat and go home the next weekend, and then it’s exeat/ holiday. That said there are always some people who stay in and the boarding houses are all next to each other so you wouldn’t be lonely providing you’re fairly sociable and know/ get on with a broad cross section of your year. People also start coming back from lunchtime on Sunday for sports training etc. Boarders do need to be back Sunday ( can’t come back Monday am). The rule is boarders need to be in 50% of Saturdays.

So it doesn’t empty out every weekend but it’s less strict than somewhere like Marlborough or Oundle.

At Millfield, there is only one fixed exeat in the Autumn term, and pupils are allowed to return home a maximum of three other weekends per term, so that is a maximum of 10 weekends at home per year. I reckon that is likely to be a lot stricter than most on your list, even if there is more flexibility when they are taken.

Also Christ's Hospital which is pretty strict about being out on non exeat weekends

Kings Canterbury is not full boarding. You have missed off Marlborough College which most certainly is.

Stowe is another one with a decent number in at weekends, I think. There's a lot of day pupils now (very recent development) but they are in separate day houses. And you can be a weekly boarder but I'm not sure what percentage of the boarders are. I don't think you can be a flexi boarder.

You could save an absolute fortune by considering The Duke of York's Royal Military School. Unlike other state boarding schools, it is exactly like an independent school. The rugby set up is great too. Fees are about 35-40% of most of the other schools mentioned on this thread.