Advice for boarding school mixed or girls from year 9 or 10

[RosaneRhael]

Hello there! I'm seeking advice on the best boarding schools for girls or mixed students, preferably in the Cambridge or Oxford area, but I'm open to other good options. Are there any scholarships available for drama or choristers? Also, do you know which schools are the best in the 2024 rankings? And finally, do these schools cost around the same? What are the pros and cons? Apologies for so many questions!
Last question: do the kids perform better on GCSEs in day schools or boarding in general?
Any advise will be much apreaciated

You're spoilt for choice frankly as both areas are very well served by boarding schools. Most schools offer music & drama scholarships

Oxford:

Headington School: topflight academically, mixed, excellent reputation & decent boarding

St Edwards (Teddies): traditional mixed boarding; academically improving steadily but not yet first division; impressive head; 75-80pc full boarding/day

Slightly further north of Oxford but worth looking at:

Rugby School: famous mixed full boarding; academically topflight; introduced IB recently; lots of scholarships; 75:25 full boarding /day

Stowe: famous & stunningly beautiful school; mixed boarding school; generally v.good on the arts/sport; academically not topflight but improving

Cambridge

Avoiding tutorial-type colleges and those taking predominantly international students:
St Mary’s (girls)
The Leys (mixed)
King’s Ely (mixed, Ely is about 17 miles from Cambridge, 15 - 20 minutes on the train)

There are several excellent more rural boarding schools within an hour or so of Cambridge. Is that too far away?

One example of independent school rankings. Another example
Sunday Times listing - this includes day schools. The Leys is the only Cambridge boarding school I can see there: The Perse and Stephen Perse are day schools.
(Without a subscription I can’t access other helpful things from Sunday Times)

My DD15 flexi boards at Headington. It has recently merged with Rye where she used to go. Happy to answer any questions.

Winchester College Boarding or City of London Day School? We need to decide and the whole family is at stalemate. Both excellent schools…

The Leys has appointed its first female head (starting in September) so I’d imagine that prospects for girls will get even better.

There’s an interview with the current and next HMs at The Leys here and an article about the incoming one here.

@RosaneRhael , you may have settled on a school by now. What did you decide?