Girls Boarding School’s Reputations and Recommendations

[Mumthisis]

Hi all,
I’m considering girls full boarding schools for my DD and was wondering what they are like.
Such as,
Downe House,
Wycombe Abbey,
St. Mary’s Ascot,
St. Mary’s Calne,
Tudor Hall,
Benenden,
Sherborne Girls,
Cheltenham Ladies College
Heathfield, and
St. Swithun’s.
Can anyone share:
What the reputations of these schools are?
Such as what are the girls like who go there, are the nice and down to Earth, very rich and out of touch, academically pushy, are the girls more from country preps or London day schools?
Also how full-boarding are girls boarding schools these days? Mostly international girls or instead more traditional local British girls, is there much to do on weekends?
Which of these schools lean towards more traditional versus more modern boarding values?

What about some of the smaller girls boarding schools or ones that don’t have as many girls full boarding? Such as Mayfield, St.George’s Ascot, Malvern St.James, Roedean, and Queen Margaret’s School?

I can only talk about St Mary’s Calne as my daughter went there recently. She really enjoyed it. Are amazing opportunities for art, music, drama, team sport, school trips and horse riding. There is a range of abilities at the school and they mostly do very well certainly if they want to. DD was saying there isn’t really a word for swat there they just all get on with it.

I can’t really say that the girls are down to earth - they are mostly very wealthy but generally nice girls. Some of them are out of touch but of course there’s a mixture. Most of the girls are either from London or reasonably local along with a significant minority of international girls. Most of them are Boarders. They have several free weekends per term when they can go home if they want to as well as the exeat weekends when they have to go home once per half term. My DD stayed in for most of the free weekends because we live quite far away and plenty of other people did too. They put on good activities at the weekend.

If you could explain what you mean by traditional versus modern boarding values, I will try and answer that too.

Basically, we were really pleased with her experience and she made good friends for life. I think school strikes are a good balance between feeling welcoming and homely and being academic with lots of other opportunities but not too big. They don’t have very good connections with a boys school, unfortunately. There were occasional socials but generally it was always with a new group of boys.

The town of Calne is small but pleasant. They can walk in to the shops and Costa, etc. I think the horizontal boarding works really well having had my DS go to a vertical boarding school fir comparison. They stay in the same house for the two years of GCSEs and A-levels with the same house mistress which makes sense. The sixth form houses are amazing with ensuite bathrooms and kitchens. They can use as well as lovely common rooms. The food is pretty good at the school.

One thing I would say is try not to be too far away from the school you chose in the end. I think we went too far (because we loved the school) and it meant we were more detached than we might have been. Of course we did go to see matches and plays and concerts etc but not as much as I wanted to. We had Covid in the middle of it all which didn’t help - they handled that really well by the way - hopefully an irrelevant comment but maybe good to know.

Re St Mary’s Ascot - Lady Louise Windsor went there and she’s not a Catholic

Sherborne Girls is a lovely school. It's properly full boarding as well with loads going on at the weekends. Also they do lots of things with the Boys school down the road.

I think practically all of them are Catholic with very few exceptions ( you’ve named a granddaughter of the late Queen for example!). I know they overwhelmingly favour Roman Catholic applicants, so think you would have to have a cracking entrance assessment to take a place in the face of that. Unless op is Catholic I’m not sure it sounds the right route for a moderate pressure environment.
@VoyagerOfTheTeenYears I assume you had the previous Head. Do you have any feedback on the new Head at SMC? I know it’s early days…My understanding is they are emphasising the academics going forward is that right?

Hi

DD got offered places at St Swithuns, DH and Benenden, despite being further away Benenden ended up being our first choice as more traditional full boarding school, great ethos with a complete education and diverse whilst still being academic but not in a pushy sense. So far been a very positive decision as DD is loving it there and settled in very well. Xx

Our list is Tudor Hall, Sherborne Girls, St Mary’s Calne and then - surprise extra one, Bryanston. I wasn’t expecting to like it but classics teacher housemistress and head of sixth form made me feel it also has to be a contender. Sherborne and Bryanston also most convenient for us.

DH is academic enough for most. Hardly shabby results.

Nobody could accuse Calne of being a pleasant town. It is an absolute dump, as is Wycombe. If you want to be in a pleasant town then CLC and Sherborne are in lovely places. Both are very strong in music too, if that is of interest.
one issue with st Mary’s Calne is that the year group is so tiny (25) there is nowhere to hide if you have a problematic girl or two, and the cohort is really something you can’t know about in advance.

Calne is not an absolute dump but maybe pleasant was going a bit far. We have some happy memories of it though. The year group is only that small in years 7 and 8 and then it is closer to 60 from year 9 upwards.

dd went to visit queen anne's in caversham and was impressed. but i guess the reality is that many of the boarding schools have updated and present themselves well. so far wa, benenden and qa all talk the talk regarding pastoral care. if the aim is a healthy child, with decent grades and a good all around educational experience. what questions help you narrow down the competition and look beyond the surface?

It is very hard to gauge pastoral care. They all say things like 'a home from home' (which of course is nonsense) - but it is very difficult to really get the lowdown.
If I were looking at private schools for a girl, I would definitely want a female head of pastoral, not male. I would want to gauge (from talking with them) if they have a genuinely empathetic manner and make a decision on whether I think this person heading up the pastoral care team is someone I can have confidence in.
I would assess the head carefully. How has school changed under their leadership? Do I like their outlook? Are they approachable but dynamic?
What is staff turnover like (keep an eye on vacancies page)? How long have key staff that matter to you been there (such as subject heads)? Look at any employee reviews (Indeed, Glassdoor etc).

I have a relative who went to Benenden reasonably recently from age 13 and she loved it. I always understood it had a traditional but quite gentle vibe. Always investigate a new head though.

They are very, very different schools!

@Cornygirl i suspect you’re in my neck of the woods. Have you also considered Canford?

we Have friends who sent their girl there for sixth form and raved about it - we should definitely look. We saw Tudor Hall this morning and all adored it. Definitely nicest school we have seen so far, despite rather run down facilities (doesn’t bother us) Just soooo far….

@Mumthisis how are the visits and exams going?

Look at Mayfield. It's a Catholic School and I've heard the new head is brilliant.

St Mary’s Ascot is the best in my informed opinion. Under the radar yet they get a surprising amount to the very top universities including St Andrews where other top players don’t fare so well, surprisingly…

There is a thread "Any experience out there of Mayfield Girls School please?" that has a lot of information about Mayfield in it that you may find useful.

One to consider is Queen Anne's in Caversham. Good facilities, nice atmosphere and turn out some well rounded individuals

Our daughter is currently at Wycombe Abbey.

There is quite a large gap academically between say WA and Downe House. A level results this year at Wycombe were 40%+ A Star, DH was at the 25% mark.

However I really wouldn't be put off by perceptions from people whose kids aren't at Wycombe Abbey that it has a super competitive atmosphere. We were surprised at how wide the academic range was at entry. Wycombe is genuinely much more about potential, their value add in terms of performance improvement is very significant. I'd suggest they recruit at a top 50 league table level and produce top 10 results. This is in contrast to a lot of the London schools which say they are all about potential, but in some cases select the 0.01% of the IQ range, then unsurprisingly produce stellar results.

The other surprising thing about Wycombe is it is very sporty, as well of course being strong at the arts. They love all rounders who may not be straight A students.

Our daughter is bright, but not stellar. She is incredibly happy at the school.

It is well worth a visit to see what you think.

We have one daughter at Sherborne and another starting boarding soon - they won’t overlap so we have been looking at other schools as well as Sherborne. Our favourites are Tudor Hall and Sherborne. Tudor Hall is more like the very traditional girls school I went to, such a beautiful location with gorgeous walks and countryside, gorgeous girls who seemed far more down to earth than certain other schools we saw. A wide range of academic ability but we have friends and family members who have left in the last ten years who have done brilliantly there. Also loved St Mary’s Calne and Heathfield, but we spoke to parents who said they are increasing very Home Counties local and can empty out on Sundays etc. Sherborne has the advantage of the boys school and they can go into town while still being a very traditional country girls school. However in the first couple of years the campus is quite confining during the week which my eldest daughter didn’t love, she would have liked the campus at Tudor more then. But she has some amazing friends from both the girls and the boys school and so I think overall she is glad she went to Sherborne. I am Catholic so we did consider Ascot, very academic and lovely glamorous girls but they do head into London a lot … that is either a plus or a minus depending on your point of view!

Yes it is our wild card!

Exams coming up in the next two weeks for my family. From what I hear all eggs are in Benenden and St S baskets.

Hi,

DD just got offered a place at Beneden for 2025 and we are in the final stage with DH. She had a great assessment day and really enjoyed the school. We are not in the UK so proximity with the school isn't important for us. I saw the latest results and they are great! Even better than DH. Is Beneden becoming more academic lately? I know it used to be in the top 3 20/15 years ago. We never applied to WA as it has the reputation of being very pressured. But DH was always my first option. I really think that DD can do well academically. She did great at UK tests coming from an International school in Europe which very less demanding. Could you please give me more information about Beneden? Also, My main concern is the empty school during weekends. I m really starting to have second thoughts... Thank you