Wellington, Sevenoaks or Brighton

[magichappenz]

Choosing between Wellington college, Brighton, and Sevenoaks as a full boarder (as we live abroad) for our son, who is sociable, stronger in math than English, and athletic in individual sports but also enjoys team sports.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

None of those are full boarding schools. Check out how many actually stay at weekends and come from overseas. Also consider preference for IB or A level

Thank you for your reply. We understand none of these schools are full boarding hence deciding on this case, which one is the most suitable for our DS, any current parents please shed a light thanks!

As with IB and/or A levels, we are slightly leaning towards Wellington as it offers both, but do know that on weekends not many ppl stay in, so still undecided

Although I can see that leaving future options open has its benefits, that seems a less good reason when your child's already half way through Year 11 and you're going to be making that choice very soon anyway. Personally I'd make the IB/A Level choice now, and then that's one less factor involved when you're deciding between the schools.

Otherwise, as time in the sixth form is so short, I'd think about some specifics. The weekend boarding question is definitely key, as it's likely to make a really tangible difference to your child's happiness, but you also mention sports - are there particular sports your child's really keen on, have you checked whether they're offered, what the facilities and opportunities are like? Are there other things that they'll want to do (drama, music, debating etc etc) and how much of that will they get to do?

Once you've answered the IB/A Level question, try and find out as much as you can about what their actual life will look like every week. Sixth Form goes in a flash, and I'd be wanting to make it the best experience possible for your individual child - and it's them (and you) who'll know which factors are the most important in that. Great results should be possible at all of them, so that's kind of irrelevant.

Thank you super helpful

Sevenoaks is a terrific school from what I've gathered. DC have close friends at university (different age groups) who went to Sevenoaks, one of which joined in sixth form from abroad and had a blast there. It seems to be a wonderful community, however with a bit of an 'international' feel as opposed to traditional English boarding. From what I have been told, there are enough international boarders there so there's no issue regarding the school emptying out on weekends.

How old is your son? In my experience most of the big named boarding schools require you to apply in Year 5 for Year 9 entry (13+) so you'll know by Year 6 where they have a place. Sevenoaks entrance exam are later, so if you're considering several schools, apply to them anyway and register for Sevenoaks at the same time. If he sails through the entry requirement for some of the big schools he stands a chance at Sevenoaks, which is highly competitive and has several excellent feeder schools. I live abroad too, I loved Sevenoaks, very international outlook, impressive facilities, great head, however for planning reasons it doesn't work for us finding out if he has a place so late compared to the other schools.

You can definitely apply for Sevenoaks in Year 5/Year 6, sitting the exam in Year 6, for 13+ entry, like the other 13+ schools. It is called an 'Early Descision' on their website. We have just sat the 11+ and many Year 6 friends applied for 13+ and wrote the same exam on the same day.

Thank you. We have also just sat the 13+ assessment for Sevenoaks on Monday.

Good luck @magichappenz ! It will be great when this is all over and we have (hopefully) have offers to consider. I am hoping it will become clearer as to the best choice once the offers out.

We were very impressed with Sevenoaks on Monday, and is now definitely a favourite. We are only considering it as a day school though, so different things to consider.

Thanks for the correction followfollowthesun, my mistake. I must have visited the school too late for the early entry. Still a lovely school though! Good luck OP

@followfollowthesun @magichappenz how did your children find the exam? Was it in line with the past papers online or easier / harder?

DS didn't say too much about the written assessments as the whole process was 6 hours for boarder candidates and he was exhausted by the time it finished. It's the first one we did so can't compare yet.

I can only pass comment on wellington. Weekend activity provision just improved recently so that would be good. It’s def sporty, but unless you arrive being brilliant at something it’s hard to progress in that sport.
I think Brighton is more academic. Good luck!

I have name changed as this makes me quite identifiable. My DC started as a boarder this year at Sevenoaks and I have to say we have been really impressed. There is so much for them to get involved in and plenty of academic stretch/ pace. A lot of lovely friendships seem to have been made and they are quite a social bunch going out into town on the weekend for lunch/ shopping for a couple of hours. Facilities at the school and the boarding house are impressive.

Early decision for Year 9 is a new option and brings Sevenoaks in line with other independents in terms of timelines.

@RisingStar9 I try not to ask our DC too much about the exams after the event to avoid unnecessary rehashing of potential mistakes and stress, but all in all, he was extremely positive and seemed to enjoy the whole experience. He found the staff very kind and came out smiling, having made some new friends. There was definitely a change in the format of the maths exam from previous years, which we were told via email in advance - the first half was multiple choice and the second half was made up of longer, multi-step questions which were much harder.

@Edgeofforever that's lovely feedback! It does seem like a unique and happy school!

We’ve decided not to proceed with Sevenoaks as the IB curriculum isn’t the best fit for our son. Thankfully, he received offers from both Wellington College and Brighton College! Is anyone else here planning to attend either of these schools for 13+ in 2027? Any thoughts on the schools and/or boarding house recommendations please?

I can’t assist with the boarding houses at either of those schools, but wanted to say well done on getting offers from Brighton and Wellington.

Both are great schools. I think for you, as parents who live overseas, it's important to really understand the dynamics around weekends at each school. Wellington is majority boarding, has Saturday school and match commitments, so although it clears out at weekends somewhat, it's not until Saturday afternoon. Brighton College is minority boarding (and not sure what % full board within that minority), and doesn't have Saturday school, so boarders can go home on Friday afternoon and return Monday if they want unless they have match commitments. I don't know the school so I don't know how many actually stay in at weekends but I would try to find out directly and not be fobbed off with what the school say because they always exaggerate. Sixth form boarding patterns can also be out of sync with rest of the school - some schools have more tend to stay in, others have fewer as mandatory team sports (and so match commitments) stop. Therefore I would enquire specifically about sixth form weekend boarding patterns.

My daughter is a weekly boarder at Brighton and she loves it. But the full boarding provision is probably not nearly as good as Wellington's. Most students are day students (about 60%). Of the boarders, most (2/3?) are weekly so they generally leave Friday afternoon and return Monday morning.

Even with sports commitments my daughter prefers to come home Friday and have me drive her to the fixtures if they are away. The full boarders are almost exclusively HK'ers or mainland Chinese. This does mean English is their common language though! There are 2 girls boarding houses and 3 boys. I think the numbers are so small on the weekends they do a lot of things all together.

Forgot to mention most people I know with boys have sons at School House. Seem like a very friendly bunch.

What is the 'social pressure' like at WC? Hearing some worrying stories, will DD be pariah as no second home and Porsche? Looks like a wonderful school but very worried we wouldn't 'fit in'. Any views very welcome

It’s nothing like that. There is a high % of bursary children and many home county families that work very hard to send their children to Wellington. Yes, obviously wealth is prevalent, but while bullying happens, it’s typically not ( from our experience) wealth or class related.

Thankyou @HappyGardenDays , good to hear.