State boarding schools

[moretothepoint]

hi all,
looking for people’s opinion on state boarding schools.
Especially the pastoral side of things, also the a level options/ possibility of achieving good grades in hope of a good uni.
I know it varies, and I understand that opinions and experiences can be very different, but we are int he planning stage, currently with child in yr10.

many thanks

Our DC is at state boarding grammar. The education is excellent but the after school activities are not as busy as we would like and they are on their phones too much. The education is fab and they do supervised prep every evening. We live rurally so it enables them to access a better level of education than our local comp which is pretty poor.

Just to add to this my DD is a day pupil at a state boarding school. I get the impression they have low uptake because they are pushing the boarding aspect. She's in Y7 and we might think of it for 6th form for her but not now! However there are at least 4 Y7 in boarding - she isn't sure if they are military families though.

The school is rural and she gets a bus which takes 45 mins but they have recently started a late bus home 3 days a week which will also help with the sports club attendance.

Peter Symonds in Winchester is a massive, highly performing state sixth form college with two boarding houses. Some students come from the Falkland Islands at complete their studies as there isn’t a sixth form there. In Hampshire, state schools end at GCSEs and students go on to college to do A levels. Because of its size PS offers a very wide range of subjects and is pretty flexible with subject combinations too. Lots of music and sporting activities too. It is not cheap though even though you only pay for the boarding and not the education.

Peter Symonds is pretty competitive to get into. Though I don't know about boarding there.

This might be a helpful resource… https://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/uk-schools/advice/state-boarding-schools

Peter Symonds is the sixth form for the Falklands (which only has an 11-16 secondary) so they get priority for boarding although they do take UK-based students too.

Feel free to DM me. I know a lot about state boarding schools. Mostly very good schools and an absolute steal compared to many Indies.