Wellington College, Sherborne or Radley-Opinions sought

[SROSSO]

Interested in opinions of parents with children currently/recently attending any of these schools as to their suitability for international boarders, academic rigour, friendliness of the boys, boarding houses, etc.
Our 16 year old DS, has been accepted on a sports scholarship (non-monetary) at Wellington, a waiting list place at Radley and Sherborne. He is a witty and sociable lad, academically strong in all subjects, particularly maths and is a nationally ranked sportsman. He is also half British and half SE Asian. This will be his first time living abroad, but is culturally assimilated to the UK already.
As a boarder, we want to ensure that at the weekends, he will not end up being in the boarding house on his own whilst the other pupils head home. We have read on this message board that Wellington boarding empties out at the weekends, however we are not sure about the other two schools.

Understanding that it is difficult to generalize, which school's student body might be more welcoming to someone of his background? Whilst I understand that Radley is said to be more for "blue bloods", whilst Wellington has naturally a more martial flavour to the place, I am not quite sure of the atmosphere around Sherborne. That being said, we understand that the younger generation are generally considerably more welcoming and friendly to "outsiders" than us oldsters.

DS is also considering studying in the US/Asia/Continental Europe for university rather than the UK, so we want a school that has solid experience with these varied educational systems and their application processes. When talking to the admissions staff, they all state that their college admissions offices are well-geared up to applying internationally but just wondered what your experience was.

Important point for international students is that Wellington is effectively weekly boarding

it clears out on Saturdays and it’s conceivable your DS is the only boy left in his house (or perhaps there is 1 or 2 other boys there)

The other two schools are lower full boarding

Radley and Wellington considered better academics than Sherborne

Radley and Sherborne are boys only

Wellington is mixed

if I was you I would discount Sherborne and chose between the other two schools

I have sons at Radley - in our experience, pastoral care and academics are excellent, and it is very much full boarding. We live an hour away but my boys only come out for their one extra weekend each half of the term (plus exeats), as they like hanging out with their mates.
We are white British so I’m probably not the right person to comment on integration of foreign students generally - but one of my son’s has a good friend who is half British, half HK Chinese, so hopefully fitting in should be fine especially if he is assimilated as you say.
Only thing I would say is that I didn’t find they were brilliant with the US applications, but in my experience parents have to drive that at most schools. It probably didn’t help that my son was thinking of trying for a sports scholarship, so we were passed around from the sports department to the US academic department and they didn’t coordinate brilliantly. But I do know that lots of boys do go to the US so they must work it out (we stuck with the UK in the end).
Otherwise we are generally happy with the school, and our house master is excellent.

Is your son doing IB or A Levels at Sixth Form? Wellington College offer both but the IB is a clearer path to US/Continental Europe universities as they are more familiar with the IB. Having said that, US unis are really mainly interested in SAT scores and extra curricular activities and whether you fit. Wellington have a good track record of sending students there. As others have said - Radley is definitely the most full boarding set up on the three, Wellington the most academically selective and also co-ed but fewer stay in an weekends, although at Sixth Form there are more international students. Do PM me if you want to have a chat!

Wellington will empty out at the weekends.
Radley and Sherborne both full at the weekend. Radley will have better academics, but Sherborne has better established links with Sherborne Girls and much more joint social activities happening at the weekend.

As previous poster has said, IB might be better for wider university application, but Radley and Sherborne will both support overseas applications.

I would discount Wellington just because of the weekend issue.

Radley and Sherborne both full boarding and neither empty out at weekends. Radley is on a rural campus, Sherborne is spread out through the town. Both all-boys but Sherborne has close ties with its sister school. Radley has pretty easy rail access to Oxford and London.
I think the academic distinction is a bit of a red herring. Radley sets the academic bar higher on entry but that's not really relevant for the individual student so long as the teaching and academic support are good. A bright boy will do well in either school as long as he is happy and has good relationships with the staff, so listen to your gut about which school will feel like his best fit for his personality, rather than which has higher entrance requirements. What others are achieving isn't the point- getting the best out of each individual boy is.

So take a look at the range of subjects on offer and whether your son's sport is played. I think both schools will be friendly- especially if he is culturally assimilated to the UK. Both have a mix of urban and rural families- maybe slightly more traditional at Radley but not wildly different.
I don't know the answer on the overseas university question I'm afraid, and wouldn't like to guess. But if pushed I'd say a larger international cohort would likely create greater expertise in that direction so you might get more experience in (say) Harrow or Winchester. I think ask the Registrars about their relative track records in numbers placed, as a reasonable proxy.
Good luck with your decision- they are both super schools.

I would choose Radley for academics and sport.

Sherborne is weak academically.

Wellington is a weekly boarding skwl.

Sherborne is not weak academically: it is less selective academically. The broad entry means that there are both highly-academic and not-at-all academic pupils, so the question is how well they each perform within their ability cohorts. What matters is bringing out the best in the individual, not the ability profile of the group.

Otherwise you could use the same principle to argue that Oundle (for example) is academically weak compared with Westminster.

The quality of all these leading schools is high enough that parents can focus on personal fit, pastoral care and logistics, confident that if these are right, the academics will be also.

Wellington now have a new 6th form only co-ed boarding house. It has a significant proportion from the international community so does not seem to empty out to the same extent as some of the others perhaps do.

I can't answer for either of the other schools but I would not discount Wellington based on houses emptying.

I do take your point, but I think there’s a difference between “less selective” and “weaker outcomes.”
I’m very happy to admit that Oundle is weak compared to Winchester academically. That’s just true. But what I’ve seen — both at Oundle and with friends who went elsewhere — is that some schools use the “broad intake” line to cover a culture that could maybe do with sharpening up. Kids who were on the same level at prep ended up with totally different outcomes at 18 depending on the school’s work ethic and expectations - regardless of selectivity.
I can’t comment on Sherborne’s internal culture because I don’t know it well enough besides a family friend whose children went there when they didn't get into Radley - they enjoyed it but they were self starting. But I do know several schools where “we’re not selective” is an excuse for less than optimal outcomes and MANY students from these schools would happily admit it, especially when they all go to university and see what "working hard" meant to different people.

You see, I do know Sherborne as the parent of two academic scholars there. I know that my sons are at the upper end of their year group, but also that they are given academic stretch and are achieving results every bit as good as they would get anywhere, because the teaching is excellent, the support is good and there is enough competition within their sets to keep them sharp. There are undoubtedly boys in the same year who are less academic and less motivated, there are boys who are studying BTECs and others who will aim to go direct to officer training or music conservatoire etc rather than university. I don't see this as a negative so long as each individual can realise his potential.
I would be much more concerned about a school with an academic reputation that rested on its laurels and relied on attracting top talent to maintain this. I would worry about a clever kid in a school with poor pastoral care where they couldn't flourish.

I haven't a bad word to say about Radley or Wellington (or Oundle) if they are the right fit for pupil & family circumstances. But equally I don't think it helpful to characterise particular schools as academically weak on the basis of broad entry.

That's great then - I certainly don't want to imply that Sherborne has a poor work ethic. I just mean weak as in the outcomes are weaker than other schools. Im genuinely trying to be helpful as there are some other schools which I shan't name where friends were disappointed in them and what they achieved, especially when comparing to other places and they were taken in with the "we aren't selective" or "we are all round" and naming other schools as hot houses then come 18 the outcomes vastly different and the supposed hot houses werent that at all. I think my generation are also far far more affected by how well they did at school getting them into a good uni and a good job. If you get BBC nowadays and not a good uni you aren't even getting past the CV scanners for a financial services job and I know MANY in their 20s hating careers theyre in/not earning money they had hoped because of this. And I agree, there are some schools that just cream the top and have zero value add.

I'd have thought Radley was your best option.

There tends to be a lot of talk about which schools are "better" when really I think they are often trying to do different things.

The parents I know who have chosen Sherbourne tend to want a quieter, less sharp-elbowed type of education that isn't "weaker," just paced to let them enjoy the ride, keep them away from London etc. I would say the students aren't always less able, but I would say they tend to be less pushed - including by their parents. You might say it's a rather "gentil" type of place in that regard.

Wellington will empty out.

I would have thought Radley would have the balance of having plenty of boarders but the type of environment that would welcome a ranked sportsman.

Agree - I think those I have seen it go awry for are those who actually, on reflection, would have preferred a school which had a little more momentum as they are now sitting in their 20s not very happy with where there life is going and know a lot of it is due to what happened 13-18.

Some of the schools that are heavily results-focused cut a lot of other corners (including, imo, academic ones) in order to look good on results day.

Agreed.

To add to the interesting discussion about end results and “value added”, it’s worth bearing in mind that some schools manage out lower achievers post GCSE, so their A level results will obviously benefit from that. Oundle definitely does this (it happened to two different families we know), Radley doesn’t unless the boy isn’t trying (or they genuinely wouldn’t be able to do A levels as that is all they offer in sixth form), don’t know about the others.

This is such an important point, @Ox136jl- I hadn't considered it here but it was one of the reasons we took against Winchester when going through their admissions. Winchester was very cagey about how many pupils are not welcome to stay post-16, but we were aware of boys sho received the dreaded letter of dismissal. Sherborne made a promise that they wouldn't sack anyone who was engaging irrespective of GCSE results. I can see it's more complex for Radley due to their two-tier admissions at 13, though I'd expect that to resolve as the two groups become more equal. I don't know about Wellington.
Making that promise of post-16 continuation felt like a commitment to act in the child's best interests rather than boost their own A level results and leaver destinations.

By the way @Ox136jl your user name brings back five years' worth of memories of sending and receiving letters and cards to and from that postcode!

Radley dont have a 'two tier admissions system' at 13+. That is rather historic. Both Radley List and Open Entry boys now need to achieve the same level of academic attainment at ISEB , which is at ball park 120 SAS, so a pretty high academic bar. Radley List boys are guaranteed an interview/invite to the assessment day, Open Entry boys are not and are shortlisted post the ISEB results and the Heads ref (with a detailed look at other co curricular strengths). So not necessarily two tier, their academic expectations are high for all boys. Gone are the days of names down at birth gets a boy a place. Radley List boys will not get a place if they dont meet the increasingly high academic bar.

You could try googling it. That is the best option for specifics.

@Ox136jl hi are exeats at Radley every other weekend ? Thank you

No the aren’t.

have a look at their website and you can see the term times and exeats

Did your DS get get news from Radley ? @MrsHLQ

You have, i believe, gone through the admissions process, had DS sit an assessment day, received an offer, yet don't know how often the exeats are? Surely you researched this beforehand?! How do you know if its the best school for DS (and you) if not?