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Original poster

Boarding schools for rowing mad DS?

92 replies

upatdawn · 02/10/2011 14:16

Our DS is in year 11 and is absolutely rowing mad! He currently goes to a school nearby which goes up to 16 and rows at the local club. We are thinking about options for 6th form now and he desperately wants to go to a boarding school where he can concentrate fully on rowing as well as maintaining the grades he wants. Does anyone know of any schools which fit our criteria and offer sports scholarships?

TIA

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swingingcat · 02/10/2011 15:51

Bruton, superb rowing team.

AgonyBeetle · 02/10/2011 15:53

As the mother of a rower who has just started 6th form at a non-rowing school I can see the sense in this plan. The U17s at my dd's club are expected to put in 16-18 hours' training a week, which as I have pointed out to dd is the equivalent of half a full-time job, in addition to school which is meant to be a full-time job in itself Hmm. Life would be considerably easier if she were somewhere where there was a level of integration between school and work, and if the school understood the demands on rowers and vice versa.

Lancaster Royal Grammar School looks like it might fit the bill for a state boarding school that takes rowing seriously. 6th form admissions criteria are much more flexible than lower down the school, so his rowing ability might give him a headstart.

swingingcat · 02/10/2011 15:53

Whoops, thought OP mentioned DD.

ThePosieParker · 02/10/2011 15:55

Silence, no not a them and us. Millfield students don't have a reputation for anything, they are profoundly rude and snobby. I grew up in Street and many of my friends parents were house parents. I also know many a 'local' that went there, rich locals, who were sneered at for not being rich enough.

It can't be a myth if I encountered many can it?

And I'd love to know where the 'rowers' would row.....

Silence · 02/10/2011 16:04

Amazing how our experiences differ. Perhaps things have changed since you have been there.

eaglewings · 02/10/2011 16:06

ThePosie, sadly that happens in all towns and villages where there is a boarding school. I went to one and it had the same cloak and coat mentality with the Market town and yes, some of the girls were rude and snooty but not all :(

ThePosieParker · 02/10/2011 16:18

Silence, maybe it's changed. But I live in Bristol now and the snobbery starts young.....parental influence all the way.

I was watching my boys play rugby and a few of the unfriendly snobby parents were teasing eachother about being snobs about Bristol Grammar School because their children were at The Downs and Butcombe (baby Clifton College). Shock

happygardening · 02/10/2011 16:34

DH ex rower says look at the Princess Elizabeth Cup results (Henley) there you will find the most successful rowing schools in order! P.S. If your not familiar with Radley already then I suspect you wouldn't want your son to got there.

Original poster
upatdawn · 02/10/2011 16:49

Good tip happygardening, we're also going to take a look at the results from nat schools and nat champs. It's just so hard to choose as at all the big events the schools which medal change from category to category

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AgonyBeetle · 02/10/2011 16:51

But tbh as long as the schools are competing, then they're taking their rowing seriously already. Who actually wins will obv vary from race to race.

Original poster
upatdawn · 02/10/2011 17:14

Try telling that to my DS AgonyBeetle, he strongly disagrees with the saying 'it's the taking part that counts'!

I do understand what you mean and I'm sure that for the commited rowers every school at that level will be putting in the hours.

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goinggetstough · 02/10/2011 17:20

Millfield: They don't have rowing although recently a former pupils have gone on to win silver medals at the world champs in Slovenia.
Millfield's bursary programme is so vast that there is a wide cross section of pupils from very varying backgrounds. Yes I am sure some of them are snobby but sadly that happens at many schools.
St Edwards Oxford: Has a very keen rowing club.

AgonyBeetle · 02/10/2011 17:21

Yy, obviously about winning (Quote from the coach at dd1's club: "We want everyone to hate us. That's why we row in orange.")

My point was that, as with the Premiership, you can't pick a single overall winner beforehand. What you can do is identify a shortlist of potential schools that regularly do win and choose from that list according to which school works best for you overall. Then he's got as good a chance as any of being somewhere that will let him develop his talent to the full (which is what it's about, really).

Original poster
upatdawn · 02/10/2011 17:33

That's a good point again, and looking around the schools will hopefully show which will suit him best

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MissWilde · 02/10/2011 18:04

DH rowed at Shrewsbury and absolutely loved it. In fact he still rows and coaches juniors at our local club at weekends :)

bbboo · 02/10/2011 19:40

Sorry, off the point a bit but don't assume you won't qualify for a bursary (ie. a decent level of bursary). Approach the schools and be upfront about the level of assistance you would need should your(talented) DS attend the school. As a previous post said, what may seem to be a very decent salary to the majority of people, may be brushing poverty for some schools! It is worth a try :)

happygardening · 02/10/2011 19:42

Some school definitely have s stronger history of success in rowing than others
my husband says that Eton, St Edwards, Oxford, Abingdon, Shiplake Westminster, St Pauls and Shrewsbury are all good rowing school. All are boarding schools although St Pauls only has a handful of boarders but all in the 6th form. St Pauls certainly offers bursaries as does Westminster but getting in is another challenge and probably best left to a separate posting!

Original poster
upatdawn · 02/10/2011 21:11

I will look into bursarys, but I just think for these schools there would be so many more worthy applicants that we would be quite far down the list. Does anyone know which schools have scholarships with actual monetary value?

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Original poster
upatdawn · 02/10/2011 21:12

sorry bursaries. It's been a long day!

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PastGrace · 02/10/2011 21:22

Rowing at Abingdon is very good - the first boat always races at Henley I think, and lots of the old boys go back and support each year. I had a quick look at scholarships on their website - there are means tested bursaries of up to 100% as well as scholarships

happygardening · 02/10/2011 21:52

Few of the schools i mentioned have significant money attached to scholarships and this will apply to many others as well but apart from St Pauls and maybe Westminster (I know about these there may be others) you are more likely to get a bursary if you've got a scholarship. St Pauls offers bursaries without scholarships but I understand competition is very fierce for the places in their 8th (6th) form.

fivegomadindorset · 02/10/2011 21:59

Canford
Bryanston

happygardening · 02/10/2011 22:13

DH checked Henley results and the schools he suggest were the ones that did well. He's now 45 and it was the same schools winning when he was 18 so nothing much has changed. The other comment he made is that there is no guarantee that your DS would get into the first 8. Many coaches spot a potentially good crew when they're 13 and colts and will have spent the last three years training them so unless your son is an unbelievable rower the coach maybe reluctant to move people around this far into the training.

Original poster
upatdawn · 02/10/2011 22:20

That's a very good point, happygardening, although DS doesn't do sweep rowing anyway so we would be looking for a school that focuses on sculling just as strongly as it does on sweep rowing

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WhyItsMeAgain · 02/10/2011 22:21

Another vote for Bedford School! Brilliant academics and a huge focus on sport, particularly rowing - 3+ clubs within walking distance of the school. All the boys that I have met that attend this school have been unfailingly polite, hardworking, interesting young men.
Big provisions for bursaries and scolarships too.
www.bedfordschool.org.uk/general-information/