Which boarding school? Cothill, Windlesham, Ashdown House, Dragon, Woodcote House?

[Mumindoha]

We are expats about to send DS (Year 5) back to UK for boarding and so we need a school that doesn't empty at weekends. As we are going to be so far away the priority is a home-from-home feel, and a school that will get him through CE and to Radley or Harrow, perhaps Eton. Advice or comments on these 5 schools?

I mentioned Woodcote on the other thread.

I admit that I may be a bit out-of-date (5 years since my DS left Lambrook). I loved going there for sport. A really nice feel. Happy boys with good relationships with the staff.

Back then they had loads of full boarders - the school was once a favourite with army parents because of proximity to Heathrow, Sandhurst etc. The army are paying for less and less now. The extra sense of being a home-from-home was really important for army children and Woodcote excelled at it. I sensed that ethos was still there.

But things change.

According to the girl I work with whose DS goes to Dragon not many boarders now primarily day.
Lots of children from abroad at Windlesham with coaches etc to Gatwick and a super homely atmosphere.

Agree with HG about Windlesham. Worth googling mumsnet about Windlesham as there have been a number of threads about it. It does have a high number of full boarders and great pastoral care. It's scholarship record is impressive too. There have been 2 Kings scholars at Eton in the past few years. They seem to get a variety of scholarships which include drama, sport and music as well as academic. Music is very important and most DCs learn an instrument.
Woodcote too is very homely. It is much smaller than Windlesham and has a family atmosphere. The only criticism I have heard is that it is too homely and the shock of senior school makes the transition difficult for some.

DS at Summer Fields (Oxford) and really enjoying himself. Good pace, two-thirds boarding, teaching v good. All boys. Reasonable number getting into E, W and H (Radley too).

Hi

Having been an expat I am/have been UK Guardian to some expat DDs, most have now left or are in senior boarding schools. However Ashdown House seems to be a very popular choice for expats, along with Port Regis which you don't mention. It is I think an advantage if there are other expat children there if only for company on the Heathrow run, and at the hands of the witches "child loving" ground staff they put in charge of UMs.

I would worry about the term in France that would happen in Year 7 at Cothill for the reasons I posted in another thread. I have not quite realised the Chateau was owned and run by Cothill which complicates still further it's ability to respond if your child has problems with the DSs from another school, which is also it's customer. You would obviously not be in a position to drive through the night through France to rescue your DS from a very traumatic situation as a family I know had to do.

I have a friend who has children at Windlesham. From what I have heard their pastoral care is amazing. They have gone way above and beyond what you might expect in a particular need. Seem academically very strong. Sorry, I have no experience of the other ones.

Thanks everyone.

Copthall I believe that Ashdown House pupils also go to the chateau now as the school is part of the Cothill Trust. Are there problems that you know of at the chateau?

I keep on hearing fabulous things about Windlesham, not heard a negative comment yet.

Mumindoha I don't want to say too much since it wasn't my DS and I wouldn't want to risk it getting raked up for them.

However it was an incident of quite exceptionally unacceptable bullying by boys from another school and it was not spotted despite the deep psychological damage being done, nor in the end did Cothill respond in a way that made it possible to leave the DS there. The nature of the bullying makes it quite clear that the boys concerned were themselves deeply disturbed or at the very least were unacquainted with any sort of acceptable norms for behaviour towards others. One would hope that their Prep were already aware of that and would therefore have been in a position to manage the situation a lot better. I cannot say whether Cothill learned from the experience, stopped taking the other Prep there etc. but as a parent I would ask questions about the processes now in place, and which other schools will be at the chateau along with your own. As I said on the other thread as parents you spend a lot of time choosing a Prep based on whether the culture and type of DCs there will suit your child, and in this situation you have no power over the other pupils your DS may be sharing the Chateau with. Having said that these boys were about as far removed from the sort of DCs who I have know at Ashdown as would be possible!

My BIL is a diplomat and my two nephews were at Windlesham (though a few years ago now) and both loved it. I visited a few times and was very impressed.

grovel I think Lambrook has very few full borders now (sending DS there, glad to hear good things about it!). They had a very recent boarding inspection and I think the number of full boarders was listed as less than 10.

OP, what about the schools that are entirely boarding? Horris Hill or Sunningdale maybe?

I also loved Caldicott when I looked round and it's compulsory boarding in 7 & 8, although I suspect it does thin out at the weekends. The weekend programme of activities sounded great though and the have a pretty awesome reputation for entry into top senior schools.

I'm also in a similar position & have been recommended Windlesham. I'm actually going on a visit in a couple of weeks to check it out .

I know a couple of other expat families who currently have their children there and neither have a bad word to say about it.

I think HH is weekly and full boarding could be wrong.

Actually I just looked at the website and HH takes day boys. Swear they didn't used to!

Thank you everyone for advice. The fact that there are expat families at Windlesham is interesting, as well as other positive comments on the site

DS had friends at his senior school who went to Windlesham. Great school with an impressive local reputation. Used to be a full boarding school but now takes day pupils. Still largely boarding.

Wellesley House in Broadstairs. fabulous small prep punching far above its weight (see Tatler Guide) and pastoral support is second to none. Expat and services children there too. Strong feeder to Eton, Harrow etc plus all the usual senior schools

Hi there,

First post, but hopefully something that may help. We are also in your situation We attended the Independent Schools show in London last weekend. A friend of mine told me to go, and all the schools you mentioned were there.

From the outset I had a clear criteria in mind. 1. Must have lots of boarders at the weekends- none of this everyone goes home on Saturday! 2. Good scholarship results and varied selection of feeder schools. 3. Caring staff and strong pastoral care.

What was really interesting was some school stands were extremely 'quiet', but the one which had the most interest was Windlesham House. By chance, my hb met some of his work colleagues at the stand and they were raving about the school in particular the friendly atmosphere.

We narrowed down our choice to 4 schools and visited them this week. Ludgrove was not for us..just not the right feel.
Dragon..lovely school..but stuck in the middle of the city.
Port Regis...amazing facilities, but few weekend boarders.
Windlesham House...loved it! All the reviews on here were very accurate. Lovely feel, lots of boarders at weekends, friendly staff and only 20 minutes from Gatwick Airport!

Booked both my sons in for two nights of trial boarding and they loved it and wanted to stay and not go back to their school in HK!

So there you have it, Windlesham House it is for us!

TinTin you are confirming all I have heard about Windlesham it sounds ideal for us. We will definitely be contacting them and visiting.

Thanks everyone

Enjoy your tour of Windlesham House. The Headmaster started the tour and then just walked into a classroom and asked two children to continue it. He then encouraged us to ask them any questions we wanted on the tour. The children were delightful and told us everything we wanted to know. It was so funny!

We were going to look at Ashdown House, but we found out that the Head is leaving at Christmas. his deputy is taking over and then leaving in the summer. Not a happy ship!

Well each to his own, but four of ours have gone through Wellesley (one still there, full boarding very happily) and one with excellent Academic Scholarship to senior school.

BCBG congratulations on your DC's academic scholarship. As you have DC at Wellesley can I ask about the full boarders. In the inspection report 2011 it says there are 38 full boarders. Do you know if they are evenly spread across the years from 7 - 13 years or do they tend to be concentrated in the last 2 years? Thank you.

Have also heard great things about Windlesham.

In the home counties area you might also want to look at
Winchester House,
Swanbourne House
Eagle House.
I have friends with children who board at all three of these schools and love them.