Oundle or Uppingham

[Scottiemum]

Would welcome opinions on the differences. DS1 is into rugb?, into science and engineering but average academic. DS2 is very sporty, esp rugby and a good all rounder, in top 5 for all subjects. How do you choose or are they both equally as good?

Oundle is the more academic of the two.

The DC I know who went there, were all pretty darn bright.

I know less academic DC who went to Uppingham. I believe it has an excellent learning support unit.

My son is at Uppingham.He is very sporty,very mathematically minded - not so keen on the humanities. He is very much an all rounder (except for art) and is academic (but,alas, always more interested in sport than study).In the subjects he has not loved, the teachers have worked hard to help him and push him, while in those he loves he has been been given extra opportunities eg studying with higher years in maths clubs etc
He has been pushed/encouraged to achieve in all areas , including those he had never as interested in (eg drama - participating in house plays etc).
We have friends who have a DD there in the same year. Their DD is very bright (left a super selective day school to come to Uppingham) as well as being very musical. Parents are very happy with her progress and the way she has been encouraged and helped to broaden her academic interests as well as stretch them.
To be honest, they are both good schools but Uppingham may be the 'gentler' school.
Either Oundle or Uppingham would have suited my confident elder DS but we felt our younger , less self assured son would be happier at Uppingham.

A boy at my DS's prep choose Oundle because he was very impressed with the science dept and he was very good at science.
Uppingham is smaller and full boarding only I think a whereas Oundle is a mixture if day, weekly and full that might swing you decision depending on what you're looking for.
Uppingham often gets a bad press on here and there are sometimes mutterings of drug problems, girls wearing too much make up, bullying, etc, which is odd because the strictest parents we know sent their DC's there are are delighted with it.
On paper Oundle may be more academic but I know of someone who fairly recently got pretty mediocre CE results to say the least but still got in.
I suspect boarding aside there's little to choose between them just personal preference.

excuse typos in last post!

Grrr - typos in MY post, not happygardening's!
There was a huge hoo-ha a few years ago re:drugs but mainly because the headmaster expelled a few children at once for bullying , and it made the national papers. I think they have a good mixture of discipline and care.
Not sure about girls and too much make up - we generally see boys covered in mud etc after a match!
We have been very happy with Uppingham .
Uppingham is full boarding - no weekly or flexi boarding. Meals are eaten in house which may be a plus or a minus, depending on your thinking.
Friends sent their DCs to Oundle and were equally happy. I think it does really boil down to visiting , getting a feel of the school and 'seeing' your DCs there.

Oundle is the more academic but is too much pressure for some. Friends' DDs have become very stressed as they became overly focused on the, say, 3% lost during a test rather than the 97% scored. They had mixed reviews about how the school helped them cope with this. As others have said, look at both and choose what would suit your DCs best.

Incidentally, have you discounted Oakham which probably has the best sporting reputation?

huge hoo-ha over bullying, not drugs! oh dear, not doing well...been a long day!

I wouldn't say Oundle was overly academic. Most who go are pretty bright I'm sure but we have got several averagely academic children in there. Uppingham is probably less academic I agree but I don't think it's significant (I think they both require a 55% pass at CE, Oundle might be 60% but I don't think so)

Both excellent for extra curricular. Uppingham is not flexible about its boarding so if you are wobbly about the idea of full boarding don't choose it.

For pure, old school reputation I suppose Oundle has the edge. Both fantastic schools though.

Thanks everyone for your feedback, really helpful! Was just going to look at Oundle but will now look at both.

I have one (less academic) at Uppingham. She loves chapel, and all the music and art and plays, although she's not musical or artistic, she has a go and is able to get involved.

Oundle are only interested in academics, our cleverer son is there. They cherry pick their musicians and sporty pupils and leave the rest to study! Not so much of school identity as there are too many to fit in chapel at one time.

Uppingham has had some recent problems which have been dealt with superbly. Pastoral care is extraordinarily brilliant. Our House mistress on the case all the time - same cannot be said for our Oundle house master.

Both schools have strengths and weaknesses and we feel their strengths at each play to our individual children. We are lucky as both are happy at their establishments and both have thrived.