Boarding school suggestions

[Hdayucl]

Hi, Im applying for Year 9 this year and i have been offered a place from Monmouth School, Sherborne School For Boys , Worth School, Downside School. Which School would you prefer?
Itd also be nice if anyone out here can give me some brief comments or suggestions to the 4 school ive mentioned?
Thanks a lot

Depends what you are hoping for. Worth has a significant number of day pupils and weekly boarders so may feel empty at weekends , Catholic ethos and close to Gatwick if you are from overseas.

Where do you think you'll be happiest School isn't just about exam results. Have you been to the school's to get a feely for.the atmosphere?

Thanks for your comments
Yes, I'm from Hong Kong. Location is not really a concern. We are looking for the school not only on academic but the boarding life was also important.

Have you had a look at Felstead School? I know a lot of people who have attended over the decades and had happy times there, along with academic success.

Do you want boys only or co- ed? That is really important.

Both Worth and Downside are very Catholic - Benedictine - are you happy with this?

Beyond those two questions, the thing that will make the biggest difference to your DS, an overseas boarder, is how many boys are in school on a Saturday night. If there is a mass exodus and his closest friends leave and he is left in the house with a handful of overseas boys his experience will not be a positive one. Drill down on this question with the school - and be prepared for them to mislead you. Be aware that, with a handful of exceptions, most UK children in most UK boarding schools will go home at the weekend.

Chris Martin (Coldplay) went to Sherborne. I'd recommend that school over the others.

Gut feeling would lead me to chose Sherborne

Why have kids only to ship them off so you dont have to look after them? I dont mean this in a goady way just genuinley interested.

whisky your comment is not helpful to the OP. You could start your own thread or do a search as it has been discussed previously.

It really depends what you are looking for. Are you an expat family?
My son is at boarding school because we are expats so we made sure that it was a school that did not empty at weekends andhas a good set up for getting students to the airports.. Most of the home counties schools empty at weekends. Monmouth and Sherborne both great schools with good facilities. It really depends on what your boy is into sport/music/extracurricular. I think both Monmouth and Sherborne are good allround schools. Sorry don't know so much about the other two. Don't listen to people who give you the 'why have kids' spiel. Both my kids wanted to go and love it and we are as close as ever.

Well, whiskey, presumably OP had kids to enjoy the many ways in which they enrich our lives. As we all do.

Not sure why you feel the need to question that just because she has made different life choices from you, presumably based on different opportunities and different values.

My DD went to boarding school. With lots of kids from Hong Kong, as it happens.

I appreciate my teenage daughter much more. She appreciates her family and home much more. It's lovely to have her home.

She started uni this Autumn. She already knew how to get herself out of bed, washed and dressed in time for morning lectures (you'd be surprised at the amount of First Years who cannot do this, usually because they were nagged out of bed by Mum at home), she already knew who to do her own laundry properly, she knew how to walk into a room of strangers and make friends, she knew how to work independently and get her essays handed in on time.......

I know a girl who went to uni straight from home who spent the first term crying in her room. I know a boy who couldn't cope with communal living in the Halls so he went back home to finish his degree. Two years after graduating he still at home on the dole with no friends because he couldn't integrate at uni (friend ship issues related)... the list goes on.

Her Hong Kong friends are here for a fantastic education. They Skype their parents (especially during parents evening when they can talk directly to the teachers via the iPhone app).

Why have kids if you're going to send them away? I can think of lots of reasons!

"with a handful of exceptions most UK children in most UK boarding schools will go home at the weekend" and
"be prepared for them to mislead you"
Never forget that most independent boarding schools can't fill their vacancies, and that foreign parents with an appetite for boarding and the money to pay for boarding (most UK parents haven't either) are the cash cows that have stopped these schools from going bust. According to Monmouth Schools own website only 20% are boarders and they won't all be full boarders. So basically it's a day school with boarders. I don't know Sherborne very well but according to the last ISI report there are only 53 day boys, so it's a boarding school with day boys. At Worth according to its ISI report just over 50% full board and at Down only 53 but it is a very small school approx 350. Schools with a small number of boarders are completely different animals when compared to boarding school with a small number of day pupils. IMO if you want are looking for a boarding school send your child to the latter. Having said this do check out how many are actually full boarders, talk to the admission dept define the term carefully; staying in all weekend, as some call weekly boarding (allowed home every Saturday night) full boarding including ISI reports and ask very specific questions about actual numbers and how often full boarders are allowed home at the weekend, lots now let their full boarders have weekends at home a least a couple of times a term. If you're looking for a full boarding experience and these are your only four choices then my money would be on Sherborne.

Sort nit very clear at Downside only 53 are day pupils.

Excellent post happygardening - if you're from overseas then you'll be looking at full boarding otherwise Sundays will be awful.

OP talk to the British Council in Hong Kong. They will be able to help you. Also, the schools should have local agents who will also have lots of facts about each school.

I'm presuming that you are Hong Kong Chinese - in which case, look at the numbers of similar students in each school and go from there. Yes, you want to mix with UK kids, but you still need to have like minded friends. The Chinese kids at my DDs school did stay together, I'm afraid, but gosh, they looked happy! The school mixed up the dorms so that lots of nationalities shared rooms.

Downside: an excellent school but you need to be a Catholic really. My mother sent my brother and me to Catholic schools (we aren't Catholic) and both of us felt like outsiders. We were excluded from certain things at Mass because we weren't Catholic.