Dragon school vs Summer fields

[Luckymum007]

Kindly share any recent information about Dragon School and Summerfields. My DS id bright, sporty and musical. He is an all rounder and is ready to try out new things and have fun.

I am down to these two for boarding, kindly let me know your thoughts. I know there are some threads on this issue but most are dated.

Full boarders form a tight knit core community with other full boarders. So it is important that enough of that community is around on Sunday.

However friendships with day children are similar to friendships between day children ie they see each other during school hours and extra curricular pursuits and the occasional invitation outside school hours including on Sundays. Day children don’t spend all their time with their best friends at weekends. A boarder may have a very good ‘day friend’ but that is not the same as their boarding community of friends.

BTW Boarders don’t disappear off on Fridays. The flexiboarders are limited numbers and in different houses.

There is a certain amount of misunderstanding and therefore general misinformation here about how boarding works at the Dragon.

There aren’t many “full” boarders at Dragon at age 8. There will be even fewer now Saturday school has gone and kids who live in the UK can go home every Friday night for the weekend. To be fair, there are more boarders higher up the school. But the Dragon is really now a day school with a
few boarders.

Totallyfedupnow do you have inside information that the Dragon will be Introducing another major change from full boarding to weekly boarding allowing boarders to go home on Friday? The new Saturday programme will be compulsory for boarders and all pupils playing in Saturday afternoon team fixtures have to attend anyway.
I am not sure whether the Dragon has more full boarders age 8 than SF or other such schools, I am guessing equivalent numbers from the number of junior full boarding houses. Full boarding at that age is in any case relatively less likely anywhere and not really relevant to the OP. Over 200 full boarders is not a few. boarders.

DS is due to start at either school at year 7. Not year 4, the Saturday school is being scrapped in phases to be replaced by QUEST which is compulsory for boarders at the Dragon.

According to ISI reports:

Dragon has 224 boarders

SF has 187 boarders

Boarders at both schools go home.

In* year 7

the Saturday school is being scrapped in phases to be replaced by QUEST which is compulsory for boarders at the Dragon.

No, QUEST is only compulsory for full boarders. Crucially it is not compulsory for weekly boarders, the category which has just been introduced. That means anyone who is not a full boarder can go home on Friday night and not come back (in principle) until Monday morning, unless they have a match on Saturday afternoon. (But the large size of the Dragon means that boys are less likely to have matches unless they are very sporty.)

This can all be checked with the school itself but from my understanding the number of full boarding houses and full boarders will remain the same. The day boarder houses will now allow flexible boarding so numbers of these boarders will increase on top of full boarding numbers. If only full boarders attend the programmes on Saturday (which is unlikely as day / flexible boarders’ parents will likely want to take advantage of the programme which is included in their fees) then numbers present will be at least the same as SF and similar boarding prep schools.
The Dragon has fixtures for teams at all levels of sporting ability.

sendsummer

I know this to be true because I went back and checked the letters from the school.

As for full boarder numbers, they can’t possibly know or guarantee how many there will be in future - it depends on parent demand. Even before the change the full boarding houses weren’t fully occupied... and now some boarders who were “full” will likely shift within their current houses to weekly because it’s now an option.

As for parents making children stay in school to do Quest because it’s included in the fees.... we will see how it pans out. The whole change was initiated following a survey of parents and children which gave strong feedback that families wanted to do other stuff at the weekends. Fees are a sunk cost and I suspect for many Dragon families optional archery on a Saturday morning is not going to tempt them to turn up at school.

Finally re comparison with SF - SF still has compulsory Saturday morning school. While it does, it will always have a good contingent of boarders for the weekend.

As for full boarder numbers, they can’t possibly know or guarantee how many there will be in future - it depends on parent demand
Yes that is true for any of the present boarding prep schools especially for younger boarders.

Regarding your other points.
Whether or not the full boarding houses were full does not change the most recent numbers on the ISC website. The boarding houses especially the senior ones have a large capacity especially School House.
It will be a matter of fact from the school whether full boarders will be allowed to transfer to weekly boarders and still stay in a full boarding house. That is not the impression they give but can be easily checked.

Families want the flexibility to do other things the weekends rather than have to ask for permission of absence. That does not mean that they want every Saturday outside school and I can bet that more than half of the whole school will attend most Saturday mornings as well as afternoon fixtures.

As I said in PP, in the foreseeable future with this new system, the minimum numbers (ie full boarders) attending Saturday school at the Dragon will still be more than SF.

Son has full boarded from age 8 at Dragon (we are a UK based family). Our experience has been that whilst some boys go home at weekends, mainly the London contingent, the boarding house never emptied out. Our son often wanted to stay in at weekends to be with his friends or do the activities. Supervised activities are laid on for both days. It’s not true in our experience as current parents that the boarding house empties at weekends. That may change with the introduction of flexi boarding which seems popular, but with a fairly large contingent of overseas boarders too, I doubt it. Dragon will always be popular with overseas full boarders with an eye to getting into a top senior school. I can’t see that changing. And whilst our son has day pupil friends, the bond that the boarders share is fostered early on and is very strong, partic as they spend first two years in the same house with same friends, and again in their final two years. Our son’s two best friends are also boarders.

@Tallyhodavey Thank you for your message.

Can't comment on Summertown, but I have had 3 children at the Dragon. Excellent school for an uncomplicated all rounder. Extremely professional and well run on every level. The school enables children to engage in a wide range of activities and experiences. The teaching at the top end is very solid but ultimately geared towards obtaining good common entrance and scholarship exam results in which the brighter kids are highly successful. Not a good school for a child with limited self-confidence or learning difficulties even if they have a well staffed learning support unit. A child who is not very academic will fall through the cracks. Others can get lost in the hurly-burly - it is a very large school. Though the school is famous for its panache and creativity and giving children the space to evolve in original and untrammelled ways, it is now a far cry from what it used to be, having morphed into a slick and conventional establishment with health and safety concerns at the fore. Some rather obnoxious and entitled parents around who give the teachers a hard time (and have obnoxious children) - but also some very nice and interesting people too. One of my children loved it there, one was ambivalent, and one absolutely hated it. It all depends on the type of child you have. A good-natured, enthusiastic, bright and uncomplicated child will love it.

I will add that none of my children boarded at the Dragon, but I know many who did and they absolutely loved it. `The children form a strong bond and the staff ensure that the experience is a lot of fun. They are well looked after with many interesting activities organised after school and at weekends.

Thank you @Frazzledfish for your opinion. Kindly send me DM if ypu still have children there currently.

Hi Highonthehillagain
I read your post about boarding or not. I am in between decisions because my son is due to start in yr6 this Sep.
"Your son will do far better academically and emotionally if you prepare him from home. Lots of families do this as you see when your son starts at Eton/Winchester etc." I really echo what you said here. I think he will do better if he is a day pupil and I rent somewhere nearby the school. Just in case if my son really insists. Be good to know what you could have done to improve the academic side when your son was a boarder? Lessons on Sundays seem too much. Thanks.

Have they announced the new Head at the Dragon yet?

Where is H-D moving on to?

St Faiths in Cambridge @houselikeashed

why’s he leaving?

No idea @Thingaling I saw it announced in a schools magazine but didn’t read into it.

www.dragonschool.org/community-news/new-head-of-dragon-school/

Thought it might be a good idea to come back and add some information, since my DS has spent almost a full year.

We eventually chose the Dragon. It is an amazing school and our DS is having a great time. He is getting involved in so many activities and academics are top notch.

Thanks to all of you for your kind words.

How are parents finding the new head, Emma Goldsmith? It's lovely to have a female head for the first time in 144 years.

@peteneras I am new to this forum, but I have searched and read through quite a few threads related to the proverbial Eton scholarship exam (I only wish I could have discovered MN much earlier). From all these threads I am much impressed by your insightful knowledge, and your willingness to help other parents by sharing your detailed answers.

Right now I am very interested in your such resource: the election roll records since 2005! Before I discover this thread, I thought about going to Eton library to search for historical election rolls. I am now wondering if you are willing to share your records?

My background: my DS just sit this year's KS exam and is waiting for his result. But honestly I think DS' chance is low. He is from a state school, not even a grammar school. Although his current school is rated as outstanding by ofsted inspection and DS is a high flyer there, the syllabuses are years behind the KS standard. For math and science subjects they are probably about 2~3 years behind, for english and other humanities subjects, they are perhaps even more.