Academic AND sporty boys/co-ed Pvte school

[Nextstep123]

Seeking thought and experiences on schools in South East/Oxfordshire/All homecounties. Day/Boarding - weekly or full.
Have an academic and incredibly sporty DS who loves long actives days. Used to 6 days per week Prep school with 2 County sports. Prob I find is when i find a school with strong enough sport with County and Regional connections they never seem as academic as they make out once I do some research! Not interesting in Winchester as so outgoing and sporty.
Short list -Wellington College (loved but is it really selective ? And expense!)
Brighton College -not sure have enough good sport
Epsom College
Harrow
Abingdon
(KCS Wimbledon and Hampton -can’t afford to move back to London !)
Where stands out that I have missed ?
Thanks

That’s a very old fashioned attitude. BTECs have their place along with the IB. Kids have gone to Exeter with BTEC and I think that’s a uni that passes muster even with Mumsnet 😉

When Eton,Winchester,St Pauls,Westminster and co start introducing BTECS then I might reconsider..
Exeter might pass muster with some on mumsnet but even then only one campus

I thought Bromsgrove offered IB actually, but it's not known to be super-academic, so maybe theyve stopped? Solihull has really raised their entrance criteria and is very sporty too (and strong musically).
They don't do boarding any longer though...

Just been to Epsom College and really liked it. Felt very relaxed but with high expectations. DS has CAT score average of 132 and Headmaster said 120 was ‘doing well’ so looks like he would be suitable.

Well if Rugby is one of your sons sports thats not at all a bad choice ,but with that cat score you could certainly aim for a more academic school,but I appreciate getting the balance between the sport and academics is difficult.

Epsom College good option. Academically strong - pretty much everyone works hard. It's considered good to be doing well so everyone working for best grades. When our DC there even bottom sets got A*/A at GCSE. (Probably 8/9 now) and results have been going up every year. Partly increasingly selective on front end, partly just strong added value and good teaching. Lots of structure. High expectations. Good teachers who are interested in developing students. Great sport and for your DS rugby strong. But so much more too - great house system and spirit, heaps of music and drama, CCF, D of E plus loads of academic development - STEM clubs, debating, maths Olympiad's etc etc. And the good thing is it's all compulsory so no one can opt out and say they can't be bothered. It's timetabled in. They keep them v busy from 8-6 every day and same on Sat (finish after matches). That's something to consider as you do lose family life at weekends.

Perfect for an academic kid and sporty kid who wants to do well and throw themselves into everything . Going to be surrounded by 150 other kids in their year just like them.

It does mean it's a competitive environment- but still supportive and fun.

Ive just had a look at the 2019 gcse results on the Epsom site and its very very clear that the bottom sets are not getting 8s and 9s..nor would I,or I imagine the school, expect them to ..
Would be interesting to know how long the few Oxbridge(a handful every year,as I would expect from a school like Epsom) have been at the school,ie how many came in at sixth form?

Its a decent enough school but people do schools no favours making claims that are palpable nonsense.

They take 45 in sixth form. Were open that like to get a couple of top rugby boys. Not many seem to leave. They also said broad ability range over a certain level. Seemed less ‘showy’ than Brighton College or Wellington College although still have Welly in the list. I am sure there is no perfect school ! But just want to have peers who are interested in learning and not distracted just vaping and being cool which of course happens everywhere. But we are not a Winchester type as sport is a big part of DS life.

To clarify, I didn’t mean to imply that everyone in bottom sets got A* star and A. My point was that quality of teaching and students' work ethic meant that even a good proportion of bottom sets , who you might not expect would get high grades did,* Seem to remember A star and A was about 75% of grades at GCSE? (They didn’t have numbered grades when DC there ... perhaps the equivalent would be 7,8 and 9 rather that 8 &9).

Re oxbridge - yes a handful a year - maybe 6 or 7 ? Actually think most/all were “home grown” during DC time but would be worth checking if that was something important.

Used to be a lot of girls coming in at 6 form but think that may have changed as the mix has evened up down the school.

Not trying to “do any favours” for Epsom. Speak only as a past parent to give a personal perspective to another parent. I was in your shoes 10 years ago OP and as part of my search found other views really useful.

Thank you. I really appreciate the feedback.

@nolanscrack sorry I should have said Oundle no longer give any sports scholarships that have any financial consequence. Also same for academic etc all scholarships have zero money off . Means tested bursaries are the only way to get fee remission for new school joiners.

Welly was fantastic for ours. Great fun. Excellent academically and very high level sport/performing arts.
No they don’t send poor performers to sit A levels at the local comprehensive. Most students take IB.
The confusion might be because the sponsor an academy near Andover which doesn’t have quite the same grade achievement because it is truly comprehensive.
Very strict re alcohol, smoking and drugs.

I am sure Oundle were delighted to financially help Mr Curry Im a bit surprised no one has put Cranleigh into the mix

I don’t think of Cranleigh as that academic ? Have things changed ?

Its as academic as several of the schools mentioned on this thread and the Rugby and sport in general is far superior to many of them(sorry cant be more specific as you've not said what sports you need to be at a high level)

DS is County cricketer and County tennis player. It is hard to get a school with a tennis program apart from Reeds but he is academically very strong and that has to come first and hopefully all the sport will fit in around. Also may have gone off tennis by then!! Older son dropped tennis to focus on just cricket when he became a teen !

Ah ok,well very difficult to carry on with both of those at the highest level at senior school.
Cant remember who won the youll cup-(for the first time in 50 years) -last year …
Reeds is not academic ,as Im sure you aware but Im sure someone will come on to say its getting better..
If academics come first as they should then most of the schools on this thread really are not that academic.

We have a tour of Harrow booked and I went to Tonbridge years ago for first son so will have another look there. Have lived in Surrey and Kent and SW London so know that side, North is unknown. Abingdon has great results but of course more a Day ethos which may be ok and go and move there.
Head spinning !! ....

Cranleigh.

Sorry, pressed wrong button! Yes, Cranleigh in definitely for the highly academic and sporty. They wont be hothoused either so it's better than some of the other purely academic ones.

Harrow throwing a lot of money at the cricket and Rugby..but I thought you wanted an academic school,not one full of boys that have failed to get in elsewhere,as they themselves chant at a certain cricket match..

@nolanscrack you know your schools !! I want everything 🤣 cool to be clever but not geeky and must be sporty with high level and academy connections. Turn out great academic results, have loads of career contacts through old boys and their brand etc to get work experience. Not set on Oxbridge alone. Prob have US Uni system process. Doesn’t have to be super traditional. Of course want son to be happy. Can’t decide if boys or co-ed matters. Not sure yet about A levels v IB. Of course if was 100% IB then may think Sevenoaks ?
I just know we can’t follow where current Year 10 son is ! Which has all the above but academics are not delivering but I do still love being in a competitive sporty environment! .....

Is there a reason if you arent bothered about single sex, co-ed or whatever that you haven't asked about E...?

I am already in touch with them so will go and visit first and then ask ! Have H and E in May. I guess in my mind E less sporty.

Rugby School - Coed, excellent academics, excellent sports full boarding, down to earth. Straight train to Euston or up the M1.