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

Malvern? A bit further away

They do IB

@Nextstep123, If it's cricket, and you think he's going to stay at county standard into secondary level, then you'll want to find somewhere that lets you out of school, potentially on weeknights, to make training sessions, and somewhere where it's feasible to get him to and from those sessions, so think about where the relevant county training hub is. Another thing about cricket is that from Year 10 up there is a degree of "playing up" that goes on - much more so than rugby, for example. If you choose a school that is chock-full of county players all the way up the age groups, there will be less of an opportunity for him to do that.

@legalalien I am aware of the CAG process for cricket as have an older son who we are in our sixth year of County cricket ! I am meeting Director of Cricket everywhere we go and asking about County connections and getting to sessions ! It’s getting the balance still towards high expectations for grades that is the challenge as when all about sport, my experience is the academics are lower.

In that case, I'd say Tonbridge.

@legalien funnily enough just just been watching YouTube videos of Tonbridge with DS and booked a visit today. I don’t know Kent cricket system, guess they train in Canterbury? 1 hour from Tonbridge so not ideal but often Counties have satellite venues

They have boys in both the Kent and Surrey systems. I think some of the Kent coaches may go to the school. Guildford is doable for the Surrey lot.

@legalalien that’s great to know as we would move to Surrey and used to take older son to Surrey Cricket at Guildford !! Any idea what standard of tennis they have at Tonbridge ? Also play County tennis although that may be harder to maintain into teen years....

Kings school, Canterbury is also great in sports and their academics aren’t shabby either.

In fairness, all schools are academic. It's a bit of a silly notion. Our eldest managed 6 As at A level before there were A*s. She balanced that with a grade 8 Distinction on violin. National Youth parliament and a sport on national circuit.
She went to a comprehensive.

Our Welly children did well too but sure6 it's more about the children than.the school? Teachers were certainly not as will qualified at Welly but because its selective they get the results. Not that hard to.get good results from.very able children in a boarding setting. They had a huge benefit from.Welly but it wasn't necessarily about either academics or sports.
.

Radley, Abingdon, rugby would all fit the bill. I’m not so familiar with wellington but on paper that looks perfect.

Redgreen I thought Bromsgrove offered IB actually

Bromsgrove offer IB, A levels and BTEC. Solihull is a day school and really doesn’t have the range of sports on offer that Bromsgrove does. They occasionally have a good year group for rugby but aren’t consistently strong. In the area, Bromsgrove and Warwick ( which does have an international boarding house) are better consistently for rugby. Repton (proper boarding school) is better for hockey. Solihull don’t offer a football or swimming programme. And I can’t think of any other main boys sport they they really offer and excel in. Maybe they do well in cricket but can’t say I am aware of that.

Honestly OP I would look at Whitgift and Wellington given your criteria.

"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."

To all intents and purposes, OP, there's really one, but only one school that fits every word of your long description of your ideal school for your son - and more!!!

The school is called, ETON!

It plays an annual cricket match against Harrow at the home of cricket, Lord's.

If, for example, winning last year's beating teams from home and abroad and producing sportsmen capable of winning 10 world championship gold medals and four consecutive Olympic gold medals isn't sporty enough for your son, amongst other things, then good luck to your search.

Academic wise, Eton would not be embarrassed by the likes of Winchester, Westminster, St. Paul's - you name it; allegedly the nation's most academic schools - in fact, you'll see more red faces in the opposite direction these days.

How old is your son? If over ten-and-a-half, then forget it.

@petemeras we are booked in for a tour in May! Along with Harrow and Tonbridge. Great to hear our thoughts being confirmed. Thank you.

You said you ruled out Hampton as can’t afford to move back to London but are you aware Hampton has an extensive coach network reaching out to Surrey and West of London?

@MGMidget yes I was an LEH girl sharing those coaches a LONG time ago!! Used to live nearby. I feel a boarding school is more the environment which would be appropriate and son happy to board weekly or he may want to go Full. Older son boards so he is familiar. Epsom College or Wellington College will prob be on the list (back up if think can get him in Eton /Harrow /Tonbridge) or probably great schools anyway. Unclear at the moment of the difference in academics when we push aside league tables and see how selective they all really are.

You did say you want an academic school as well as a sporty one for your son. Reading between the lines, I think you place academics above that of sports - and quite rightly so. I didn't fail to note you mentioned Harrow as a strong possibility, in fact it caused me to raise an eyebrow right from your OP itself. And Harrow was mentioned more than once. Call me anything you want but Harrow is far from being academic in the true sense of the word here at MN and indeed outside it. I think Harrow is living on its past history - and has been for quite a long while now - if you'd asked me. In fact, I'm not even convinced you can call it a 'sporty' school for that matter!

Most, if not all, major public schools and indeed even some state schools have rowing placed highly as a major sport and taken extremely seriously. Many premier US universities regard rowing more important than the national religion. Eton even has its own Olympic standard rowing lake, for pete's sake. I doubt Harrow even has one rowing boat to call its own; never mind a rowing lake. . .

@peteneras thank you for being explicit ! I was sensing that feedback about Harrow. Indeed a very good friend is in senior role in Investment Banking and she said when recruiting they love rowing, cricket and rugby. Point taken! Thanks again

Has anyone’s DS managed to get scholarship for Merchant Taylor’s at 11 plus ? Particularly need advice for sport or all rounder scholarship . What should be the level of the child to get any scholarship