My Unfiltered and Uncensored Oakham School Review
The good:
Oakham School has a lot of resources that you can use to be the best you can be. If you have an ambition, something you want to do or be good at, more likely than not Oakham can accommodate it. There are a lot of facilities: gyms, a very good library, an EXCELLENT cafeteria where the food comes inclusive with the fees (you don’t pay for the food), sports facilities, swimming pool. As of gyms, there are two free gyms from what I remember, there’s an advanced gym with proper gym equipment as well but that’s for specific athletes who do strength and conditioning. There’s a range of activities and the boarding houses are good but not fancy.
The academics are good but it genuinely isn’t too bad and there is a lot of support. The academics do matter to a point, but it definitely ISN’T INTENSE. I think the academic demands of the school ARE HEALTHY AND OPTIMAL. The VAST MAJORITY of the teachers are dedicated to their jobs and are friendly, these teachers are the school’s superpower. The trips are really good but would almost certainly cost extra.
Lower School Subjects (10 - 13 years old)
- Maths
- English
- Combined Sciences (Biology, Physics, Chemistry) Taught as ‘Science’
- Art
- Design and Technology (Woodworking and similar activities)
- Religious Education (not religious instruction but just learning about different religions: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and more)
- History
- Geography
- French (mandatory till GCSE year - Form 4)
- Spanish or German (you do both at some point, then you can pick one till GCSE year)
- Latin (you can drop after Form 1)
I might be missing a few Lower School Subjects. Most Lower School subjects are MANDATORY. This is good because it allows you to get a good experience of all the subjects to subsequently make good choices for GCSEs and A-Levels.
The teachers at Oakham are optimistic and Oakham School is a school that genuinely nurtures that can-do attitude.
GCSE Subjects (the first British Major exam, 2 year course, the final exams are in the second year taken by 15 - 16 year olds).
Grades are on a 1-9 grading scale,
Mandatory GCSE Subjects:
- Maths
- Foundation Level Maths (the highest grade available in this is a 5 on a 1-9 grading scale)
- English Language
- English Literature
- Physics, Biology, Chemistry (Double Award mandatory - Normal level of knowledge) (Triple Award optional - You don’t do Double Award and Triple Award at the same time, you do Triple Award instead of Double award and it counts as two subjects I believe).
Optional GCSE Subjects (You have to pick between them to fill in slots. I think you have to do 8 or 9 GCSE subjects in total):
- History
- Geography
- Religion and Philosophy (Philosophy is more advanced Plato, Descartes and the likes)
- Citizenship (an intro to Politics, Economics)
- Computer Science
- Music
- Design and Technology
- Art (Textiles)
- Fine Art
- Drama
- Sports Science
I might be missing a few GCSE Subjects.
For Sixth Form College (Sixth and Seventh form, 16 - 17 year olds and 17 - 18 year olds), the school does A-Levels or IB (International Baccalaureate). Oakham offers some BTEC as well.
- Maths
- English Language
- English Literature
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Art
- Design and Technology
- Computer Science
- Geography
- History
- Philosophy
- Classical Civilisations (Ancient Romans, Greeks, Egyptians)
- Sports science (there’s also BTEC sports science as well)
- Drama
- Music
- Latin
- Italian
- Spanish
- French
- German
- Politics
- Economics
- Business
I might have missed some A-Level/IB/BTEC subjects.
Oakham School is a school that can genuinely get you PHYSICALLY FIT, especially if you go in from Lower One (as a 10 year old), Form 1 (as an 11 year old), Form 2 (as a 12 year old) or Form 3 and Form 4 (as a 13 or 14 year old). These are the years when PE (Physical Education) is mandatory. I personally think it’s great that PE is mandatory and it should be that way. The Oakham School PE curriculum is excellent and the exercise is relatively tough but it isn’t impossible. It’s the type of exercise that can get you FIT if you pair it with healthy eating.
Also, sports is MANDATORY as well. In the Winter term, the sport is Rugby for boys and Field Hockey for girls, in the Spring term it is Field Hockey for boys and Netball for girls and in the Summer term it is Cricket for boys and Tennis for girls. Boys can also play tennis as well. There is also Athletics for either gender.
When I was there they put up posters about healthy eating and the cafeteria, the Barraclough is excellent. Even if the main meals realistically aren’t always the healthiest all the time, there is ALWAYS salad and it gives students the responsibility to always get vegetables and skip dessert. Breakfast is important and I’m sure Oakham school can cater for Kosher and Halal food as well. Vegetarian and vegan food (especially vegan food) might be a little harder and while there will probably be something for you, you’d want to supplement that with your own vegan/vegetarian food because this might be a bit lacking on the wrong day. My favourite part of the school is definitely the Barraclough and it’s one of the few parts of Oakham I miss the most.
There are a lot of activities at Oakham School. They don’t cost extra most of the time. Here’s a list of most of the activities on offer at Oakham, however these activities may no longer be on or they may only be on for a period of time:
- Tennis
- Football
- Zorb Football
- Baking
- Sailing
- Duke of Edinburgh Award (walking, cycling)
- Squash
- CCF Army or RAF (Gives an idea of what being a soldier is like but no fitness test - it’s great fun and very safe)
- Choir
- Chamber Choir (More high level singing of choral music only - so no pop, RnB or stuff like that)
- Orchestra
- Big Band
- Self Defence/Taekawondo
There are definitely more activities than this and the activities selections are usually VAST!
These are other less formal activities the school can offer.
- You can go for runs around the campus.
- There are Cricket nets that can be used.
- House Football.
- There’s mental health counselling or therapy.
- Sometimes sports facilities can be used for extra practice.
- Extra Lessons (Supported Study) on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- You can go out to town, ideally in groups of two at a minimum and go shopping at the Tescos or get a milkshake at the milkshake place (I forgot what it’s called). There’s a Costa as well.
- You can explore the campus to know where all your lessons are as well as for your mental health as the weather isn’t always bad and the campus has good architecture and there is a lot of greenery also.
- At the weekends (not in lower school) you can get a Takeaway but you’re not going to be allowed to eat in the restaurant.
Other good things about Oakham School that I haven’t mentioned:
Oakham School is VERY anti-bullying. The bullying at the school is VERY cracked down upon. There might still be some bullying going on but it’s never severe and it’s taken very seriously in the school. Also, if someone is bullying you in a hurtful manner you should tell a teacher or if you don’t want to tell a teacher (which you should) then the therapy offered by the school is excellent and it is also very helpful. The therapy room has a good, comfy seat and even some legos that you can play with.
Realistically, the school is very tolerant when it comes to punishment. It is not too strict and it is quite rehabilitative. There are punishments for academic and behavioural
offences each.
The academic sanctions:
- T-Cross, just a mark on the online school record for minor infractions such as not doing the homework. DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
- 3x T-Crosses = Academic Detention. 1 hour 30 minute detention.
- 3x Academic Detention = Deputy Head’s Detention. 2 hour detention on a Saturday.
- 3x Deputy Head Detention = Internal Suspension (You have to go to lessons but you MUST NOT play in sports matches, attend sports practice and activities and you MUST walk all the way to Chapel Close to sign in every morning and afternoon). Don’t get an Internal Suspension in LOWER SCHOOL!
- Full suspension - Sent home for 3 days.
- Then expulsion.
The behavioural sanctions:
- B-Cross, just a mark on the online school record for minor infractions such as not doing the homework. DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
- 3x B-Crosses = Behavioural Detention. 1 hour 30 minute detention.
- 3x Behavioural Detention = Deputy Head’s Detention. 2 hour detention on a Saturday.
- 3x Deputy Head Detention = Internal Suspension (You have to go to lessons but you MUST NOT play in sports matches, attend sports practice and activities and you MUST walk all the way to Chapel Close to sign in every morning and afternoon). Don’t get an Internal Suspension in LOWER SCHOOL!
- Full suspension - Sent home for 3 days.
- Then expulsion.
In general, it is a lot harder to get severe sanctions for Academic reasons, Behaviour is far more important and the sanctions for behavioural offences can be more serious.
*Sanctions for bullying can be severe but they often just give a warning and a detention to start with just in case there might have been a misunderstanding if the bullying wasn’t severe or they didn’t mean to upset the person. A misunderstanding.
*Anything physical is VERY severely dealt with - can be an Internal Suspension for the first offence. DON’T HIT PEOPLE UNLESS IN SELF-DEFENCE. Try to run away and tell a teacher if someone is threatening you also.
*Vapes, drugs, smoking and sometimes alcohol is a BIG NO NO. It’s very strictly dealt with (particularly drugs). The school might provide help with overcoming vaping addictions or smoking addictions, I’m not very knowledgeable about this area.
I’ve heard rumours that being caught with drugs is an instant expulsion and they might call the police.
If this is the case I hope the school can change this strict policy towards drugs into one that better supports its students and rehabilitates them just like it does in its other sanctions policies.
Apart from drugs, the rewards and sanctions policies are relatively fair and are not overly harsh and Oakham School is relatively safe where 10 - 18 year old boys and girls can live and study in the same school in relative harmony.
It is genuinely very hard to move through the ranks of the sanctions system at Oakham.
The Campus:
Oakham School has a beautiful campus with a lot of greenery. The Groundskeepers do a PHENOMENAL job.
The Boarding Houses are fairly normal though and they are nothing fancy.
The wi-fi is available for free by using your school account credentials when you are admitted. The wi-fi is VERY FREE, it was mostly good when I was using it but some people complained about it. It blocks all the right stuff and it doesn’t over-do it with the website restrictions. It just needs to block Twitter or ‘X’ (who actually calls it that?)
The science and DT buildings have particularly good architecture and interior design.
Most of the classrooms are spacious and have windows to let in lots of natural light, making these areas pleasant places to work in.
However, the campus is quite large and so you NEED TO TAKE A TOUR OF THE WHOLE SCHOOL apart from Wilson Fields (because it’s so far away) so that you’re not late and you settle in quicker, otherwise it could take a longer time to settle in.
When you don’t know where to go at Oakham School, you could get VERY LOST. When you do know where to go at Oakham School, the campus feels small.
There is a student organiser (DON’T RIP OUT ANY PAGES OF THE ORGANISER, YOU’LL PROBABLY NEED THEM ALL) where all planned events are already typed out as well as a Red Book, a similar book that also outlines planned events as well as other important information about the school.
The not so good:
As I said earlier Oakham School cracks down on bullying and bullying is never severe (from my own experience).
Another good thing about Oakham School is that it is quite a tolerant school. It has a lot of people from different parts of the UK as well as all over the world. It’s a very diverse school and this is Oakham School’s strength.
There tends to be a WIDE VARIETY of friend groups and there are ALWAYS different types of people, each with unique interests and personalities that one would encounter at Oakham School. This is something to be CELEBRATED.
Not only does the school staff crack down on bullying, but the culture of the school is generally against bullying as well.
However, even if the school does a good job at cracking down on bullying, there is still some peer pressure that may happen in some friend groups and that’s something to look out for.
Also, although there might not be bullying, there can be cliques formed and while this isn’t always a bad thing, some cliques might be quite toxic and unpleasant at times and this might be a problem for some students but not all.
There can be a few toxic superficial students at the school as well by the nature of the school fees. The vast majority of Oakham School students are nice and friendly but there will be a few shallow people there as well that might be a bit mean. These are a small MINORITY of students at Oakham.
There tends to be more shallow and superficial people in Boarding and Flexi-Boarding than Day, but again these are genuinely in the minority because the VAST MAJORITY of people in boarding are GENUINE PEOPLE.
Dating at Oakham can be very difficult because a lot of people would be EXTREMELY SUPERFICIAL when it comes to dating and if being in a relationship is something that you’d really want and if not being in one will affect you really badly, then it might not be worth going to Oakham School because it might affect your academics as well as your broader quality of life. There still might be some genuine people at Oakham School when it comes to dating, but dating at Oakham seems pretty shallow. You might think, “Ah! I’ll never have a crush on anyone, I’m just here to study!” You’ll more likely than not like someone and it will probably affect your academics if it doesn’t go well.
Overall, the Oakham School experience can be really good, but if you genuinely don’t like it, it’s okay to just try it out for a term to see how it is because it costs a lot of money to go there so you want to have a good time so that the price is truly worth it.