Independent School - suggestions?

[Louise2004]

We've started thinking about choosing a school for our son, who is now 8, for when he's aged 11-18. Somewhere not far from London (or with good links to London) would be ideal - Surrey, Sussex, Oxford etc. - and the school should preferably be mixed/co-ed and offer weekly boarding as well as full-time boarding. Any suggestions, as well as comments on your own/your child's schools welcome! (I like the look of Charterhouse, which is being talked about in another thread, but we'd like to check out at least 5-6 schools before we make our decision - we have some time!) Thanks.

What is your ds like - eg is he academic, sporting etc?

More academic than sporty (although he does enjoy swimming). He's quite musical and enjoys acting too.

Bedales in Petersfield is artistic/musical and strong on drama too. Not sure about the academic side think it is ok

Winchester College is academic, good all round really

For some reason I thought Bedales was all girls... Thanks!

I went to King's School Canterbury for sixth form and really enjoyed it (great uniform too!) but I don't know if it does weekly boarding. Definately lots of music and drama going on there. My brother went to Leigton Park (near Reading) which my mother loved - it's a Quaker school so has quite a different ethos to many, but it may be only girls in the sixth form.

Leighton Park (website here) is certainly worth a look - very inclusive and "different" - DB loved it. I loathed the whole idea of boarding myself and went elsewhere.

Is your ds at a prep school - many of the boarding schools don't start until 13 (pre test at 10/11, Common Entrance at 13). You can move him to a prep school at 11, but most boys will be in prep from 7-13.

Or are you looking specifically at schools which go from 11-18?

Thanks for all your suggestions so far.

Unfortunately he's not at a prep school as we're still living abroad. Our plan is to move back when he's 10/11 so that he can start at a UK boarding school then. If we really, really, really like a school that only starts at 13, we would try to get him into my old prep school or another prep school to fill in those couple of years (we don't know where we're going to be living yet but it will most likely be London or the area around London, or even abroad again, which is why we'd like him to have the stability of a boarding school from 11/13 until 18).

Louise2004 just popped on to check my own school thread and saw yours.
We like Charterhouse because it's local to the area we want to move too. But I've got family with kids at Winchester and they are super boys who seem to love it there. Also have mates who loved Millfield, Malborough, Eton and Harrow, but they aren't all in your area. Also Millfield is very sporty I think so might not suit.
Just wanted to tell you about a website I found useful for a general overview. It's tatlers good schools guide. Can't remember the exact address but if you literally type that into google it will come up.
Covers all the main schools and has links to their websites. Have a look and sure it will help.
Would love to hear your thoughts on which you liked and why. Good luck!

Seaford college near Petworth is lovely too, very beautiful, incredible grounds, not sure about academic side you can look that up though.

Royal Russell in Croydon has a good musical reputation
Caterham in Caterham, Surrey

Both are 3-18 and co-ed.

Oundle School - Northants.
10/15 mins from Peterborough train station, where there's a direct fast train to Kingscross (40/50 mins).

Have heard great things about Sevenoaks too.

oh yes
dh went to Oundle
It is very lovely and it has GIRLS too now!

Royal Russell and Caterham are really day schools with boarding houses attached rather than boarding schools as such. And not particularly academic (well Caterham is more so than RR).

The one thing that did appeal about RR though was that they do allow ad hoc boarding. I had visions of putting the dcs into board for a fortnight whilst jetting off to the Carribean!

But if you're considering Charterhouse or Winchester than RR/Caterham are nowhere near the same league.

Oundle has a strong cadet force, loads of sport and a brand new state of the art science building. They're also well up on engineering I think.

That would be my main comment, really - if the intention is for DS to board, then choose a school which is predominantly boarding, rather than as LadyMuck describes it "day schools with boarding houses attached" - boarders at these sort of schools get the worst of both worlds (as, IMHO, do day pupils at "proper" boarding schools)

Hi, there are some great schools in Sussex.
Have a look at Eastbourne College. www.eastbourne-college.co.uk Super facilities for both academic and sporty types. St. Bedes www.stbedesschool.org or Brighton College www.brightoncollege.org.uk.

As far as I am aware they all offer weekly/full boarding and Eastbourne and Brighton were both included in the Tatlers list recently.

Really good link into London (by rail! not car!!!) close to Gatwick if you continue to live overseas.

CGM xx

oh my sil went to st bedes

I thought it was very un-academic? Maybe has changed since 1872 or whenever she was there

Try if he's cleer to get one in the top 20 schools if you can for exam results, Times table 2007 which is schools like for boarding Westminster (6) St Paul's (5) , Eton (10), Winchester, Harrow (30), Radley (54), Charterhouse (58) Rugby (86), Marlborough (89).

But I think boarding is psychologically damaging and often morally wrong for that reason.

Epsom College, Ardingly

Agree with Xenia re boarding being damaging

They feel rejected and unloved

We know a family whose boys both board at Wellington College (berkshire I think). They love it and I understand it's very progressive in lots of ways. The headteacher is the guy who made his name at Brighton.

I'm not sure of it's league position, maybe Xenia can help

I agree, it can be damaging but if both parents work abroad, especially if they move around frequently then boarding offers stability of some sort.

I preferred the whole ethos of the day schools when we were looking.