Senior Schools offering football?

[DFly77]

Dear All - recently moved to the UK from USA. DS is Year 6 at Aldro in Surrey. Researching senior schools offering football as the primary sport. Aware of Bradfield but are having some difficulty building upon that list. DS is fine academically + athletically, but he really misses playing football. He was on a regional youth team in the US, but has't been able to play since moving to the UK. Either all-boys or co-ed is fine. Ideally within 1.5hrs from London.

Thoughts + suggestions greatly appreciated! TY.

Do you mean American Football, or soccer?

Op says she's already in UK, so I'm assuming she knows UK terminology.

Most schools offer football as their main sport for boys (state sector). I can't think of any schools that don't offer it at all these days (private sector), but there are several that prioritise rugby to a significant degree.

If your DS is talented, then the elite pathways are via the club system, not schools. So if your looking for somewhere to move, then look for towns/cities with clubs that have good junior development/academy programmes and have hi join a grassroots club which will lead to him being spotted if he's any good.

Charterhouse.

Hello, if you're in Surrey, consider ACS Cobham. They have an extensive football (and other sports calendar). I have friends with children there and they participate in lots of sporting activities over the school year. I have them on Instagram, and they have a dedicated Sports Insta as well. Have a look?

Sorry for any confusion; I was referring to proper football (the beautiful game!) not American football 😂

Also, DS is by no means interested in doing the club route, he just prefers playing football over rugby. And as his parents, we love that he prefers football to rugby!

We toured Charterhouse and Bradfield, and while both were great, we preferred Bradfield for its smaller, more intimate feel. The tour experience likely played a big part, but Bradfield left us with a much warmer, happier impression compared to Charterhouse.

Unfortunately, the other schools on our list—Cranleigh and Stowe—are heavily focused on rugby and have very little, if any, football, which is disappointing since we liked them both.

I’ll look into ACS Cobham (I wasn’t familiar with it before) and will hope to hear back from some Mumsnet members about other recommendations.

Tnx all!

In my experience most uk school (state schools) have football as there main sport plus there are loads of clubs around. You say he’s not interested in a club but surely if he misses playing he would be.

Acs cobham has fantastic football facilities which are used by the Chelsea foundation teams and development teams. Boys and girls. I can’t speak for their pupil football clubs but do know under the American educational system the terms will be shorter

@DFly77 , go onto the charterhouse /sport website page and then football / fixtures / a team like U16A and you will see the schools that play football - Bradfield, Eton, Bedes, Winchester, Ardingly, Whitgift, Epsom College and Hampton. My ds is at Hampton and these are the teams they play. At Hampton you choose football or rugby and play it for 2 terms.

Lancing College’s main sport is football (cricket is summer), no rugby at all.

Also all the ds at private day schools play club football on a Sunday and train with their club 1 night a week as well as school football on a Saturday. You need the club football too.

Yes Hampton play lancing too.

Thank you all. You have given me some wonderful leads for further investigation! Will update as we learn more. 🤗

Most of the London day schools - boys and co-ed - have football as a major sport for at least one term when younger and most offer non- contact rugby these days.

Good luck! I know my friend chose ACS Cobham specifically for football and athletics. Just remember its not a GCSE/A-Level curriculum there, they do the IB/AP's etc. But it doesn't make any difference to the kids as they all end up at the same universities!