Recommendations for co-ed boarding schools

[ohmygosh123]

I'm thinking about options for DD who loves being outdoors, gets on very well with boys and girls, and often better with boys as she is quite sporty and likes to be able to run around. Hence why I am thinking co-ed might be a better choice than an all girls school. Also needs to be academic, but with friendly atmosphere and good pastoral support. Any ideas please, as I'm not that well versed on co-ed boarding schools that take girls from 13.

Bradfield, Marlborough, Oundle, Rugby, Wellington, Dean Close. Latter would tick boxes for excellent pastoral care, friendly atmosphere and fantastic sport.

St Edwards Oxford? Known to have fantastic standards of pastoral care, very sporty lots of international coaches, friendly and new head has been bought in to improve academic results. Very relaxed atmosphere and quite liberal. PM me if you want to know more.

Cranleigh - marvellous place, seriously sporty (or academic) if you want to be but really, really good all rounder school. Would send my kids in a shot if I were nearer.

Friends with children at Cranleigh would agree. I understand from them primarily weekly boarding.

Yes - lots of weekly boarding (far more than in years past) although there are still a few full boarders so they're set up for it. Jealous here!

Cranleigh may say they are set up for full boarding and happily take full boarders but the full boarders are very much in the minority. My friend's DC was unhappy as a result of being one of the few left in school at the weekend.
Bradfield too has lots of weekly boarders.
OMG are you looking for a weekly or a full boarding school and do you have a preference for area or to be near an airport if you are abroad?

Kingswood in Bath

Loads of day children at Kingswood as far as I'm aware. We don't know what sort of boarding she's looking for.

Brentwood in Essex- fab school. Co-ed but teach girls and boys separately till VIth form. Boarders are in the minority but very well catered for. DD1 is a day pupils there but has friends who board and they absolutely love it. Can do full or weekly boarding.

Pastoral care is fantastic, brilliant facilities (the school is being used as a training centre for the olympics this summer.) huge range of extra curricular. CCF- Cadets from year 9.

Full time boarding. Friends who boarded, told me that it is better than weekly as you get the fun stuff at the weekends, but to make sure that the vast majority were full-time boarders. And then turn up religiously for every major event / exeat weekend.

No real preference as to area - I suppose within a couple of hours of London or North Yorkshire in an ideal world. I am more concerned with the environment / ethos of the school. Hoping for somewhere that you can excel academically (good rates of kids going to Oxbridge / Ivy League) without being deemed a swot, and lots of oportunities to be active and get involved witih things (sports, drama etc.)

Boys who were at Rugby when it went co-ed told me about the banana jokes etc and the comment was - what did the girls' parents expect to happen! I was thinking if the school was co-ed throughout then they'd be less of a novelty.

I've seen Sevenoak's prospectus and like the look of that, but it seems like alot are day / weekly boarders.

Did any parents who considered going down the co-ed route, actually end up with girls only - and did they think that was the better choice in the end. I was planning on finding a few options (including a girls school) and letter her look round and choose.

Lomond School in Helensburgh, west of Scotland is a super co ed boarding school. Too far away for you though, I would think.

I went to Cranleigh and hated it-not being picked up for exeat in a land rover meant being very much socially excluded. Just not rich enough. Also wasn't up for sex, beer, smoking etc which didn't help!

If you're open to North Yorkshire what about Ampleforth, or a bit further afield, Sedbergh. Neither are enormously academic but do their brightest pupils proud and both are excellent for sport, drama and music.

Maybe it's changed from when I was there then - lots more boarders than day pupils, and a timetable that revolved around it being a boarding school (lessons on Saturday morning, Thursday afternoons off, winter late afternoon lessons so you could have an afternoon of sport, day people called day boarders and expected to stay for supper and prep etc).

Was reasonably academic but had lots of good other stuff going on. I was only there in the 6th form but rate it significantly higher than the very academic girls boarding school I went to in Oxford (headington) which treated the boarders as an inconvenience and had very little pastoral support or other activities to offer other than the academic (which was me even though I wasn't allowed to do the subjects I wanted to do) and sport (which I was rubbish at and hated). Apparently they are still good at sport, especially things like rowing.

Is millfield any good these days? Used to have a very good reputation for sports...

Having seen the parts of the country you are interested in, it would be worth having a look at Oakham.

If your looking for full boarding choose a school where the vast majority are full boarding. Kings Canterbury? Only full boarders and a small number of day good acedemic results. Friends sent their daughter there because she has brothers they looked at Benenden and WA but chose Kings describing it as boys school with girls. Lots from DS prep have gone there all different personalities some pretty bright others just above average all bar 1 are very happy. The train links into London have significantly improved receny and driving is OK once you struggles through south London.

Given your criteria, I'd definitely say Oundle. All the other schools will do very well by a bright child but if you want an academic school then Oundle would be your best bet. There are very few Public Schools which aren't sporty.

King's Canterbury. Good academics and sport, excellent music and drama, new head who seems very on the ball..

Oh from personal experience if your intending on watching matches attend plays etc an hour and a half one way is really the maximum you can drive/ travel. We live about 1 hour and 20 mins away and that is far enough plays etc are not completely out of the question. When DS was at prep we lived at least 4 hours away and all we did was argue and moan about who was picking him up/dropping him off, got stck in bloody awful traffic and kept turning up late, I once brought him home due to illness and refused to take him back for the last three days of term because I would have to go back again, all your friends usually live relatively locally and we never attended a single thing apart from speech day because it was compulsory!

Marlborough?

I second Oakham. Very sporty but lots of other stuff for the non-sporting, and a 'scholars' society' for the very bright.

Thanks for all the ideas - I'd never neard of St Edwards Oxford, and it does look good. Seems strange that alot of the co-ed ones don't get as good results as the single sex schools (or at least the ones that post in the league tables).

I've also found Marlborough do summer courses for 6-10 year olds, so she could get an idea of what a boarding school is like, in an informal way. Has anyone ever tried this kind of thing with their DC?

From your description I would say Sedbergh would be ideal, TBH.

The co-eds generally aren't as selective as the single sex.

If you want a full boarding school then Uppingham. Proper full boarding. Oakham - don't know it but seems 50/50 boarding and day which doesn't seem to meet the criterion. Uppingham is about as well situated for both London and North Yorkshire as you can get. Plus not in the middle of nowhere so the pupils don'g go stir crazy.