Boarding School in UK with engineering Year 9 boy

[jannywsc]

Please advice if any of the all rounded (which means school not only concentrate on academic result) boarding school with a quite good rate (10% or above) to Oxbridge. My DS is planning to go for Year 9 by Sep 2016. He is now studying in Band 1 School of Hong Kong.

Sorry, forget to mentioned interested in boarding school with engineering centre or something like that.

janny The main problem is that you are too late to take part in the normal application process for some of the major boarding schools. Although you should still have time for a scholarship application.

Some of these schools have impressive Design and Technology departments as well as extensive science facilities.

Which schools have you considered so far?

Here's an example. But, as I said above, you would have to apply to take the Spring 2016 Scholarship exam and would only be offered a place if your son was awarded a scholarship.

I'm sure other posters will be able to talk about the possibilities at other schools.

Tonbridge is the first one I thought of it would meet all your criteria they have an excellent DT dept and offer an DT/engineering scholarship but the downside it's basically weekly boarding and they pre test in yr 6 although maybe not if he can win a scholarship.

Year 9 is age 13/14 I think.

Please do not 'hot house' your child at such a young age. Give him/her time to decide for himself at a more mature age as to which career they may follow.

Oh excellent. Late application possible to Tonbridge from HK

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partial I wouldn't worry - no decent boarding school would allow any child to neglect a rounded education for the sake of one subject. A school like Tonbridge would simply (I assume) make sure the child had a good grounding in all the subjects that might lead to whatever undergraduate course they're interested in.

If you don't do the right GCSEs and A levels you won't get a place on an engineering degree course. It is not hot housing, it is making sure you tick the right boxes and have some practical engineering/technology skills to keep options open. There will be schools with vacancies who produce engineering students. Just not the big names maybe.

Tonbridge IMO is an excellent school I really liked it when I looked at it, the head was at one time the surmaster at SPS having worked his way up through the ranks there, and has brought a lot of it's ethos to Tonbridge. There's lots of emphasis on sport as well as academia. But only 10% from outside of the UK and 40% day boys there will be few full boarders which is why DS didn't apply.

Don't know if it is still the case but Oundle was always strong in that area.

partial I've very carefully reread the OP's original post (I be the first to admit I don't always do this) I can't see the words "hot house" in it but I can clearly see the words "all rounded" and "not only concentrate on academic results" so unless my understanding of those two sentences is totally incorrect I definitely get the impression that the OP is not looking for a hothouse. The OPs DD is 12 going on 13 many make up their mind at this age what they want to do, and a school like Tonbridge will encourage him because of it's very impressive DT dept but it will also provide an all round education with emphasis on drama sport as well as the academic so should the OPs DS decide at a later date that he'd rather pursue a career in say art history then I'm sure they will encourage him and provide every opportunity for him to pursue this as a career as well.

Sevenoaks is an excellent school and very hot on technology. It's not a hot house and it has lots of international students. It's hugely oversubscribed so you might have a challenge there

Thank you for all of your advice above. Actually I am not looking for school with engineering as hot house. Just my son like something about car making or plane making and he would like to be a pilot in future, therefore I just plan for finding a full boarding school with DT Centre which like to be having something that he is interesting in. I heard about Oundle and Tonbridge, but Tonbridge reject him to apply already. Oundle is still waiting for reply. Sevenoaks should be mainly academic school. But would there be any others that is full boarding and have DT Centre as well? Thank to all.

Sevenoaks is not a mainly academic school, it is an all rounder. My DSis teaches there and it is definitely not a hot house. It achieves very good results but not a hot house.

King's Canterbury is a full boarding, all rounder school with a good number going on to Oxbridge each year. There is a strong DT department.

Someone told me once that Charterhouse does car making etc but again it's primarily weekly boarding.
If he wants flying ST Edards Oxford has a very good ACT (Air Training Corp) all I think get a chance to fly, not a hot house although not the 10%+ Oxbridge entry but it is full boarding offers a broad curriculum in a caring environment.

Oundle is an excellent choice for engineering with the brand new purpose built SciTec Centre specifically aimed towards engineering. It is famous for it's fantastic engineering, science and all round education and has a reasonable proportion of overseas students to make your DS feel comfortable away from home. Car building is one of their specialities and children are encouraged to build buggies from scratch or bring in a vehicle to be stripped down and re-built! Sorry I do not know anything about Tonbridge so can't comment.

If you don't mind where in the UK as long as it is within easy reach of an airport, Merchiston Castle in Edinburgh is also particularly strong on engineering and an all round education. MC is smaller than Oundle but produces excellent results and also has enough overseas students to create a vibrant multi-cultural mix.

I would second Merchiston castle , great all round school and small enough that all the boys and teachers know each other very well. Great record of achieving Arkwright (engineering) scholarships and enter lots of engineering competitions at the senior level. Over 70% boarding so full weekend programmes and lots of Hong Kong students too.