Good boarding school (outside London) for bright London boy?

[Riversiderunner]

Hello,

I'm looking into boarding schools for my son (Year 4 but I want to get organised).

Our son's bright, brilliant at English and languages, quite sporty (vg swimmer but not mad on much else) funny, popular and kind. He's slightly shy, but I'm hoping he'll overcome this - I had the same prob at his age. He hangs out with the cool kids as he's tall and funny but is secretly a tiny bit frightened of them.

Among others on our long list (we're also thinking about London day schools) are Eton, Winchester, Marlborough, St Pauls, Kings College Wimbledon, Westminster...

Any others I should think about? I want him to be pushed academically as he's bright but (like most boys) happy to coast if he can get away with it.

I'd like him to board as my husband and I both did and LOVED it,
and think he'd love it too (he's v keen). He has a younger brother and a sister but am not fussed by single sex/co=ed.

I'd love to hear any suggestions for good schools I should look into. I have the Good Schools Guide and am working my way through that, but everyone on here seems pretty expert so I'd love to hear any opinions from parents of boys who are a bit ahead of me!

Thank you x

Weekly vs Full boarding,

It depends what they do on Saturdays. If Saturdays are lessons in the morning followed by matches in the afternoon, then weekly boarders will finish at 5pm or after the return of their away match, only to return on Sunday just after Supper.

That may be so Tough but just because "full" boarding is provided as an option it doesn't mean a school is a "full boarding school."

My brother did really well at Radley, and the pastoral support seemed genuine and very good. He also flourished, surrounded by opportunities for sport, art, music etc, at all times, and has remained very good friends with all those he grew up with. Worth a look perhaps?

That'll teach me to leave out the clearly not obvious " ".

I was only quibbling for fun Tough. Mea maxima culpa an' all that ...

Ok to make my point clear and I was told by the head and the boy who showed me round that the vast majority are weekly boarders. Yes you can full hoard there but most don't. At the time we'd just fallen a cropper for this at DS's prep, the vast majority only weekly boarded, yes you could fill board (DS did) but most didn't they went home Sat Pm and came back Sunday evening it was thoroughly miserable for those left behind. I looked at Tonbridge liked it but we were about to move and wanted full boarding therefore I wasn't going to do another five years of DS being in a small minority every weekend, We also turned down the place at SPS for this reason. So to repeat what I said above if for whatever you want full boarding my advise after 11+ years of full boarding choose a school where only full boarding is offered. Gruach is right full boarding only schools have a completely different ethos to those which have a mixture of full boarding weekly flexi etc.

Thanks all. Yes Radley's also on the list tho as I've only just put him down I wonder if it may be too late - aren't you meant to do it super early?

And yes I know it will be expensive compared to state schools - I wouldn't be looking into this so deeply if that hadn't occurred to me!

Will also look up Brighton College and Epsom too, thanks v much. Also interesting re St Pauls and shyness. We live b near the school which is a massive bonus, tho I'm more inclined towards boarding, so will have a look and speak to friends whose boys are there.

Also interesting re state boarding. A friend has a daughter at Holyport and raves about it.

Thanks all! X

I'll be interested to see how Holyport develops - and whether its relationship with its mentor school is maintained now Tony Little has left.

Re Radley - they keep 20 ish places open to non registered boys each year called the Wardens List. Or you can also enter via by winning a scholarship if you have not registered your son.

Radley btw IS ONLY FULL BOARDING.

One consideration for a number of these schools now is that they will require the ISEB pre-test in Yr 6 so you need to register in Yr 5. I know St Paul's and Westminster do and Harrow has just introduced it (looking at the Harrow website, they require a reference from the school by the end of Yr 5 before you can sit the pre-test).

So if you are considering moving to a prep school you may be better moving for the start of Yr 5 if you want to prepare for the pre-test.

I wonder if Harrow (or any other school) slightly regrets the unstoppable publicity that comes from being the subject of a TV series.

Obviously it's good to let the world know what you actually offer (rather than what people might have imagined) but they have clearly been overwhelmed by the extra interest. Being incurably nosey I'd love to know if, in the next few years, they see a difference in intake as a result of the new exam hurdle.

Radley is also introducing a pre test. They are changing admissions. Check out the website.

OP it seems to me that your list is very long and you could easily end up getting very confused and overwhelmed many are basically peddling,y the same stuff, nearly all have identical websites, open days were bright eyed and bushy tailed head teachers fawn all over you and shiny pupils show you round breath taking facilities which if you currently in the state sector your going to be very impressed with I suspect. As one parent in a particularly loud voice said as we were shown round a very famous schools which has to remain nameless "For 32k (this was 2008) they all got Olympic sized swimming pools, manuscripts going back to the 13 th century and manicured lawns but what I want yo know is what is the ethos that underpins this place?". That's what counts IMO. I can find plenty of school with better much facilities that DS2's school, better results (not many in fairness), Olympic coaches, better food and single rooms instead of dorm of 8 in yr 11 but it's the ethos at his school that suits us all and that is why it works.
Narrow down your choice, do you want super selective or very selective, day or boarding, full boarding only (this really reduces your options) or weekly, urban or rural, coed or single sex. Start with a few spend all your time looking at them attend their open days talk to parents with DC's there see if you can attend a play concert meet as many teachers and pupils as you can preferably not on open days when everyone in meant to be on their best behaviour, listen watch ask difficult questions remember if it matters ask, never assume, keep watching listening and watch and listen again then hopefully you'll find the right one for all of you.

On paper these schools all look wonderful and how on earth can you choose between them. This is where you are at a disadvantage at a state school, as a PP pointed out.

We had excellent advice from our prep school head. He visited senior schools regularly, and was familiar with the different structures and ethos of the schools, as well as knowing our DS. He was able very quickly to eliminate several schools that we had been quite seriously considering, and saved us from several pointless school visits.

I believe the GSG have a school finding service. They might be able to offer you some useful help that you won't get from your current school, although it won't be free like MN .

Indrid is right OP you can't beat the advise of a good prep school head who not only knows the individual child and his/her parents because we need to feel happy with our choice as well but also the schools themselves. The GSG and others offer advise but they don't know your individual child and his parents like a good prep school head will.
Unless your hoping for a generous bursary (this will seriously influence your choices) if you can afford the fees in the future then Im assuming you can afford them now yr 4 is a good time to move to a prep so I would suggest you find one to get help.

Thanks all again. Yes I do see that being at a good prep would really help in terms of narrowing down the options but hope to get away without moving him to one til Year Seven. Will talk to his tutor who is v knowledgeable.
Thanks for all advice - v much appreciated.