Secondary school without Rugby

[westwood2016]

Happy new year! We are looking for a high level academic and sporty secondary school WITHOUT Rugby. Our two DS are currently in a prep school where rugby is dominating their lives, which was ok until they probably both got mild concussion following a knock on the head. We have been worried about them since they started contact rugby 3 years ago, now we have seen the consequences first hand, which could potentially be desastrous. We are ready to put a stop to Rugby, although they both live and breathe for the sport, which makes it very difficult. We live in Buckinghamshire but would be ready to move within the county or closer to London, should we find a school which offers other sports as well as having a high academic level. Many thanks in advance.

Injuries are possible in all areas of life but it is also possible not to play a sport that requires so much direct full weight impact on the head and neck. Hope you find a school that doesn't play rugby OP.

Sadly people drown swimming

But participation in a structured swimming club actually decreases the risk of drowning whilst swimming elsewhere rather than increases it.

Many thanks to all who posted messages to this thread, all this was very helpful. We have finally decided to look at schools which propose Rugby as well as other sports as we now believe it would be unfair and in the end probably counter productive to take our two DS’s passion away from them. Instead we will try to increase their interests in other sports, hoping that their interest in Rugby will diminish. We are currently looking at 4 schools: Wellington College, Magdalen College School in Oxford, Merchant Taylor School and UCS in Hampstead. We would really appreciate any feedback on these schools, particularly in terms of sports but also academic level and atmosphere, teachers, students etc... Many thanks again to all for your precious help.

Rather confused as to why you want to discourage your children from doing something they obviously enjoy.

Rugby huge at Wellington. Also pretty academic these days tho.

Did you just pick these schools out of a hat?
What are you actually looking for in a school?
Those schools have very little in common,be that sporting,academic,pupil make up,importance of boarding etc..
Perhaps if you still want to play down the rugby,then you might want to rethink Wellington....lol...

Thanks for your messages. Lord Walter, I want to discourage them because of the risk of brain injury despite the fact that we all love this sport. It’s just not worth it. Other sports can procure adrenaline, team spirit, strong emotions, with not that much risks I would hope. Thanks Polista, yes it seems that Wellington is pretty big on Rugby. I also heard that they had a lot of other sports on offer, is that correct? But if Rugby is so important there, maybe not for us. Thanks Propriata, we are looking for a school with pretty high academic level, but for all rounded students who also enjoy sports, arts, debating, choir... we don’t want a “hot house” , they are still kids and they need to have time to enjoy being kids, not doing all the time. Yet they need to be challenged intellectually otherwise it would be a waste and they would get bored. We want grounds , space for them, no pollution (that’s why we prefer outside London, otherwise we thought Latimer in Hammersmith could have been a great option). And we want a school where students are encouraged to think outside the box, to be independent, kind and confident. Any ideas welcome. Many thanks in advance everyone.

Westwood Abingdon school is another option. MCS could be regarded as a hothouse simply because it is one of the most academic schools.

Wellington is a school which is very competitive about its rugby and has rugby scholarships.
UCS is in London but you say that you want to avoid London?

It’s a shame you don’t have the flexibility to move west to put Millfield in the “running”.

MCS is first and foremost a hot house, with sport and other stuff pretty difficult to get into as it’s very over subscribed.

I’ve not read back through the thread how old are your DS’s and would you consider full boarding?

You said up thread that your current school hasn’t proposed anything that “corresponds” to you DS’s academic level yet”.
So I’m guessing MCS Winchester and Eton et al have not been suggested to you. If you’re at a well established prep with a track record of sending pupils to these types of schools and they are not recommending them to you then you need to listen. They will be reluctant to support your application including providing a suitable reference if they don’t feel your DS’s arent really suitable.

Secondly Winchester which doesn’t do any rugby and offers lots of alternative sports and has no major or minor sports and in fact it’s possible to do no sport (so may not provide suffient adrenaline fuelled sport for you) requires registration in yr 5 at the latest.