Sherborne School(Boys) or Bedford School?

[MrWestinghouse]

Hi my son has received unconditional offers from both Sherborne School and Bedford School for A levels, which one has a better reputation and eton Harrow alike? Thanks 🙏🏻

@Piggywaspushed Thank You so much Piggy! 🙏🏻

OP,

Bedford school results

Sherborne school results

I know which one i'd choose .

Piggywaspushed - didn't Paddy Ashdown go to Bedford School?

My DS is at Bedford Prep, and we expect him to move through into the senior school (we live locally, so he doesn't board). He's happy there. He particularly enjoys the sport (hockey and cricket - he's not so keen on rugby) and music opportunities.

I have just looked it up and he did. This I did not know!

It says something that I know more that Al Murray went there

Exam results are important, but they are not the most important factor, especially if you are sending your child to another country. It is also very important that they are happy, that they have a good boarding community and lots going on at weekends and so on.

I don’t know about Bedford, but I gather there is an entrance exam. Sherborne was never very academically selective, so that could well account for much of the discrepancy in exam results.

Sherborne School is full boarding in the true sense. Nobody goes home at weekends unless there is an exeat or special circumstances. This is important for your son.

It's much more selective at A Level than at Common Entrance, yet the results don't really reflect this..

It is a renowned English public school. Bedford is not in the same league. It sounds like this is important to you. They do turn out some lovely 'English gentlemen'.

I would be questioning why the agent is pushing Bedford.

Can't persuade you to spell Redborne correctly at all then?

It's also Sherborne and not Sherbourne.

Both schools must suffer the same incessant problem!

Redborne's plight is exacerbated by there being a place not a million miles away called Redbourn!

@TonTonMacoute Thank You for your information🙏🏻 Yes, he has done the entrance exams for both! And I concur with you that academic result is certainly not the sole factor to be considered for school selection!

@Clarevoyent Thank you for your information! Actually, not only I have applied these two for my son, I had applied several schools for him including Repton and Tonbridge school. Unfortunately, they have no place remaining for 2018 entry

Have you looked at Oundle ....there results are returning back to what they were a few years ago?

Also try Uppingham...

I do agree with Clarevoyent about the full boarding experience at Sherborne. It is not clear how many full boarders are at Bedford, but there seems to be a real mix of day boys, weekly boarders and full boarders. I suspect that the percentage of full boarders is fairly small at Bedford, and that will limit what activities are available at weekends in comparison with somewhere like Sherborne.

I am quite familiar with Sherborne, my DS very nearly went there, and I know many boys who went and were very happy there. I would unhesitatingly recommend it for a boy who was coming from abroad.

@Teenmum60 Yes I do, but most of them do not have place remaining for 2018

@TonTonMacoute
Thank You so much for your personal experience sharing in regard to the Sherborne school. Do you think the boys act and speak politely from Sherborne school? My son is determined to learn the british accent as well

@MrWestinghouse

Oh definitely, yes, whenever I visited I was always very impressed by how polite and helpful the boys are. The nice thing is that they mostly learn from the older boys, who are very good at keeping an eye on the younger ones.

As with most boys schools there is always a bouncy competitive feeling, but my impression was always of a very friendly and caring school.

The school is in the town and most of the boys walk through the town several times a day to and from houses.The boys from the school seem to be well liked in the town.

If your son does go, he will find that he will be a Shiburnian for ever. What I mean is that if ever he meets another old boy it will be like meeting an old friend, even if they are from a different generation.

@TonTonMacoute Thank You so much for sharing! It's very helpful and inspirational🙏🏻

Yes the Sherborne Boys are very polite. Even when being kicked out of the pubs for being underage they remain polite

TonTonMacoute My reservation about Sherborne would be that the DS is applying for 6th form not prep/senior school.

Bedford School is a very old traditional school too it goes back at least as long as Sherborne (1550's). It has an extremely large OB club 8500 worldwide and as I stated before old links with Hong Kong and China.

The only negative aspect of Bedford School is its not in a leafy area of the UK although this is actually positive for a 16-18 year old being just a train journey into London and a bus ride into Cambridge.

I honestly dont think it matters about the mix of boarders when it comes to a 16-18 year old because all the boys will socialise together at this age.

It is however quite sporty ...I would actually show your son the locations because I feel its really important for a 16-18 year old to be in the right location - if he was joining the Prep/Senior school at 7+ or 13+ I would certainly say that Sherborne would be a better school but I am not so sure with a 16-18 year old....good luck with whatever school you choose I am sure it will work out fine.

@Teenmum60 Thank you for advising me in regard to both schools! Me and my son are really appreciate it. As a foreigner I'm not so familiar with how the locals their perspective toward both schools and I think it is important. You all have given me a lot of useful insights about both and I personally are in love with both! No doubt It is a tough decision for me and my son to make. I have dig in more in regard to Bedford school,I concur with you it is a historical old school and have produced a lot of notable alumnus! We will be making that decision next week!

@Teenmum60

I don’t see what difference it makes being sixth form entry. However, I wish OP and his DS the best of luck whichever school they choose.

Thank You so much for your personal experience sharing in regard to the Sherborne school. Do you think the boys act and speak politely from Sherborne school? My son is determined to learn the british accent as well

If your son attends Sherborne, he will quickly be able to adopt an English public school accent.

This is not the case with other more locally focused schools where he may pick up a more 'provincial' accent.

Sherborne boys are polite, good-mannered & very well-spoken without any show of arrogance.

He will also always be an 'Old Shirburnian'. oldshirburnian.org.uk

The advice about choosing a school where everyone is a full-boarder is important so that your son won't be alone at the weekends or stuck with a few other boys from abroad. This happens all the time when schools have a lot of day pupils and weekly boarders. International students are so disappointed with their experience.

If you read this thread carefully, it is obvious which school you should chose.

@Clarevoyent Thank You for the information and advice! Yes, I concur with you that many overseas student had their disappointment in regard to their school life. From what I've heard personally cos they have lack of chance to make friends locally and render incapability to speak English properly nor learning the English culture, cos some schools do not have local students. And those are the things we should avoid as oversea parents! After all, that's the main reason why we would like to send our kids to England instead of continuing studying at home. thanks again for your useful information!

OP I also live in HK, although I'm a British expat. From what you have said, I think Sherborne would be the better choice due to its full boarding status, so all the boys will be there at weekends, not just the international students.

We are considering it for DS for that reason (although we're a few years away from that decision still).

All the boys will be at Bedford school for at least part of the weekend (unless it is exeat, in which case no one will be there - not even the borders). Lessons run on Saturday mornings, and there are often matches all Saturday afternoon.