Boarding school with emphasis on stem

[Aika79]

My son is currently in Y6. We live in Africa. Hubby and I have been considering boarding options for him in the UK for Y9 in 2021, as good secondary education here is limited. We’ve been to numerous exhibitions and had chats with a number of school representatives. But I’m not convinced, as many of them don’t offer stem subjects at GCSE level. Would anyone here have any suggestions on schools that take science and sports seriously?
We’ve been advised to look at Ardingly, monkton, bradfield, Malvern, rugby, Cheltenham, Wycliffe and Taunton. We’ve also received suggestions of oundle, bromsgrove, Stowe and Charterhouse.
Does anyone here have kids in any of these schools? What are your honest opinions of the schools? We would be seeking full-boarding with minimal exeats. I’m also concerned about racism within boarding houses. Am I overthinking this??

TASIS offers boarding, basketball, IB, and it’s 10 minutes from Heathrow.

ICT or any computer-science-related subject

These are different subjects, ICT is no longer available as a GCSE. As for economics and business studies, you will not find these at GCSE in an 'academic' school, they are seen as soft options.

A friends son is starting ardingly next sept. Went through all the rounds with schools focusing on the IB. Inc sevenoaks (v academic I believe). A friends nephew currently at bryanston and loves it. Sporty and academic. beautiful school grounds. Quite international community.

Pretty much any UK private boarding school will have a general studies/critical perspectives course of sorts, it just won't be examined and is usually organised in-house. If it's not needed for university entrance schools won't bother stressing kids out with superfluous examinations.

I think also you need to understand that the UK system emphasises academic breadth at GCSE, hence having subjects like philosophy/RE, classics, history and geography alongside the core of maths, English, sciences and languages. Then students are expected to specialise after that and can do only science and maths at A Level if they wish (this is not the case if you do IB or the US system for example, you still have to do breadth requirements). The mere offering of departments such as classics doesn't mean it isn't STEM focused but as previous posters have said the schools will tend to stick to the "pure" academic subjects like maths and triple science and probably not offer softer subjects like business studies as universities don't take them as seriously (though most will offer economics at A level to prepare students for a course like PPE).

I wouldn't worry about racism, there are boys from Africa in every boarding school here I've seen and the boys I know haven't experienced any racism at all (which of course doesn't mean it never happens anywhere). A bigger problem is anti-semitism which I think is significant among some cohorts at some schools, I've heard some pretty bad stories - I think that is a sign of the times sadly.

The fees are worth a thought now though, not just after you are offered a place, they can be very hefty as can the extras and also the cost of travel back and forth, either for you or your child.

I have a DS at Bromsgrove. It is half boarding and half day but most of the boarders are international students so tend to stay in at weekends. It is a busy school and the day pupils are usually in on Saturdays for sport. There are activities organised for boarders on Sundays. Sport is very strong and all pupils are expected to be part of a school team - as a way of building friendships and a sense of belonging. If you don’t like that, the school won’t suit you.

The school offers IB and A levels and it has a good reputation for STEM subjects particularly maths. The Design and Technology side is very strong but there is no real ITC offer. It’s not a highly selective school academically but does well with the DCs that it has. The pastoral care is good in my experience and I really like the ethos of Head. Please PM me if you want more information.

Most Senior schools in the UK will offer Business Studies and Economics at A Level rather than GCSE

Marcopront: the list of African schools excludes South Africa which is the most developed, educationally, than many of the countries on the list. I wouldn’t look at Sudan with much favour and many of those counties are very poor and their rich children are educated in SA, USA or the UK. Except South Africa where the standards are high and so is the university education. Their curriculum is closer to the one the op is looking for.

The other school that might work is Harrow but not sure about pre testing.

There was an armed robbery and shoot out at Michaelhouse this year, which I guess shows they weren't able to make it as safe as you'd hope.

My DS2 full boarded from yr 2 initially at prep then at Winchester College inevitably most of his friends did the same thing and we were friendly with the parents. When we all used to meet and chat over our DC's their schools etc the commonest complaint I used to hear after the cost of school fees was that they thought they were sending their DCs to a full boarding school but in fact it was a weekly boarding school and like a ghost town at the weekend. A full boarding only school is a completely different animal from a weekly boarding school. Secondly I worked in boarding schools for over five years. So Im talking from experience here not just mine but the experience of others.
If you want full boarding which you obviously do then my advise is look for. school where the either all of the vast majority full board and the rest are day pupils.But there is little now appetite for full boarding amongst UK parents so there are only a handful of proper full boarding schools left.
The big four for boys are Eton Winchester Harrow and Radley. You're too late for Winchester, unless your DS has a very late birthday your too late for Eton, Radley has I've heard changed its admission policy (it used to registration at birth) you need to look on their website, and Harrow used to pre test in yr 7 so you might be ok for there but again look on their website.
Coed full boarding schools I can think of are Marlborough again you might be too late, Uppingham, Kings Canterbury Oundle (I think it has a sizeable number of day pupils) and Rugby. A few years ago I met a women in a shop whose DS was at Malvern and she said he came home every weekend and was moaning about the drive (it was a Saturday and her DS was standing with her) someone else on here around the same time said it was full boarding only! A friends DD is at Cheltenham she definitely comes home every weekend a did the DD of my neighbour in my last house. There will be a few others, you could also look at Gordonstoun due to its location has a lot of full boarders , and maybe Milfiled.
Never forget they want your 40K+ a year and bar a few are struggling to fill all their vacancies (whatever they claim on their websites) and will tell you what you want to hear.
With regard to Cheltenham my information isn't anecdotal or second of even third hand but I don't wish to say where it comes from but it does go to show that in every school there will be blissfully happy parents and unhappy ones. My advice is pick four max that you like the look of and investigate them really carefully and find one that you like the feel of and is going to work for you.

I forgot to add that Bromsgrove offers both swimming and basketball.. They have a CCF and a volunteer programme - you can choose which you prefer. They also offer Add Maths (for top set Maths) and business studies at GCSE and Economics and/or business studies at A level and Global Politics for IB. So it seems to tick a lot of your boxes.

We have found it a really lovely, caring school (but can only agree with HappyGardening that as are all schools some may have a different experience). My son has certainly thrived and built his confidence since going there. I would suggest having a look.

Oundle are building a new swimming pool this year.

For Swimming someone mentioned Millfield, Mount Kelly is the other big Swimming school. Standards for all sports at Millfield and certainly Swimming is very high

I agree with happygardening regarding knowing exactly if you are wanting a full boarding school or not. Any school which offers weekend exeats is a slippery slope. All the boarding schools I know that offer weekly options have tended to be more weekly with just the overseas children “left behind” on Saturday night.
This for us was a key factor in choosing a school over probably anything else. For us we wanted a boarding experience where 100% of boys were in the boarding house 7 nights a week and at least 3 weeks in a sitting.
Infact we ended up selecting nearer 6 weekly boarding. This is even more rare in the UK these days! It’s not for every child either. Quite a few “full” boarding schools have compulsory exeats every third weekend (eg Uppingham).

Winchester has an exeat every three weeks, I believe Eton and Harrow do and Marlborough definitely does. Most UK parents who's children full board want regular exeats. I fully appreciate if you're abroad and will therefore have to find a guardian for exeats etc you might feel differently.

Marlborough is definitely full boarding. I am not sure when the cut off date for applications is but they are massively oversubscribed so I would suggest you need to get in early.

They have 2 teams for basketball - an under 16 and a first team. Their swimming pool is fantastic and the height can be altered depending on the sport being played in it.

my information isn't anecdotal or second of even third hand
Think your definitions of those terms are different from mine Happygardening. I would regard a DC at school X having first hand experience of being a pupil at that school. The parent of that DC has first hand experience of the school as a parent and plus experience reflected through their DCs and their friends. Anecdotal evidence is evidence relying on personal testimony (Mumsnet ) rather than collected systematically for statistical analysis. Nothing wrong with second /third hand / anecdotal experience but it is just that, whether collected as a professional or a parent.

If you're looking at Oundle, then you might as well look at Uppingham (pretty much full boarding) and Oakham (only about half) simply because they're all quite close to each other and having some moarison might help you decide. It is very difficult to decide where your DS might thrive just as a paper exercise.

Bubblysqueak You must be very near to me!

@Happygardening we have just dismissed Malvern as the Registrar has told us that it is either day or full boarding - no weekly options?

Iamacatflap
The subtext in that is fees are for full boarding or day. It does n’t necessarily mean that pupils can’t / don’t go home at weekends.
A proper full boarding type school will only allow full boarding pupils to go out on Sundays usually after some sort of service.

Abingdon has a boarding cohort and offers Maths, Add maths, physics, chemistry and biology as well as proper computing and electronics to GCSE. Amazing new science facilities. An 8 lane pool and a strong CCF and many other strenths. Ok it is mainly day boys but both weekly and full boarding.

@sendsummer completely understand. We asked this specific question and they said no and we have not proceeded further on that basis as I do want to be able to take my son home at weekends after sport

That did not use to be the case for Malvern

Maybe they have been looking at MN or are giving an admissions type answer.

"we have just dismissed Malvern as the Registrar has told us that it is either day or full boarding - no weekly options?"
I've seen a similar comment on here before so God knows what the mother I met whose DS was actually there was talking about when she said it was weekly boarding then went on to moan about picking him up every weekend???!!!
I do have to say that many schools call full boarding in school everyday everyday but Saturday when you're allowed to go home. As I said above quite a few friends came a cropper with this they were told the school was full boarding but every went home on Saturday.

Agree with PPs about Bromsgrove - they have both A level and IB so options would be open. Maths department is huge and successful, the brightest are definitely pushed in maths. Science is very strong and well resourced but ICT not really a thing there. Opportunities for clubs etc, I'm sure, but not a GCSE.

Most boarders are international (some Brits based abroad but also many foreign students from all over, especially Russia, Germany, and many East European and Asian countries) so it remains busy at weekends, despite having many day pupils. Having local kids also means some boarders get invited out at weekends which is nice.

On the practical side, school-run transport to and from airports at the start and end of half-term and term makes that side of planning easy (and no danger of a younger or less responsible boarder disappearing or missing their bus/taxi!) There are NO exeats at all, which means the overseas kids never get carted off to distant relatives or host families. I think this is quite rare, most schools have exeats.

Global Perspectives is an IGCSE subject, quite popular in international schools but hasn't really taken off in the UK yet from what I've seen. But Bromsgrove (and I'm sure most of the other schools you mention) has Politics at A level / IB.

Sport at Bromsgrove is amazing, it usually ranks top few in the country and although there is a focus on typical British sports like rugby and cricket, the athletics, swimming, basketball etc is all excellent too.

Good luck in your search!