Please help on school advice Cheltenham College/Bedford School/Ardingly College

[koshan]

Hello all, my boy is applying Year 10 full boarding school in UK. As we live overseas, we have little knowledge on the schools and am so delighted to see a lot of useful opinion here. Would you please advise us from the following perspectives?

1. I like the culture in UK very much and want to immerse my son into the gentlemen culture and make more friends from the country. We want an open and friendly atmosphere that encourages creativity and exploration.
2. We appreciate balanced academic, sports and social activities. Boarding school life is much treasured. Can you advise the proportion of boarders stay over weekend, or boarding experience of the schools?
3. Pastoral care, conduct and reputation of schools.

Thank you very much. Koshan

Over everything I would make establishing the exact number of actual full boarders i.e. not going home at the weekends even just for night Saturday my first aim, schools are notoriously economic with the truth when it comes to numbers who full board (never forget they want your money) If weekly boarding is offered then its likely that the vast majority in school all weekend will be non UK students this may not help in your desire to "immerse my son into the gentlemen culture and make more friends from the country". Having established this I would base most of my decision on that; choose the one which has a high % of full boarders if most other must haves are equal and most boarding schools offer a broad curriculum with a good balance of academic sports and social activities and will claim to have good pastoral care which is largely true.
In terms of reputation Im not quite sure what you mean? None are "big names" like Eton but are well regarded.

Ardingly has a significant day/weekly/flexi boarding contingent but is handy for Gatwick for overseas pupils. It follows IB in 6th form but has a more rounded reputation for sport and arts than academic (CE entry grades tend to be lower than several other local independents) . Reputation as supportive of those with Specific Learning Difficulties. Not at all sure what you mean by "gentleman conduct" , it is co-ed after all!

Thanks happygardening and Lizs for your advice. May I further ask for any sharing of experience on the boarding life, academic results and reputation in terms of any good stories or adverse incidents happening to these schools? Many tks.

Cheltenham seems to have a fair number of overseas students, many starting at year 10 as well as year 9, and runs an international orientation programme at the start of every year. I think there are some weekly boarders; full boarders are asked to stay in "at least 50%" of Saturday nights - note that this of course doesn't include exeat weekends. They do have lessons Saturday mornings and some sport Saturday afternoons. My daughter chooses to stay in most of the time but I understand her house can seem quite quiet some weekends - which suits her.

I would ask specific questions about the boys' houses on offer, numbers of full boarders and range of international students.

In terms of balancing activities, my daughter is kept busy and has needed some help from her housemistress and tutor at times to get the balance between sport and music demands. Academically the school seems to be working well to enrich their top end (my daughter is a dual scholar).

I don't yet know the new headmistress much but have heard good things.

I hear mixed things about Cheltenham TBH but in fairness if you start a thread about any school you’ll get mixed opinions so not sure how helpful this is!
Have you actually visited the schools I appreciate this is difficult if you’re abroad but I would really recommend that you do this or do you have a friend in the UK who knows you and your DS and could do this for you? At the very least draw up a must have list, what is your DS interested in, what sport for example do the school offer it? Is he musical what level is he playing at? When DS2 was at boarding school the commonest complaint I would hete from friends with DC’s at other boarding schools after loaning about the fees it was their annoyance that they were paying g for full boarding but the place was empty at the weekend their next mins was that the DC was a fanatical golf player or jazz trumpeter etc and then moan because at their choose echool this wasn’t offered. On herexI once read a comment about DS2’s school missing that it didn’t offer business studies (or something similar) at A level there is only one answer to thus why didn’t you at the very least read the website, never assume if it matters to you ask. Fees are high even the wealthiest moan about then I don’t understand why people don’t establish that these things exist before signing up it’s not rocket science.
Have you considered other schools or are these your only options? I personally would recommend St Edwards in Oxford as would many on here pastoral care is excellent it offers a good balance of academia and other stuff, currently mainly full boarders, some would argue it might have more of a “reputation” although it’s not Eton, and Oxford is a great city with lots to do better links to Heathrow. But it is becoming very popular so there may not be a space.
I don’t mind you PMing me if you want to know more.

Moaning not loaning about the fees bloody autocorrect!!
And moaning not missing what’s wrong with the word moaning!!

I appreciate very much for your advice on checking the boys boarding house as well as matching any offer of his interests with the schools' offer. This is very practical.

As to choice of schools, we would welcome suggestions and are actually open as we do not have preference on cities, but a balanced ciraculum of academics, boarding life and immersion into a gentlemen-like culture. Many thanks.

Can you tell more on St Edwards? I also heard of Dauntsey's school. Any comments please?

My husband also wants to thank for the advice of all of you and all these are very useful to foreigners like us, as it is a very big decision in sending our boy of 14-year-old for the first time aboard. Many thanks!

Can you clarify what you mean by "gentlemen like culture" ? It gives the impression you are looking for a boys only traditional public school but those you name would not be like that, very few are. You may struggle to find many schools taking applications for year 10, as it is an unusual time to join. Who has made those particular suggestions?

Sorry for the confusion. What we mean is good education to train up a boy into a gentleman with good manner and sincere characters.

We met some school agents that suggest Dauntsey and Warwick, apart from Cheltenham, Bedford and Ardingly. Therefore we are considering these schools.

I would be wary of limiting yourself to those suggesting by agents who may be financially biased towards certain schools. Still not clear what you mean, or if it really exists! Have you ever visited UK ? Were either of you educated here? What are your expectations?

At most boarding schools the expectation of good manners and civilised behaviour is a given my DS2’s school motto is “Manners Makyth Man”.
With regard to sincerity most main stream schools wouldn’t be able to turn a nasty little thug into a sincere kind individual but assuming this is not your DS then generally they build on existing positive characteristics.
I’ve PMd you.

Warwick is fantastic but is primarily a day school with lots of local boys. It has one small boarding house which seems to be primarily for international students. I wouldn’t want to put anyone off an otherwise excellent school but I am not sure that I would want my DC in such a small boarding community.

In the area, perhaps take a look at Bromsgrove which has a bigger boarding community and a good balance of academic, sport and pastoral care. It is also certainly very focused on creating well mannered, kind and ethical DCs. Although if you want the traditional old impressive buildings of some schools, then this would not be the place for you. The campus is very modern and the older buildings quite low key.

Some other options may be Repton in Derbyshire or Malvern in Worcestershire. Both are full boarding, offer lots of sport but are smaller than many boarding schools and because they are further away from London tend to have more last minute places.

Otherwise from the 3 you have mentioned, I have friends with DC at Cheltenham. They are generally pleased and their DC seem happy although for all of them it was their second choice school.

Many thanks for the information on Warwick, as well as some new names like St Edwards and Bromsgrove, which I will try connect.

Just a thought, your comment about the gentleman culture is concerning, these are modern schools for modern children - yes they will insist on manners and discipline to an extent but they aren't like the 1960's movies. My daughter and her friends smuggle in vodka and go to Nando's just like kids who don't board. Many aren't that formal these days so do your homework (my neighbours are day students at a boarding school and got terrible results, worse than mine who were state educated, dd only boards for 6th form due to bursary)

Thanks for reflecting the reality nowadays. I hope teachings from home, church and boarding school together can bring out the goodness of children in manner and kindness.

As the OP isn’t in the UK state education as in UK state education is clearly not an option for her!
There is some evidence often quoted by state boarding schools that boarding improves exam results I don’t knoe how true this is. But the whole point of sending your DC to a good boarding school with lots of boarders is that you getting a complete package education in terms of the three Rs and extra curricular stuff etc.