planning to send my child to Boarding school in London

[Vithika]

Hi,
I am from India and am planning to send my son to a british boarding school for year 9 in 2020. We have shortlised following schools to apply:-

1. Charterhouse
2. Malborough
3. Wellington
4. Rugby
5. Concord
6. Malvern Looking for a school that is mainly full boarding (atleast 80%). Any comments would be really welcome. Thank you in advance, Vithika

None of those are actually in London, or even close by! What do you plan to do re. Exeats and half term?

I don't think any of those are in London Op, although I don't know where some of them are! Certainly some are well outside the capital, if that's important for you.

What are you asking? Which would be most suitable? Depends on your ds and his strengths.

He’ll have already needed to apply for all those school for next September I think? Have you spoken to the schools? And yes none of them are in London

None of those are in London.

Marlborough is the one which offers the fullest boarding.

Wellington has a lot of weekly boarders who go home at weekends. You need to ask the schools when you visit exactly how many pupils per year group, and how many have been in school all weekend every (non-exeat) weekend that term.

When are you coming over for a recce visit?

The schools offer numbers will be settling down in about March, so before that is probably the most helpful

Vithika how have you compiled your shortlist? It doesn’t sound as if you have made contact with any of these schools.

Have you read each of their websites and any prospectuses thoroughly? That would tell you where in the country each of them is and how to apply.

Have you registered at any of the schools?

The application process for an independent school offering full boarding often begins at least three years before the child joins the school. So for September 2020 current year 8 pupils will already know which school they will be moving to for yr 9 onwards.

OP, those are competitive schools. is your son academically talented? What extra curricular does he do?

OP - I think you may have missed the boat for entry next year. Maybe contact the schools and see if any of them would be willing to accept a late application?
And do you want UK, or London?

Hi. Greshams school in Holt, Norfolk - (I know it's not London) have a lot of international boarders and during home weekends they have the option of staying on school site. Small classroom sizes, and if your child is if senior age they have GCSE and 6th formers get to choose between A levels or IB.

You have plenty of great boarding schools in India, at a tenth of the price. We had dinner with a famous billionaire from India and it was funny to discover that they paid a year for their kids' education what we pay per yerm! I think it made us more jealous than the actual disparity in our overall wealth! We wish we could send our kids there! Plus they all end up at the best American and British universities anyways. The ones I am thinking of are Sanawar and Doon. If you are top quartile there, you go to Oxbridge, Harvard, or Wharton. Plus, the old boys' network in India is even stronger than it is in the UK. All for less than 10K per year! In many ways, India is more proper old school British than UK itself.

Giggleswick in North Yorkshire is excellent. Over 500 years old and individual attention paid to the children. Beautiful, safe and quintessentially English with a real community feel. My daughter is exceptionally happy there.

Discount Malvern and Concord. Too far from London. Do you have a consultant helping you? The first 4 will probably run transport to London but they are not in London. I’m not sure any boarding schools are. Harrow is the nearest I think. There are other schools you could consider such as Stowe, Kings Canterbury, Bedford and possibly Dulwich.

Closing date for registration for. 2020 13+ entry to Dulwich was nearly a month ago. As it has so many day pupils, they may not be as flexible towards late enquiries as those with more boarders

Hello vithika
I don't know much about the boardinh schools that you just mentioned. But I think you should consider downside Catholic school. It's a boardin school and it's only two hours away from London 😊

Concord is in shops hire and v academic and has a high % of boarders (overseas). Check out their website but I thought they did run transport to Heathrow? Until recently it had short half terms so pupils didn't need to go home.

I believe the entry exam for Concord for 2020 has already taken place...

Am pretty sure that you are too late, in some case 2 years too late, for all of those

1. You’ve missed the application deadline for all of these (I think). Email and ask - there may be different deadlines / dispensations for overseas students.

1. Do you need to be near an airport or good train links into London?

Bedford and Rugby are on direct lines. Bedford entrance exams are Jan ‘20 for Sep admission.

1. Sherborne boys and girls are full boarding and have a guardian service on the trains at end of term.

1. Some schools empty out over the weekends ie Charthouse. This can be a bit desolate for kids staying behind.

1. Contact the schools ASAP re wriggle room on application dates and ask about waiting lists / places opening up once term has started. Plenty of parents hold multiple offers, up to CE / exam / scholarship results. And unfortunately, some kids don’t settle and move in the first year.

As above, you’re most likely too late to apply, none of these are in London but some less than 1h by train. It’s also difficult to comment as you haven’t said anything about your son.

Hi, I have applied for some of those schools but as others pointed out, you missed the deadline. Generally, you need to apply for those school when your child is in Year 5 and sit pretest in Year 6. You may have the following choices. My 10 years old just sat pretest.

1. Call those schools and ask if they accept late applications.
2. Apply for 6th form entry (16+)
3. Find other schools for 13+ entry.

With the public schools I know most about it is also possibile to apply to take the scholarship exam much later in the process - (in yr 8) but that’s obviously rather a fraught and unreliable application route if you don’t already have a conditional place. (Conditional only on passing Common Entrance, which is pretty much guaranteed.)

My friend is a teacher and boarding master at uppingham lots of full boarders, they will need a U.K. based guardian (or paid one) remember. I know people who do it in Leicester for overseas uppingham and Oakham (also good but more day students) and the international students stay during holidays with them. Sometimes they do the airport runs, or students fly into Birmingham and are collected by taxi

Harrow is in London, albeit on the outskirts. Eton isn't far from Heathrow. As PP said, it isn't clear why you want a school in/near London and if it would suit your child.

Possibly the OP (who has been somewhat absent from this thread!) was using ‘London’ interchangeably with ‘England’? Not uncommon for those based outside Europe.

(Bit like the way the English say ‘Africa’ - with only a hazy grasp of the zillion, entirely separate countries contained therein.)

"With the public schools I know most about it is also possibile to apply to take the scholarship exam much later in the process - (in yr 8)"

True, but you still need to register to sit that exam, and the deadline may well have passed. Schools which already have long lists of candidates are less likely to accept a late registration.

But it is always worth asking - some schools can be considerably more flexible than others (but you really cannot count on that)

OP: could you tell us a little more about your DC? And also how important it is to be close to London?

Also, have you considered employing the services of a consultant like Gabbitas? Simply having someone else do the legwork in finding out who might accept a very late registration might be worth it

Heard of all apart from Concord.
I believe they all offee full boarding. My daughter is at Cheltenham College a couple of hours outside London.
Marlborough is in Wiltshire.
Chaterhouse (know the Head) and Wellington are closest.
Has you son took a test or have you contacted the schools? You need to apply quite early.