6th form boarding

[floandbo75]

Hi all

we are originally from UK and moved to Seattle 6 years ago. My eldest daughter wants to come back to board full time from Sept 2021 for 6th form studying all sciences and maths, with the goal of going into medicine at university.

She has applied for Chartehouse, Epsom, Reeds, Ardingly, Kings school and Worth. (we kept our options open)

Our home before moving to USA was in Kingston upon Thames, so the first 3 schools are perfect for location as she can be near family friends. But as she is full boarding I am not too worried, it would just be a bonus to be close to some people she knows if she needs a weekend away.

Neither my husband or I are from private schools, nor do we come from money so I am a little worried about her fitting into some of these schools. Its been so hard this year and we have not been able to return to UK to visit.

She is very confident but was bullied badly in middle school here in the USA, I think that's why she threw herself into her studies. She has a good sense of style (individuality), she's a pretty cool kid and fun to be around and an amazing caring person. She has been working with kids with autism for the last 5 years helping them to fit into the school and community and has built amazing friendships with these children.

She just keeps true to herself which I respect, but here in America its all about clicky groups (the movies are true) - and that just doesn't work for her. She considers England to be her home and actually she was the one that came to me and asked if she could return to UK to board. She is not particularly sporty but loves playing football and volleyball and plays in the cello in her school orchestra. she also enjoys performing arts but again this isn't something she has done at particularly high level.

Any advise would be appreciated please.

sorry I cant work out how to edit... but with the current situation we have not visited any of these schools. We found out she was offered a place at Kings School but we need to accept by December 4th. we may or may not have found out about some of the others but then.....

making this process even harder.

Can comment on Epsom. Good coed mix - pretty much 50/50 in school now and quite a few girls join in 6th form. Reeds and Kings only have girls in 6th form and not sure what affect that has on culture and feel of school. Medic society and plenty of support for aspiring medics. It's a school with mostly day and weekly boarders but there are enough full boarders. But I would check on this to be sure it's what you expect. Whole school including day students in school from 8-6 every day and until after matches on a Sat. Social life in school hours mostly revolves around your house during the week - even day pupils have houses. Sunday's might be quieter - they have a brunch instead of breakfast and think they have some trips and in 6th form can probably go into Epsom.

Loads of activities - students are busy academically and with their interests. So many options and everyone has to do activities- it's built into the school day, not optional. Volunteering opportunities which they can do during week. DD volunteered at a primary school for a year and then at a charity with a young teenager with a brain injury. Staff are v engaged and know the students really well.

My DD was day girl and we often had a friend for exeats from the boarding houses. They were international students and seemed v happy. One joined in 6th form and the other joined at 13.

It's a school where students are expected to work hard and do well. Kids always seem happy and engaged/purposeful. Great for a fairly confident student.

There might be girls football as a fun option or may be changing. The boys play football and wouldn't surprise me if there was a girls team. Performing arts - fantastic productions and everyone encouraged to audition and join in. Lots of music opportunities.

Thank you! Epsom seems to be the school of choice by many as its seems like a good all rounder school. The problem we have this year is their application process is delayed so we might not know if she gets in until after the other schools have asked for an acceptance. I was surprised that Kings have only given us until December 4th to say yes or no.

If you are going to be staying in Seattle then one of the main questions I would be asking is how many boarders are in the houses each weekend. I am a housemistress in a boarding school and v happy if you want to PM me any questions (IMO my school is the best in the country, and not listed here, but I might just be biased ;) )

That's really difficult! How different are the dates? Any chance you can get them to delay a bit? Can you afford to lose the deposit? We had to do that for school for my DS. His first choice school was several months after another school that offered first,

I agree with DeffoJeffo that you must check number of full time boarders. Ask for the actual numbers now and in her year.l to be sure it meets your needs.

Even though you have the offer from Kings, it may not be the right school for her simply based on that.

Thank you, yes I agree that think the number of full boarders will be important, although if she is in or near Surrey there are many places for her to go at weekend but that's not fun going from place to place each weekend either.

She might have to take that risk of losing the deposit yes - I hadn't thought of not.

DeffoJeffo thank you for your offer I might just take you up on that.

Hi many other schools are an easy train journey to south London area or the schools that are proper 'full' boarding eg Oundle and Uppingham would keep her well occupied until exeats where she can be in London in an hour. Oundle definitely have girl's football but not sure about Uppingham, (most likely). Other ideas could be Marlborough, St Catherine's or Downe House.

I would also look at 'proper' full boarding. I think she will have a much nicer experience there, get closer to the others and have plenty of houses to visit once she makes friends.