Oundle vs Badminton

[lucinday]

Hi, my daughter is currently in yr 9, with both offers from Oundle, and badminton, which school suits best for her? She doesn't want to be too academic, and perfers creative subjects and languages. And she will be boarding. Any comments will be appreciated.

No idea about Badminton.
Oundle v Badminton is quite an odd choice as geographically I presume they are miles apart. .
Oundle is a hard working school where academics comes first. Allcomers are welcome in that I would say it has a very diverse intake and children have a wide range of interests. Sport, music, art, debating ...whatever are all equally respected. Children make themselves busy doing whatever it is they love to do.
It’s not for children who aren’t proactive with organising themselves and wanting to do a good job in all they do. You don’t have to be super brainy to get in but you might get ushered out at 16 if you don’t tow the line and work hard....
I literally have no clue about Badminton. I thought it was a horse event. Didn’t realise it was a school aswell .

And I presume you mean you dd is in year 8. Most people join the school at year 9 and not year 10. I would not want a daughter to join a school after this point. Getting girls to crack into a pre made friendship group can be tough. (Boys more welcoming.) Several join for A levels.

Thank you so much leftandaright. Your comment is very useful. And even though geographically the two schools are pretty far apart but it doesn't really matter to her since our family live oversea and is boarding.

Oh and she's in yr9 now but she's born on Aug30th so it doesn't really matter if she joins at yr9 or 10. Although the offer from Oundle is for a place in yr 9

@lucinday , I don't know where in the world you are based but the 10 day hotel quarantine for currently 33 countries that starts next week in the U.K. has not made children enrolled in a boarding school exempt. This is going to have a big impact on oversees boarding in the U.K.

What the flying fuck is Oundle?

Can they not try both sports before they pick?

hi Singingrain1223, we lived in Channel Islands and we are not required to quarantine, but sadly we can not visit school site as we have to self-quarantine when we back to Channel Island.

That's good news! I would go with the nearest to home.

I know nothing about Badminton but my DD played hockey against Oundle and the girls were lovely. I mean really great. The matches were close to London where I assume many families lived and parents and grandparents came to watch the girls play even though they were boarders. It was just normal and right somehow. The girls loved seeing their families but clearly also wanted to go back to their team and friends. Really nice to see. So, I have no real info at all but Oundle seemed splendid.

@lucinday

hi Singingrain1223, we lived in Channel Islands and we are not required to quarantine, but sadly we can not visit school site as we have to self-quarantine when we back to Channel Island.

I’d quarantine then. Surely actually visiting a school before deciding is important to you?

I think it’s best to visit a school when it’s full of children. Otherwise it’s just facilities and all schools seem to have fantastic facilities don’t they? I can’t imagine any school has better than Oundle but that was not a factor for us in choosing the school, much more about eyeing up the pupils and seeing how they interact with each other and staff. We were really impressed with the Oundle pupils so chose that school over others we had looked at.
We were gunning for a full boarding school which values hard work - and that’s what we have got - and really happy with the school. The online provision has been fantastic but I imagine that and quarantine will all be gone by September. I hope!

Yes hopefully the quarantine will be gone by the new term. And thank you for your comments leftandaright, they are very helpful to me. So probably choose Oundle. Badminton seemed more academic and especially for science, which my DD is not that good at. She probably suits Oundle more. No that Oundle is not 'academic' just that Badminton seemed to pay more attention to that area.