Looking for full boarding girls schools

[AmazingGrace2009]

Grateful for some advice: I’m looking for a genuine full boarding girls school (e.g. more than 70% full boarders) for my two DDs for Y7 and Y9. We live overseas so I do wish that the boarding houses will provide organised activities for boarders and will not be emptied with only a few international students left at weekends. I weight more on pastoral care and school environment (e.g. with nice teaching staff / school team, friendly neighbourhood, etc.) but if the schools are academic (no need to be hothouse though) is certainly a plus. 2 hours from London is acceptable.

I heard that some boarding schools claim that they are full boarding but they in fact flexibly allow students to go home on request. Some boarding schools may also tend to shift from full boarding to weekly boarding. This kind of information just can't be found simply from the ranking table or from the school websites. If there is any information from parents, it will just be great. Thanks!

Please am looking for theraputic boarding school for troubled girls age 14 to 18 years .

Heathfield / Benenden?

@Milliemimi

Please am looking for theraputic boarding school for troubled girls age 14 to 18 years .

You need to start your own thread for something as specific as this. Boarding schools are the last place a troubled child should be. Boarding schools are not “therapeutic” places. They are schools where you stay over in order to take advantage of being in a community and accessing interests that you may not be able to get at home. They suit independent and assured children, in general. Any troubled teen needs hands on support of their parents and/or trained medical support. For troubled teens, you will need to go via a mental health channel I would think and avoid any standard British boarding schools.

To the OP, I am not sure if there is a website which lists the true full boarding percentage. I would say this, where there exists any opportunity to go home, many will. Schools will try and hide the numbers but it is alwasy the case if the option exists, once one starts going home (for a party?) everyone else soon follows.
So look for a school with fixed exeats and no flexi weekends. Boarding schools like Uppingham and Oundle (both mixed so no good for you) allow the children out at half term and sometimes one weekend either side of half term where every child must leave the school. You cannot go home on any other weekends. That’s the sort of thing you need to look for but for girls only schools. You’ll never find true weekend boarding numbers from any schools that allows flexi weekends ....

I've got friends with girls at St Mary's, Ascot which seems fairly strict on its exeats.

Cheltenham Ladies, Sherborne, Wycombe Abbey and Downe House may be suitable.

Thank you

My DD is at Mayfield School in East Sussex and she has been very happy there, started in year 7 and just about to leave year 13. My DD is a day girl but looking at her class list I would say boarders are 50/50 to 60/40 split in favour of boarders. Our school do offer weekly boarding with a coach up to London on a Friday night. They also offer flexible boarding but this is mainly for day girls. It is difficult to say as each year group can vary. What I would say is that the day girls and boarders mix very easily and school keep the boarders busy at the weekend. Throughout the years I have had many boarders stay at our house for trips out or even getting ready for a social with the boys at Tonbridge School!

I believe Benenden was a full boarding school up until very recently but I think they are now accepting day girls.

Good luck with your search OP.

Hi
Thank you so much . I will have a look at Mayfied school .

Benenden is indeed taking day girls from next September , but only a handful - the school will still be overwhelmingly boarding. They only offer full (ie, not weekly ) boarding, but by the time they get to sixth form , the majority of UK based girls do go home most weekends(after Saturday morning lessons). We have been very happy with the school for our two girls.

@AmazingGrace2009

Grateful for some advice: I’m looking for a genuine full boarding girls school (e.g. more than 70% full boarders) for my two DDs for Y7 and Y9. We live overseas so I do wish that the boarding houses will provide organised activities for boarders and will not be emptied with only a few international students left at weekends. I weight more on pastoral care and school environment (e.g. with nice teaching staff / school team, friendly neighbourhood, etc.) but if the schools are academic (no need to be hothouse though) is certainly a plus. 2 hours from London is acceptable. I heard that some boarding schools claim that they are full boarding but they in fact flexibly allow students to go home on request. Some boarding schools may also tend to shift from full boarding to weekly boarding. This kind of information just can't be found simply from the ranking table or from the school websites. If there is any information from parents, it will just be great. Thanks!

I believe St Mary's Ascot is genuinely 90%+ full boarders, with defined exeats and PACKED weekends. Exactly the sort fo school you're looking for in this aspect.

Heathfield has day girls but is traditional boarding for the majority. It’s small and friendly and the staff know everyone.

I read the question as a boarding school which was full up and immediately wondered why you wouldn't be looking for one with spaces!

Boarding schools are not a good choice for your children

Have you looked at Roedean? They have a high percentage of boarding.

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions! I’ve gathered the following school names from the threads –

St Mary’s Ascot
CLC
Sherborne Girls
Downe
Wycombe Abbey
Beneden
Mayfield
Roedean
Heathfield

DDs are not top tier pupils academically but they like ballet dancing, music and drama. A moderately academic school provided with co-curricular activities they like would be a good fit. I'll do further research on the suggested schools. Many thanks!!

I would take Heathfield off your list. They have increasing numbers of day girls and a lot of boarders are now going home at weekends. A key indicator a school is full boarding is whether or not they have Saturday morning school. Heathfield does not. It did always used to be full boarding though which is why previous posters will have listed it.

Benenden, St Mary’s, Downe House and Wycombe Abbey are probably the most full boarding.

Wycombe Abbey very academically selective so based on your update I sense it might be too much too pressurised a school for your DDs.

I have a lot of friends whose DD's have gone there and it is a very competitive (not necessarily a bad thing but may be a bad fit for you)

ugh need edit button-

should say "might be much too pressurised" no need for extra "too"

I think WA is very academic so maybe strike that one from your list. There may be others that are very academic too. Also strike any without Saturday school and any with weekly boarding options. As a parent of children who have done both weekly and boarding (at different schools) I cannot stress enough how important it is for full boarders to be in a proper full boarding school where others are not free to go off at the weekends.
Some great girls schools on the list above.

@Zodlebud

I would take Heathfield off your list. They have increasing numbers of day girls and a lot of boarders are now going home at weekends. A key indicator a school is full boarding is whether or not they have Saturday morning school. Heathfield does not. It did always used to be full boarding though which is why previous posters will have listed it.

Benenden, St Mary’s, Downe House and Wycombe Abbey are probably the most full boarding.

Very useful advice indeed! I note that Sherborne Girls also has Saturday morning school though heard little about it. Let me check further. Your advice does help me further narrow down the choices. Thanks!!

Have you considered Tudor Hall? Sounds like a good fit.

I also heard about the reputation of WA which is said to be very academic and competitive. Agreed that it may not be a good choice for my DDs as they may have to work very hard to catch up with peers. I hope I'm not being unrealistic to wish that they could enjoy school life not simply on academic achievements (at least before sixth form)...

WA only accepts girls that “fit” though. Their selection process includes not only academic testing but group exercises, observed lessons and suitability for boarding. They know which sort of girls are going to fly there and select accordingly.

Of course it is full of extremely bright, motivated and very talented girls but they do seem very happy - that environment suits them but it definitely wouldn’t work for all. Their admissions department is extremely helpful and will help you work out if it’s right fit.

I know Roedean also doesn’t have Saturday morning school. In response to being dominated by international students not so long ago, the number of local day girls increased significantly and they offer proper weekly boarding with a chaperoned train service to London on a Friday evening / Sunday night.

I think more and more school are adding flexibility to their boarding offering as it really works for busy parents. My daughter boards four nights a week Monday to Thursday for example. The schools I listed above are ones we had discounted as they were too “full on” for us with boarding commitments.

Hi there - Have you found talk education talkeducation.com ? You say "This kind of information just can't be found simply from the ranking table or from the school websites" but I think they do - they have just done a boarding focus and do have this data as well as parent reviews etc. I found them useful in my school search (though this was not for girls full boarding).