Top 10 co-ed, boys, girls boarding schools in UK

[MrPickles73]

If money and location were no issue which co-ed, boys and girls private schools do people consider in the top 10 (academically) outside of London?

I am looking for schools for DC (1 boy, 1 girl) for Year 9. We are outside the SE but would consider any location as we could relocate for the right school as we would prefer them to be day pupils.

So for girls I'm guessing top 10 would be WA and CLC and then where?
For boys Winchester, Radley? where else?
And for co-ed I find it really hard to work out...

Tonbridge
Charterhouse
Harrow

Brighton College
Kings Canterbury
Marlborough

Perse might be another coed.

Also some independent "Grammars" , think there are a few in Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle.

Ok so for boys (if we take the outside of London criteria loosely) top 10 would include:
Winchester
Eton
Tonbridge
Charterhouse
Harrow
Radley
Whitgift

Co-ed top 10 outside London:
Brighton College
Kings Canterbury
Marlborough
Perse
SEvenOaks?
Wellington?
Oundle?
Bromsgrove?

And for Girls Top 10 outside London:
WA
CLC
Downe House?
St Mary's Ascot?
St Catherine's Guildford?
St Marys Calne
St Swithuns
Benenden
Badminton

All my DDs are at CLC - it is totally awesome and makes you appreciate how little state education offers in comparison.

Not sure of your criteria. If you have Whitgift why not Trinity. Some of the gdst schools may feature for girls and likes of Guildford High if you include St Cats Bramley. Royal Grammar Guildford for boys? There are academic tables but these are not comprehensive as not all schools feature and it does not reflect IB schools.

RosieBenenden thank you for their post. Can I ask, DD is quite academic but not a genius, is the level of academic pressure ok? And how is the all girls atmosphere. Any issues with bullying, eating disorders and how are these handled?
I went to an all girls day school and really enjoyed it but not sure in the current world of social media whether its the best option for DD1.

I'm not clear how old your dc are now but many 13+ entry schools pretest in year 6/7.

LIZS we're year 6. Most of the schools we are considering have their own exam and don't pretest but I'm aware some pre-test in year 6/7.

Are you wanting full, flexi or weekly boarding?

I don’t understand why you are looking for boarding schools if you want them to be day students?

Best all girls school for results is St Paul’s. For boys, Westminster. Why not move to London? Sorry, I’m just not following the logic of wanting a boarding school but then being a day pupil.

We looked at lots on the lists for DD (wanted full boarding, music/drama was higher up my list than being the absolute top for academics)

Rugby
St Edward's Oxford
King's Canterbury
Uppingham
Oundle
Bedes
Malborough

Particularly liked Rugby and Teddies.

As long as there was a decent cohort getting the stellar academics, I wasn't too worried if they weren't all getting 11 A and 4 A/Oxbridge... especially if the selection criteria were 55% at CE rather than the sort of thing WA or CLC wanted.

Zodlebud cost of accommodation in London = prohibitive and also just don't want to.. but happy to move elsewhere.
Boarding schools typically have 'more going on' but don't actually want the children to board. Looking to move circa 15 minutes from the school..
I'm curious which schools people rate for academics.
I totally appreciate families choice will be determined by their child's interests; drama, sports etc.

From the research I've done Rugby does sound good..

This used to be considered one of the most accurate league table for independent schools - www.best-schools.co.uk/

I'm not sure it is true that boarding schools necessarily have more going on. Many will have Saturday school. There is not much between our local boarding/day school and day school in terms of results, sport level, extra curriculars and uni destinations. Agree you really just need to know that top academics are catered for and it suits your child.

I also agree with @LIZS. Schools like Guildford High are top 5 academically, LOTS going on outside school and not a bed to be seen.

I think you are thinking far too widely. What’s REALLY important to your children and to you? It’s no good choosing a school that doesn’t offer girls football if that’s your daughters passion, regardless of success in academic league tables.

zodlebud what's really important is academics and cricket.

Here you go then. The top schools for cricket in the U.K.

issuu.com/thecricketermag/docs/tc-sg-2020/1?ff

Bedford School? Also Bedford Modern (Coed) and Bedford Girls' School are linked. Bedford produced Alistair Cook and has lots of teams too. Sports fields very much part of the school site. There were (shared) buses to all 3 linked schools from the leafy surrounding villages if Bedford itself doesn't suit.

If you want the combination of coed, academics and cricket, my choice would be Brighton College.

If your dc are already playing competitive cricket at a club level where do other older dc in the club or opposing teams attend? Uprooting a family for a specific sport seems unnecessary as the county training network is pretty well structured.

Academically the top performing coed boarding schools that take day pupils seem to be Brighton College and Wellington College (prepared to be challenged in this as my information may not be up to date). Others I would consider that take day pupils and will the academic offer stretch you want would be Oundle and Rugby. Personally, I wouldn’t want to live in Rugby itself but there are some nice areas within travelling distance. Oundle is a lovely town. Marlborough doesn’t really have any day pupils (only the children of staff seemed to be day pupils) but it has so much on offer to the DC (the Tatler report is so right about it being a busy school) and it is a lovely place to live.

I'm a little biased, but I'd put Sevenoaks on your coed list with Wellington and Brighton @Dancingdreamer (it doesn't necessarily 'show up' easily on league tables because it's IB only). Good mix of day and boarding too.

Canford in Wimborne Dorset . Amazing school, gréât area in which to live.

Oakham.