Views on Radley

[RaLaRaLa]

I posted on the boarding thread but thought I’d try here as well… I am searching for a school for my son and have come across Radley College. It seems to be ticking many of our boxes and we have an open day booked in. I would love to hear some current information on what type of boy typically suits it? My son is not super sporty, more B team tagging along rather than loving sports. He’s more into science and nature than anything else. Quite bright but not gifted territory. Also- are the socials vastly different in their atmosphere? They all seem to love cocoa…

I took a tour and loved it. They have a newish head of SEN, Lily Pullen (sp?) who seems lovely, and this was important to me.

From what I hear, most of the boys there are bright but not gifted, so I wouldn't worry on that account. It seems that boys who are self-starters and can manage their time well, will fare better here than boys who need to be reminded and structured and managed.

All these schools have become frightfully competitive so I guess just figure out in what way could your son distinguish himself during the application process, from all the other lovely bright boys applying from across Britain and around the world.

@Cornemuse We loved it too and decided to go for it and DS secured a space. I really liked the head and the boys who showed us around seemed like great boys. My impression is the education and opportunities are exceptionally broad. Feel free to ask if you have any questions around the application process if you are going down that route.

Thanks so much- what a kind offer!

Following! We have a tour booked for the summer and I love the look of the school so looking forward to it. Couple of years behind you two by the sounds of it, but definitely interested in reading your views in the interim.

@Legoninjago1 Hopefully you enjoy the tour! It can be so tiring searching. Where else are you looking? RC just had an energy and vibe about it we felt was very engaging. It is tricky with the more popular senior schools because you have to make a decision so far ahead of the kids actually starting and it can be hard to imagine you DS as a fully fledged teenager!

Yes I'm fairly daunted by it all but both my boys are at an excellent prep with excellent staff, that Im hoping will do most of it for me! DS1 is only Y4 hence booking the last tour of the year right at the end of Y4. He's older in the year so will be a few months off turning 10 at that point so I think it's a good time to go and get a jump on it! All the Y5s at our prep seem to spend a lot of weekends on open days in the autumn and I'm hoping to avoid that!

Just wonder if all parents of Radley are old money or enterpeneur, as it is not easy, even for doctors to pay 1 (if not 2 boys) to attend this full boarding school at £45000+ per yr. If u have 2 boys, u will have to pay almost £100K! Not many jobs can offer u a take home pay of £100k net, and that is just the school fees!

@Bellemom there are many ways that people pay for private schools...it's impossible to generalise. I think at Radley as at any school you will find a combination of:

• older parents on second families earning very senior salaries
• one parent working abroad on large and/or tax-free salaries
• bursaries/scholarships
• people who had an inheritance early
• people who have been saving since birth for fees
• people with one child for whom one set of fees is affordable but two or more would be prohibitive
• grandparents paying fees
• people who work in high-paying jobs
• people who had investments they could sell to pay fees
• people who are massively economising on holidays/cars/homes to afford fees