Ardingly College

[ErnestinaFreeman]

Does anyone have any recent experience of Ardingly College? I was interested in it for my DC but am now unsure on a number of counts.

The school appears to have been getting higher academic results in recent years. Is this a result of more pressure on the pupils or is it just because the intake has been higher ability?

A recent social media post showed them having a Pride week, which I’m not against in principle, but they were raising funds for the charity All Sorts which seems to be more heavily involved in the TQ+ agenda than the LGB side. Is this just a one off or does this permeate the school’s RSHE?

Also, recently they changed the school structure so that years 7&8 are now part of the senior school rather than the prep school. I’m not sure whether this is a positive development as they are no longer given the opportunity to be ‘the big kids’ and may be exposed to some of the more teenage culture earlier than I would have liked.

Would love to hear some opinions, either putting my mind at rest or confirming my fears!

Hopeful bump?

OP, you could try posting in the boarding section too but Ardingly and lancing tend to get little traffic on MN. Some of my family went to lancing so I tend to take an interest.

Re prep ending at 11, the whole 13plus years 7-8 prep sector is on the verge of collapse so all schools have had to adapt and guarantee entry from 11. The gcse curriculum is so wide that schools need to get on and teach the basics as soon as possible instead of waiting for year 9 so it's better to get the senior school curriculum aligned from year 7 plus there are lots of other reasons too numerous to list.

I loved the school when I first went around, teachers seem engaged and kids seem happy. I think the results are on the up but aren’t they everywhere. The sense I get is they are trying to compete with Brighton and are getting more selective in their intake. The local prep schools seem to prefer other schools for reasons I’ve found hard to unpick. Friends locally have it very much as 4 th on their list after Hurst, Worth and Lancing. I don’t get it, we really like the school but it’s not as popular for some reason. There is no automatic admission from the prep which they stress continually and so I do wonder if that’s the issue. It’s a rather unpleasant policy in my view.

Thank you, that’s really interesting. We might still keep it on the list then but look at a couple of other options too

Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. Toxic culture with emphasis on grades. I regret putting my girls through the experience.

Yes, avoid .. extremely toxic ( I work in this area)

Gosh. Thanks for the slightly scary updates. When you say toxic, is that just relating to the pressures on grades or something else as well? And ‘in this area’ - do you mean geographically or academically? Is that direct insider knowledge or reputational?

For a bit of balance, I have two sons in the senior school (day pupils) who are thriving and we’re very pleased with the choice to send them there.
We considered others: Brighton (too pressured and high achieving), Hurst (weird atmosphere and the kids looked miserable), Worth, Bedes, etc.
The year 7 and 8 thing is a nice compromise - they are in their own separate house rather than mixed into the other senior school houses with the older pupils.
It’s a good combination of academic and sporty. There is definitely a selection effect on academic results (where doesn’t have that?) and some upset prep parents when their children aren’t offered a senior school place. But parents we know whose children did go on elsewhere have subsequently been positive that it was a good thing for their children to go to the right senior school for them rather than just default to Ardingly senior school because they went to Ardingly prep.
Ardingly prep is, inevitably, the biggest feeder, but there are plenty of Year 9 entrants from other preps such as Handcross, Great Walstead and Hazelwood. And lots who went to London preps and now weekly board at Ardingly, plus a good contingent of overseas boarders.
No idea why you would describe it as toxic - I think I would want a bit more detail on that before treating it as credible.

@Zigster thank you for your detailed and constructive reply. I’d like to know what made it so toxic for the previous posters, maybe they will reply with some more detail soon

I can't say too much unfortunately but I am well versed professionally in the private schools around this area and the only
One I would never consider is Ardingly
Negative culture, pastoral care is minimal / non existent and the staff culture is toxic ...

This is consistently the feedback we get too from
local friends. We loved the school when we visited (twice) but our experience once we registered and had a chat with admissions and learning enrichment in particular were so off putting we withdrew the application.

@farfallarocks What was it that put you off about admissions and learning enrichment?

@Calliope23 where else would you recommend instead?

For girls or boys?

I’ll PM you as it’s a bit outing!

@farfallarocks yes please!

Done