state boarding school

[greekmumkay]

Considering sending our year 9 son to a state boarding school (living abroad currently) - the hot list is (1) Steyning Grammar School, (2) Cranbrook School, (3) royal alexandra & albert school/gatton park and (4) Wymondham College. Each school has pros and cons, so asking if anyone out there has opinions of these schools, especially if they also know about the boarding aspect! My current favourite on academic terms is Wymondham, but it might be a rather big jump socially as our current school is a lot less formal than Wymondham...Steyning seems very friendly, and the other two are somewhere in between the two extremes. Help me please mums!!!!

Cranbrook was excellent for boarding and academic results, but my experience is a while ago so may not be very helpful now. It was highly competitive and even more so to get a boarding place which was a good indication of its success.

Of course a grammar school will have good academic results. Does not mean that the teaching is good (but it may well be). The best measure of how good a school is academically is the Progress 8 score.

Progress 8 is only useful for struggling and average students, in no way is it helpful for bright students in invested families.

I don’t think you understand P8 if that is what you think.

Going back to the thread - we're considering Royal Alexandra & Albert for 6th form, but now I'm very nervous having read the comments about bullying on this thread. 😕

We are specifically looking at boarding 6th forms with equestrian facilities. Do any other state boarding schools have equestrian facilities? I've seen that The Duke of York Military School has some incredible sports facilities, but sadly no equestrian arenas I believe.

I know Hartpury is an option, but its accommodation is over subscribed from what I was told, so no guarantee we would get a boarding place.