Whitgift - Sports scholars and academics

[Bretodeau]

Hi all
We are mulling over a Sports Scholarship offer from Whitgift for our DS who is also a great academically.

Would accepting a sports scholarship at Whitgift likely mean the academic side of things take a back seat?

I'd love to hear anecdotal responses as well as opinions.
TIA

No it wouldn't.
Every boy is expected to do their best academically. Sport takes place in Games and PE lessons, before/after school, lunchtimes and weekend.
It is not either/or.

Conversely my son is an academic scholar and that hasn't got him a free pass out of sport - he's been a two-time national champion with a school team.

Thanks. Your comments are most appreciated. If you're happy to share, could you tell me what other offers you had when your DS joined Whitgift and why you chose Whitgift?

Why would academics take a back seat?
Does the sports scholarship have any terms and conditions or unwritten expectations? I would expect it to mean that your DC is expected to be available for school matches across a range of sports (this can sometimes be an issue if they play for a club outside of school and there is a clash) but these will either be outside of lessons or, if lessons are missed, the work will have to be made up, usually at the pupil's initiative.

We had 2 other offers. One with academic scholarship. Our first choice at the start of the process was actually Trinity who didn't offer a scholarship. We were surprisingly impressed by Whitgift during the process itself - we always felt they wanted our son. My son had also enjoyed the process.
So that combined with the really generous scholarship and much better travel logistics for us, we went for Whitgift.

I think we made the right choice - if only because of the logistics as several times a week he'll be at school early or home late, mostly due to sport. All things being equal, I think the logistics make a big difference to the boy and their family.

@Workisntworking
Thanks. That is very helpful

My concern is that the school might set lower targets academically than would have been the case without the sports scholarship or that he won't be stretched to work at the next level if he is finding particular subjects easy.

Late to the party in this one but for what it’s worth!

My son joined Whitgift last Sep and is a sports scholar. I’d echo @Workisntworking and say that academics by no means take a back seat, he’s expected to do the same homework and lessons as anyone else and to the same standard. The sports provision is superb and team practices will take place after school or lunchtimes usually, some sessions before school. Matches are usually on Saturdays with some after school and a limited number during the school day if it’s an external tournament for example. Son is missing school on Monday to go to a sport tournament but that’s the first time this academic year.

My son absolutely loves Whitgift and is thriving there. Doing a ton of sport, progressing really well on the academic side, likes his teachers, also does extra curricular things like chess club and a separate board game club as well as yarn club where they learn to crochet, it’s half an hour one weekday lunchtime in the library and he finds it relaxing. Made a nice group of friends, some sporty, some not, he comes home happy every day. We’re very pleased indeed that he’s there.

Our experience is identical to what you have just described. We have just accepted a place at Whitgift and paid the deposit. Hopefully we have made the right decision too. 🙂

Can I ask what your son’s scholarship is as a % and do they offer many ?

we are interested to apply sport scholarship at W , may I ask how many % they offer? Heard that they will scale back so worry about opportunity thanks