Blog

Each year Gina visits several of the schools we recommend; some are completely new to her, others she has known for years but hasn’t seen for a while. This spring and summer she stayed reasonably local, visiting three Yorkshire boarding schools, before returning to her old stamping ground in Oxford to bring herself up to date with developments at two schools in that famous university city.

Founded in 1611, Charterhouse moved from London to its current site in Godalming, Surrey in 1872. As with many British boarding schools, from this historical starting point the school keeps looking to the future and we have two important developments to report.

With Brexit still "on the table", we’re keen to give as much clarity as possible to current and prospective EU, EEA & Swiss students coming to study at independent boarding schools in England, Scotland and Wales.

In the thick of exam season, and amidst headlines agonising over what is right and what is wrong in education, it could be hard to lose sight of the fact that our school days could and should be the best of our lives.

So what a pleasure it was to receive the latest newsletter from the Royal High School Bath, featuring news and pictures from its end of year celebrations.

The reasons families choose British boarding schools for their children’s educations are many and varied. Here we focus on the excellent support that potential medical students can receive, using Stonyhurst College’s MedSoc 2020 as an example.

Throughout this academic year, Stonyhurst’s Year 12/Lower 6^th students have attended a number of sessions organised by the College’s Careers Advisor, in order to prepare them for making strong, competitive medical school applications.

The British boarding schools we recommend employ many different ways to inspire their students, whether academically, in terms of sport or simply to open their minds to all the possibilities ahead of them.

Dauntsey’s holds a series of lectures each year, named in recognition of the links between the school and the Mercers’ Company, which go back to Mercer founder Alderman William Dauntesey, Master of the Worshipful Company of Mercers, who founded the school in south west England in 1542.

All the British boarding schools we recommend have some enviable facilities and we often receive news of further developments. One such update came from Giggleswick School recently, when Olympic medallist triathlete Jonny Brownlee opened its new state of the art fitness centre.

Occupying a purpose-built extension to the school’s sports complex, the suite features the latest in weights, strength and conditioning training equipment, as well as top-end treadmills, cycle trainers, rowing machines and other cardio-vascular training aids.

We were delighted to receive a copy of West Buckland School’s first International Newsletter at the end of last term, especially as it reported their nomination for Boarding School of the Year in the TES Independent School Awards 2019.

A popular entry point for international students is the UK’s Year 11. This is the academic year during which students turn 16 years old, so it is often the first year many feel mature enough to take on the exciting challenge of living away from home and it fits well with educational systems in a number of other countries.

“I would like to provide my reassurances that there is no limit on the number of international students who can come to study in the UK, and no intention to impose one.”

Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP (UK Home Secretary)

With the impending exit of the UK from the European Union (Brexit) on 29 March 2019, it would be quite reasonable for international families considering British boarding schools to wonder what all this will mean for them. Will their child still be able to come to the UK? How long for? Will a visa be required?