Development

Taunton School is in the midst of a £20million development project. Work started early this year, with the new sixth-form centre and students’ library already completed and in use. Still to come are enhanced sports facilities, a brand-new international school on the main campus, and the creation of a green and sustainable pedestrianised hub linking boarding houses, teaching and dining blocks.

This year Charterhouse celebrates the 150th anniversary of its relocation from central London to Godalming in Surrey.

We were delighted to see plenty of the Welsh, Scottish and English boarding schools we recommend recognised across the categories in this year’s Independent Schools of the Year Awards. Covering both day and boarding schools, the latter sector is key to us and our clients, so particular congratulations go to Gordonstoun for being named 2021’s Independent Boarding School.

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.

September whizzed past in its usual whirl of back to school activity and one bit of English boarding school news that caught our eye was this: Prue Leith CBE DL visiting Truro School to officially open their new Cookery School.  As well as enabling practical cookery to be taught throughout the school, the new facility gives Sixth Form students the opportunity to complete the prestigious Leiths Introductory Certificate of Food and Wine, a professional cookery course designed to provide students with emp

St Swithun’s is a highly regarded girls’ day and boarding school in Winchester in the south of England. Its pupils benefit from a broad curriculum that promotes individual choice, so they can fulfil their intellectual, physical and creative potential. In addition, right from the off, girls are taught to examine social, cultural and moral issues, so they can make informed decisions about their own way of living while respecting the values of others.

We are constantly impressed by the range of activities and opportunities that our fabulous British boarding schools offer the young people they educate.

One which recently caught the eye is the Young Enterprise programme, which saw Year 12 girls at Malvern St James Girls’ School set up two companies with two very different aims and end products.

The UK’s Department for Education recently announced that admissions rules are to be changed so children born between 1st April and 31st August will be able to go into reception a year later than some of their pre-school peers. The news that summer babies are to be allowed to start at the age of 5 rather than 4 is receiving a mixed reaction from parents, so we consider the arguments for and against.