<p>Does anyone have any informations on the following boarding schools in UK, and their rankings/ whether their more arts/ science based...or even where their students go?</p>
<p>St. Swithuns, Wycombe Abbey, Cheltenham Ladies College, Downe House.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>go to <a href="http://www.tatler.co.uk/Schools/2006%5B/url%5D">http://www.tatler.co.uk/Schools/2006</a>, they researched all those schools and have reviews and statistics etc..</p>
<p>According to Tatler:</p>
<p>Downe HouseHermitage Road, Cold Ash, Newbury RG18 9JJ ‘Whatever you want to do, you can do it here,’ says a parent. The school is right up at the top academically. It’s not always easy to get in and once you’re there it can be tough if you’re not self-motivated. Lacrosse and tennis are the biggest sports; art is good, drama and music very strong. An attraction outside the classroom is cookery, with Prue Leith classes in the sixth form. Downe is not as traditional as many might think, but it still attracts a Sloaney set with bags (designer, naturally) of confidence. All girls spend a term in France at the school’s property in the Dordogne. Lulu Guinness was expelled for organising a series of midnight feasts. This is a feisty, busy and competitive school. It has been described by some as the Eton equivalent for girls.</p>
<p>Wycombe Abbey SchoolHigh Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP11 1PE Girls here are fiercely intelligent and hard-working - as the astronomical exam results show - and they often go on to succeed in the highest walks of life. The sports facilities match this academic prowess: the school can claim 20 tennis courts, 10 netball courts and a floodlit Astroturf hockey pitch among other things, and the girls make use of them with ferocious skill. Art, drama and music are equally brilliant; the list of places pupils visit on the many school trips abroad reads like a rollcall of the world’s top destinations. If there is a downside to all this, perhaps it is a slight lack of fun. Girls do have socials with Eton and Radley but life is not one big party. You go to school to be educated and then you go to university to be educated some more - and then you rule the world. ‘I am proud to have been at school here. It taught me discipline,’ says an old girl bound for a top boardroom</p>
<p>St Swithun's SchoolAlresford Road, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 1HA ‘We don’t necessarily appeal to the "debby” parent or pupil,’ says longstanding head Dr Helen Harvey. St Swithun’s is a school with a high level of academic achievement that’s suited to intelligent, hard-working girls from a wide range of backgrounds. But it is keen to shed its bluestocking image. Sixth-formers wear their own clothes and social contact with boys at Winchester College is a key part of school life. St Swithun’s sits in 45 acres of grounds on the outskirts of Winchester. There’s a magnificent performing arts centre with a 600-seat auditorium, a music school, a new art and technology block and an impressive swimming-pool. The school is hot on lacrosse, with many of the first team performing at county level and several girls playing nationally. Other activities include home economics, engineering, art, drama and public speaking. This is a school with a growing reputation</p>
<p>The Cheltenham Ladies CollegeBayshill Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 3EP No doubt it was with horror that the girls of this august academy for young ladies learned that the word ‘chav’ is an acronym for ‘Cheltenham average’. Whatever they are, the pupils - dubbed ‘greenflies’ for their green loden coats - are not average, nor indeed are they chavs in any pejorative sense of the word. Confident they may be - this is a famous institution that turns out well-rounded, intellectually nourished girls who are prepared to brush off the brickbats of business and social life. ‘Enterprising and ambitious’ is how head Vicky Tuck describes her charges. The phrase could equally be applied to parents. Generally, the school appears keen to dispel its aura of conservatism. The staff are now young and dynamic - male teachers even have their own rock band. Cheltenham has some of the most modern technology and science rooms of any school in the country. Girls tend to do well in all subjects, and not all of these are traditional - Mandarin is proving popular. The computer system is worthy of neighbouring GCHQ. Nearly 80 per cent of pupils in 2004 gained A*, A or B grades at GCSE, while at A-level 90.6 per cent of girls attained A or B. Cheltenham is immensely big on music (five choirs, three orchestras) and art. Games (known as ‘field’) are a strength, although girls claim it is hard to fit even a few of the available activities into the robust academic framework. Cheltenham shares a riding school with a neighbouring school, where girls can keep their beloved ponies during term time. Polo is the new rage. Most activities are house-based. ‘It means miles and miles of walking every day, but I suppose it’s good for the figure,’ says one girl. The right place for confident, intelligent and sporty girls who can cope </p>
<p>They all sound really good! At Wycombe Abbey 26 % go on to Oxbridge..</p>
<p>Thanks so much! That is an excellent post!</p>
<p>Check goodschoolsguide.co.uk
^^</p>
<p>I know a girl at Downe House - she's an 'average' student there, but would be an exceptional student if she went to a school like UNIS in the USA. It's VERY competitive, but I don't think it's got an unhappy atmosphere at all.</p>
<p>Thanks Patois. The competitive atmosphere is actually good---considering that the other school I'm headed to is like....nothing if not competitive :S</p>
<p>My friend went to Downe House and she hated it.</p>
<p>Yikes. Why Olivia567? Was it the academica? The people? Details! :P</p>
<p>Cheltenham ladies is the most presitgious (+expensive) girls boarding school in UK.</p>
<p>other amazing ones for girls are:</p>
<p>JAGs (down the road from us :D)
City of London College for Girls</p>
<p>edit: thats assuming you want a ladies only...dont go to mixed "public/independent/private" schools in UK..there is only 1 good one - Westminster.</p>
<p>in general..the best schools are:</p>
<p>Westminster
harrow
St.Pauls
Dulwich
Tonbridge</p>
<p>all i can think of atm.</p>
<p>She didn't like the kids there, because many of them made fun of her because she was American (though originally English), she was ostracized for being American, and she felt that the whole place was extremely depressing. The weather, combined with the down attitudes (no pun intended ;)) of her teachers and classmates made her want to leave. So, she transferred back to her old school, where she is now.</p>
<p>Also, she and I believe that because many English kids are pressured to go to boarding school, they don't value the experience as much as kids from America would. Her brother is being forced to attend Eton, and also forced to read thousand-page books on the Iraq War and the Presidents and one called an "Incomplete Education" - 3,000 things you never knew (which sounds terrible - and he'd rather attend Andover. However, because of the lineage in Britain and his father's alumnus standing, he is being forced to go there.</p>
<p>As an alternative view, my daughter actually attended one these English boarding schools and had a COMPLETELY different experience than Olivia's friend. She loved it at her school, and far from being depressing, she found the girls, the school, the weather and the whole environment exciting, happy, extremely busy, enriching and warm. She encountered a whole school of very lively, smart girls who did not at all feel pressured to attend their school but who took their work and their responsibilities seriously while at the same time having an enormous amount of fun. </p>
<p>I could add more, but just wanted to say that not everyone's experience is the same. If you're truly interested in an English school, check it out!</p>
<p>no one is really pressured to attend these schools...they are
amazing, prestigious etc and most people would do anything
to go there...im very happy to be at one.</p>
<p>ps Eton is amazing...but i would have much rather preffered
to attend Westminster/Harrow.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your input guys. I just have a specific questions here:</p>
<p>DDonskoy- you mentioned "don't go to a mixed school". Why is that so? Is it because of the what the kids get up to in those schools? Even the boarding ones? </p>
<p>I know someone who went there like twenty years ago (to a girls boarding school in england) and even in a girls school, she said that all they talked about were their boyfriends, and since she neither had one nor wanted one, she was left out. So is it like multiplied in the mixed schools?</p>
<p>Becuase England has been said to have a very liberal culture...drinking, drugs etc.</p>
<p>How strict are all the above mentioned schools?</p>
<p>because all the top schools are single sex.</p>
<p>the best schools in UK academically are girls public (ie private/"prep") ones followed by Boys ones.</p>
<p>the only exceptions that i can think of are Sevenoaks and Westminster. cant think of many others. many have "partner schools"...for example St Pauls London boys + St. Pauls london girls..both are amazing.</p>
<p>Do you guys know of a school in England that lets you take up to five languages per year? I talked to someone on another forum a long time ago and they were fluent in six languages and went to this school. I forgot what it was called.</p>
<p>DDonskoy- Do you go to St Pauls for girls or boys? Could you tell us a little more about what the girls at St Pauls are like? My school is doing this exchange thing with a few girls from St Pauls during Spring Break and everyone is wondering whether the girls will be really nice or really snooty..</p>
<p>Well, I attended Downe House and I didn't have the most positive experience there. The academics are actually NOT top-notch, and it is not a really competitive school, certainly not compared to the US boarding schools. The entrance exam is not difficult at all if you study, and a serious academic student will not be showb a lot of respect there. I never felt challenged academically while I was there, and the teachers are definitely not up to par. If you're into sports such as lacrosse, you're not a big fan of academics, and if you don't mind being discriminated for your nationality (usually US), then this school is great for you. </p>
<p>IslanderG - this school, like most of the English boarding schools, does have exposure to drugs and alcohol, and there's no such thing as expulsion for midnight feasts, so I think Lulu Guinness' story is a little downwatered. She was probably meeting up with her buddies in the woods and drinking alcohol. So there.</p>
<p>Of course, Downe House is NOT a terrible school, and I know a lot of wonderful people who are still there and who are actually happy there (I'd like to mention that they're all English), but I thought that giving this other side to Enlish boarding school was important. Please know that I am not trying to discourage you from attending these schools.</p>
<p>My cousin actually attends St. Pauls (girls), and it is certainly a top-rated school in the UK, so if you're set on going to school in the UK, this is a great choice. Ignore the rumor that it is really difficult to get in - my cousin is not brilliant at all and she got in easily with a bit of studying. I actually looked at going to this school after I found I wasn't satisfied with Downe and I seriously considered it - please check it out if you're into this type of school!</p>
<p>It's also in London, which is cool if you're foreign.</p>