State Grammar boarding schools for GIRLS

[Snowdrops]

PPS: I should add (for clarity's sake) that they are broken down in to two houses - boys and girls and they are quite some distance away from each other.

[yoyo123]

was just about to mention Duke of Yorks, but families have to have military connection.

I met a bloke in freshers week at uni who told me he went to the " school on the hill" in Dover..he didn't mention which hill, I thought he meant the Borstal

[SSM]

yoyo, I think they now accept children from a non military background. But I don't know what the criteria is.

They seem to have gone from being ran by the MOD to being an academy in the last year.

[doodles]

Think Cranbrook in Kent may fall into this category, thought it is co-ed, but seem to remember that they start at 13 rather than 11. They have a very good website with all the details.

[yoyo123]

yoyo, I think they now accept children from a non military background. But I don't know what the criteria is.

They seem to have gone from being ran by the MOD to being an academy in the last year.

Thanks for that info SSM yes, it is now extended to civilians.. still has quite a military slant from what I can gather..

[harrow123]

DD attends Ripon Grammar (as a day pupil) and some of her friends are boarders. They all seem to love it and are kept very active. Some do go home at weekends.

Ripon take 14 boarders each year, and it seems a very nice family atmosphere I have to say!

PS: the school itself is great too

Thanks, I too prefer weekly boarding so DD is back to home on weekends.

I too hope that boarders life is active than day children.

But what about extra tution if we want to arrange to DD during weekdays, certainly they can not attend. so is it not a disadvantage for a boarder as they miss any extra tution or extra tennis/games classes that parents may wish to arrange

Does anyone know if boarding staff takes care of children's home work/extra academic/sports preparation after school hours?

[hermanmunster]

why would you want to arrange extra tuition for a child during the week? they are quite busy at school during the day.

The boarders tend to do supervised prep and can do sports activities if they want.

[Kent99]

There are 2 co-ed grammars in Kent which take boarders. One is in Sandwich, the other is Cranbrook school in Cranbrook. The latter takes more boarders (about a third of pupils board). Most boarding places are for boys but they do have 18 a year for girls.

I think however that your statement that location doesn't matter is wrong, particularly if you are thinking of weekly boarding. If you are thinking of sending your child to a school where the majority of pupils are day pupils and most of the boarders live within an hour's drive from the school (as, for example, I think is the case at Cranbrook) then I think you will find there to be a fair amount of socialising outside of school. At the weekends for example pupils may have house parties at home. I suggest that you check with individual schools (ask pupils if you can; they may be more candid) to find out whether your child would be in the minority if they lived further away and whether this might cause them to feel a bit left out. Also find out how often parents generally show up at school for sports matches, exhibitions, concerts etc and decide whether you could do likewise.

In your position I would also consider non-grammar state boarding schools such as Hockerill which, in my opinion may actually offer more added value (and far stronger languages) than any of the boarding grammars.

[harrow123]

There are 2 co-ed grammars in Kent which take boarders. One is in Sandwich, the other is Cranbrook school in Cranbrook. The latter takes more boarders (about a third of pupils board). Most boarding places are for boys but they do have 18 a year for girls.

I think however that your statement that location doesn't matter is wrong, particularly if you are thinking of weekly boarding. If you are thinking of sending your child to a school where the majority of pupils are day pupils and most of the boarders live within an hour's drive from the school (as, for example, I think is the case at Cranbrook) then I think you will find there to be a fair amount of socialising outside of school. At the weekends for example pupils may have house parties at home. I suggest that you check with individual schools (ask pupils if you can; they may be more candid) to find out whether your child would be in the minority if they lived further away and whether this might cause them to feel a bit left out. Also find out how often parents generally show up at school for sports matches, exhibitions, concerts etc and decide whether you could do likewise.

In your position I would also consider non-grammar state boarding schools such as Hockerill which, in my opinion may actually offer more added value (and far stronger languages) than any of the boarding grammars.

Agreed

I am calling all schools now as per http://www.sbsa.org.uk/find_school.php#south_east" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I may like boarding schools who may offer for boys and girls so I can plan to send both DS and DD to same school. Easy to pick up/drop also

[P's mum]

Hockerill is fantastic - my daughter boards there. I considered both private and state sector schools- finally applying to two independent schools and Hockerill. I looked at other state boarding schools but considered little point in applying to more than one, though in retrospect that was not necessarily logical as as far as I can see there is no co-ordination of applications to state boarding schools.

Languages are absolutely outstanding - almost certainly the best school in the country state or private. (You don't have to take the language/music aptitude tests - we didn't, though if applying for a day place good results must enhance your chances but only 10% of children are selected by aptitude.)

Hockerill's results outshine most grammar schools. It was top comprehensive in The Independent's 2010 rankings and beaten by only one grammar school. To be fair this is partly because the school only offers the IB and hence the potential UCAS points score by any individual student is usually higher than if sitting A levels (for good reason - it is generally accepted that the IB work load of 6 subjects is significantly higher).

Kids come from as far as Hong Kong, with a significant contingent from continental Europe (it is a15 minute taxi drive from Stansted, the airport bus goes past the school gates). However, there is also a distribution up and down the M11 and M25 because of good road access. There are day boarders (long day from breakfast until after evening prep), weekly boarders, and full boarders. There is school Saturday morning roughly 2 out of 3 weeks. On non Saturday school weekends there are non compulsary exeats. In my opinion the level of weekend activities is a good balance between organised (but rarely compulsory) and free, but everyone will have their own opinion on the ideal balance. (It sat between the two other schools that I applied to.)

Good proportion of boarders (though increasing as you go up the school), with good ratio of full boarders to others. This was important to me as I had heard of independent schools with overseas children finding that most of the 'boarders' actiually went home at the weekend and correspondingly weekend provision was poor.

P's Mum