The best 10 boarding schools in the UK

Take care of your child’s future and find the best boarding school for them.

A boarding school, as opposed to a day school, gives education to students who live on-campus. Boarding schools however are very costly, so we understand how important it is to find the best school for your child. The schools are split between two types, co-ed or single-gender.

When it comes to picking a location to study, the rating of a school is crucial. The quality of education and learning environment provided by a school may frequently be determined by past student performance.

Are you looking for a place for your child, and want help? We have a list of the 10 top boarding schools in the UK.

1. Westminster School

Westminster School is one of the UK’s leading academic schools and the only ancient London school to occupy its original site. The school is mixed gendered aged between 13 – 18 and offers students the option of day schooling and boarding. The number of students who attend Westminster is 760 and 190 boarding.

The students are expected to return home on weekends until they reach sixth form. Although the majority of Westminster’s students are day students. The school also accepts female students into the Sixth Form, claiming that this, along with its mixed boarding strategy, gives it the best of both worlds.

The fees for boarding at Westminster School are £41,607. Westminster pupil’s 2019 GCSE results are 90.9% of all grades were A, 9, or 8 and 98.6% were graded A/7 or above. Of 1,292 grades, just 18 were graded B or below. 76 pupils gained ten or more A or equivalent grades, of whom 58 gained entirely A*, 8, or 9.

Find out more at westminster.org.uk

2. Wycombe Abbey School

Wycombe Abbey is a boarding and day school located on a 170-acre campus in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. Academically, it is routinely ranked among the finest all-girls institutions. The school is female only aged between 11 – 18 and offers students the option of day schooling and boarding. The number of students who attend Wycombe Abbey is 650 and 520 pupils boarding.

The fees for boarding at Wycombe Abbey are £30,270. The GCSE and A level results for 2019/2020 were outstanding with 90.32% of examinations awarded an A* grade (8/9) and 98.7% of grades at A- A (7/8/9). At A level, 48.9% of grades were awarded A, with 90.2% of results graded at A*-A.

Find out more at wycombeabbey.com

3. St Paul’s School – London

St Paul’s School, founded in 1509 by John Colet and set on a 43-acre estate on the River Thames in Barnes, London, is a selective independent school. According to the 1861 Clarendon Commission, St Paul’s is one of the first nine British “Clarendon” public schools. The school is boys only aged between 7 – 18 and offers students the option of day schooling and boarding. The number of students who attend St Paul’s School is 1271 and 33 pupils boarding.

The fees for boarding at St Paul’s School are £38,991. 2020, for GCSE 70% of grades awarded were at Grade 9 and 92% were Grade 8 or 9.

Find out more at stpaulsschool.org.uk

4. St Mary’s School – Ascot

St Mary’s School is a Roman Catholic independent set on 55 acres of grounds in the heart of Berkshire. The school is girls only aged 11 – 18 and offers students the option of day schooling and boarding. The number of students who attend Westminster is 386.

The fees for boarding at St Mary’s School are £40,740. A-Level results for summer 2020. Their Upper Sixth girls achieved 51% As and 87% A-A. We are also pleased to announce the I/GCSE results for Year 11 girls, who have achieved 66% Grade 9s, 89% Grades 9-8, and 98% Grades 9-7.

Find out more at st-marys-ascot.co.uk

5. Brighton College

Featuring a beachside campus with a mix of ancient and modern structures, the 175-year-old public school’s principles through UK curriculum school has a reputation for innovative measures such as gender-neutral school uniforms, diverse boarding houses, and a plastic-free campus. The school is mixed gendered aged 11 – 18 and offers students the option of day schooling and boarding. The number of students who attend Westminster is 1,088.

The fees for boarding at Brighton College are £50,880. Brighton College has recently been ranked by The Sunday Times as third in the UK for their academic results. GCSE 9 was once again the most common grade at Brighton, with 96% of all grades at 9-7/A-A. At A-level, an outstanding 99% of grades were at A-B level.

Find out more at brightoncollege.org.uk

6. Eton College

Eton College, sometimes known as Eton, is situated near Windsor in Berkshire, England. It is one of the most well-known institutions in the world. The College educates 1315 students aged 13 to 18 in a male, all-boarding school environment.

19 British Prime Ministers have attended the school, and it has long been associated with the country’s political and social elites. Eton College is the school that is regarded as a benchmark by private schools all around the world. The number of students who attend Eton is 1314.

The fees for boarding at Eton are £48,501. In 2020, 96.5% of students from Eton College have achieved grades 7-9 (A/A) in the GCSE examinations. In the same year, the college achieved 80.8% A/A grades in the A Levels.

Find out more at etoncollege.com

7. Tonbridge School

Tonbridge School, located on a 150-acre property on the outskirts of Kent. The school is one of the top ten all-boy public schools in the UK, aged between 13 – 18 with a mix of day and boarding spaces. Tonbridge routinely ranks in the top five schools in the United Kingdom in academic league tables. More than 33 countries are represented across the school, with 60% of the boys’ board and about 80 pupils coming from abroad. The number of students who attend Tonbridge is 800.

The fees for boarding at Tonbridge are £44835 per annum. 95% of all GCSE results were at Grades 9, 8, and 7, the equivalent of A* or A. A 79% of all results were at Grades 9 and 8, equivalent to A; and exactly half of all grades were at Grade 9. 22 boys achieved grade 9s / As; a further 60 boys achieved 9s/8s/A*s. There was a pass rate of 100%.

Find out more at tonbridge-school.co.uk

8. Cheltenham Ladies’ College

Cheltenham Ladies’ College is an independent boarding and day school in Gloucestershire, England. The College has been at the forefront of girls’ education for over 160 years. The school was founded in 1853 to provide “a good intellectual education for girls” and has consistently been recognised as one of the best all-girls schools in the country. The school is girls only aged between 11 – 18 and offers students the option of day and boarding. The number of students who attend Cheltenham Ladies’ is 850.

The fees for boarding at Cheltenham Ladies’ College are £39,780 per annum. The 2020 A levels results are 51.8%, A-A. The GCSE results are A-A, 97.2%

Find out more at cheltladiescollege.org

9. Sevenoaks School

Sevenoaks School is a coeducational independent school in Kent. The school is recognised as the international independent school in England by attendance, syllabus, and outlook. The students that attend come from more than 40 different nations. In 1978, it became the first major independent to accept the International Baccalaureate. The school is mixed gendered aged between 11 – 18 and offers students the option of day and boarding. The number of students who attend Sevenoaks is 1020.

The fees for boarding at Sevenoaks are £39,960 per annum. 94.9% of all examinations were graded A/A* or 9/8/7. 27 students gained 11 or 12 A/A +9/8/7 grades, and further 106 achieved 10 A/A +9/8/7 grades

Find out more at sevenoaksschool.org

10. Winchester College

Winchester College, located in Winchester, Hampshire, is an independent boarding school. It is the oldest of the Clarendon Commission’s nine English public schools, seven of which were governed by the Public Schools Act of 1868. Winchester College will admit female students for the first time to the sixth form as day students beginning in 2022, while boarders will be allowed to join in 2024. The school is boys only aged between 13 – 18 and offers students the option of boarding only. The number of students who attend Winchester is 694.

The fees for boarding at Winchester are £43,335 per annum. The Exam results in 2019 A Level A & A* grades 81.51% and GCSE level A & A* grades 86.95%

Find out more at winchestercollege.org

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