State boarding schools

As Head of a leading state boarding school I am often asked what the concept of state boarding means in practice. If your child is coming up to secondary age and you are looking for affordable boarding and a cracking education, you need look no further than this small group of effective, and indeed cost-effective, schools. Put simply, parents of...

State boarding schools are often described as ‘education’s best-kept secret’. Certainly I meet many prospective parents who have found the sector almost by chance and who once introduced are impressed by the range of facilities, types of school and examination results across our schools. State boarding is available at the time of writing to all EU-qualified pupils and the education...

Sixth-form colleges provide high quality academic education for 16- to 18-year-old pupils enabling them to progress to university, the workplace or higher-level vocational education. There are 251 colleges in the UK and 62 are designated as sixth-form colleges, offering an extensive range of academic, technical and professional courses as well as apprenticeships. Sixth-form colleges have a reputation for academic excellence,...

England’s state boarding schools have a very special place in our education system. They often have an ‘independent’ ethos and education is free. Boarding fees are typically around a third of the cost of independent boarding schools.