Thoughts on Shrewsbury school?

[JaneGriffith]

DD (15) has decided she likes the look of Shrewsbury school and wants to go there for sixth form. We need a full boarding school which will academically challenge DD and with good pastoral care.

Any thoughts/opinions/experiences with the school?

Thanks so much, any comments greatly appreciated!

[happygardening]

I'm not sure Shrewsbury would be described as "academically challenging" it's a very well regarded school but not generally considered very selective. If your looking for proper full boarding check that it actually is, enquire about the exact numbers staying in every weekend for the while weekend, schools are often cagey about this because basically they want your money, friends have just fallen fowl of this at another well known school and are very annoyed. Many say they are but allow children home on Saturday afternoon and back Sunday evening but still describe themselves as full boarding schools and these pupils are also described by the ISI reports as full boarders.

[happygardening]

Whole not while!

[JaneGriffith]

It doesn't necessarily have to be super selective, but somewhere where she will be challenged and will have chances to interact with other bright kids.
We'll definitely check about the numbers staying in, thanks for the advice!

[happygardening]

Many years ago I looked at a school for DS1 I thought the HM was being rather cagey about numbers of actual full boarders, "30% 40%," "lots," "quite a lots", you know the sort of thing, there were 50 boys in the house. So I said out of the 50 boys here how many were "in" last weekend, a long pause 5-6 he finally said all the rest had gone home on Sat afternoon, I don't call that full boarding.
Another friend again not getting a very clear answer actually stood at the end of every bed and said "does this one full board" the "60%" dropped to less than 10%.
Apart from a small number most are filling their vacancies by the skin of their teeth, whatever their admissions office/website pitch side gossip states, they want your money and therefore nay be reluctant to divulge actual full boarding numbers.

[JaneGriffith]

Thanks, we will definitely double check! Now I'm a bit worried we'll send her off to a 'full boarding school' and she'll be the only one there on weekends!

Does anyone have DC at Shrewsbury and know how many children stay in at weekends?

[JugglingChaotically]

Jane, we're looking at Shrewsbury too. Did you any answers to this one.
It has to be full boarding to work for us.

[jeanne16]

Beware the supposed weekend activities that are arranged at 'full' boarding houses. At a friend's daughter's school, the weekend activity was always publicised on their web page but was invariably cancelled as there were so few pupils staying for the weekend. In fact the only full boarders were the Chinese pupils. Nothing wrong with that necessarily, but not what the schools will have you believe.

[0verseasmum]

Def full boarding from what I know

[Msmargarethale]

Would endorse what Happygardening said about the "full boarding" trap. We almost enrolled DS in the junior house of a wonderful school for Y7 on the basis that he would be one of many full boarders. It was only when we met another family with a son in the lower school that we established that there had been exactly two Y7 full boarders the previous year. All the others went home after games on Saturday. Numbers increased a bit in y8 and then dramatically in Y9...but he would to all intents and purposes have been on his own on a Sunday. The school were extremely economical with the truth on this point!