Boarding
Life at the College is not only focused on academic success and individual growth, but also includes ample opportunities for fun and enjoyment through a diverse range of evening and weekend extracurricular activities.
Through our trips programme and our sports and creative outlets, we encourage boarders to explore their passions and discover new talents. From team sports, arts, music ensembles, and outdoor adventures, our programme of weekend activities recognises the world our boarders will enter and the skills they need in order to progress.
Evenings are a time for prep and relaxation and our boarders are free to choose how they spend their time. Following supper and supervised prep time, boarders either take advantage of our sports hall, gym and music room facilities or choose to relax with friends in their houses. For our Prep School boarders, organised activities and arts and crafts are also set up in the evenings.
Our weekend programme brings together a mixture of new skills, fun, and team building activities, enriching boarders’ time with us. Saturdays provide a balance between sports match representation (for squad members), off site trips, on campus social activities, and downtime; enabling boarders to relax after a busy week. At points during the year, Saturdays will also provide opportunities for revision guided by academic staff and support with UCAS entries.
Activities such as sailing, driving, rock climbing, self-defence, orienteering, camping, and canoeing are on offer to help pupils develop resilience and where possible, gain qualifications.
Regular off site trips for Senior School and Prep School boarders across the year provide a balance between culture, fun, and resilience building.
A range of cultural trips offer our boarders experiences across opera, theatre, museums and tours of UK cities, landmarks, and film studios.
Whether it’s watching sport or trying it, both are on offer for our boarders. From watching the Premiership’s top football teams, to donning ski boots and taking to the slopes at indoor snow centres, sports experiences satisfy our most adventurous boarders.
Having a go at new activities and building confidence in new areas is a mainstay of our weekend programme. We want our boarders to leave us with the expectation of being able to do, and do well, whatever it is that they take on. Whether they are scaling treetops at outdoor activity centres, soaring like birds at indoor sky diving centres, learning to drive on karting circuits or competing in College MasterChef competitions, the opportunities are there and there are lots of them.
Saturday evenings are the perfect opportunity for boarders to relax and have fun. Regular evening activities are organised, often by the boarders themselves, and are inspired by the many nationalities of our boarders. Quiz nights, film nights and pizza evenings complement Chinese New Year parties, BBQs, casino nights, Eurovision parties, croquet and cream teas, comedy club nights, plus trips to the cinema and tenpin bowling alley.
Day trips to theme parks and coastal seaside towns are on the agenda in the summer months. Our boarders can thrill seek on some of the UK’s largest roller coasters and experience very British traditions, such as eating fish and chips on the beach.