Overview
Sherborne Girls is an independent day and boarding school for girls aged 11 to 18 years old, located in Sherborne, North Dorset, England. There are currently 485 pupils. One of the UK’s few full boarding schools. over 90 per cent of Sherborne Girls’ pupils board in the seven boarding houses. The school has a close working relationship with Sherborne Boys: both schools meet for some musical and other extra-curricular activities. The gives the girls the best of both worlds: a single sex education and a co-ed liftstyle. An outstanding schools with superb pastoral care, a strong academic focus and a wealth of extra-curricular opportunities.
Teaching and Curriculum
Sherborne Girls offers a board curriculum, focusing on understanding and depth of knowledge, exploring lines of enquiry for long-term academic success beyond school. Girls choose at least one language at GCSE from Mandarin, French, Spanish, German and Latin. Ancient Greek is offered at A level. The school recognises the importance of developing of life skills such as self-confidence, emotional and creative intelligence.
Entrance and Feeder Schools
The majority of girls join Sherborne Girls at 13, although a small percentage decide to join at 11. They come mainly from 20 schools, including Hanford, Farleigh, Sandroyd, Port Regis, Sherborne Prep, Clayesmore Prep among others. Pupils need to be registered at least two years prior to entry. They take a pre-assessment in year 7 for year 9 entry. In addition, girls need to complete Common Entrance (and those who are not prepared for CE sit school’s own entrance test). Up to 20 join in the Sixth Form.
Top leavers’ destinations
The majority of students who leave after A levels attend top universities. The most popular choices are Exeter, Bristol, Edinburgh and Newcastle. There were two Oxbridge successes in 2020. As art is well-suppported at Sherborne, a good number of pupils gain places at renowned art schools such as Central Saint Martins, Falmouth and Kingston.
Special Education Needs (SEN) Support
The Learning support team offers support to those with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia and ADHD. Additionally, to ensure that everyone achieves their potential, they pay special attention to the 10 per cent of pupils who have ESL lessons and 12 per cent who have mild SEN.
Extracurricular: Art, Music and Sport
As sports and other disciplines have an important role in the school, the campus includes the Oxley Sports Centre with a six-lane swimming pool, a fitness suite, squash courts, badminton courts, a floodlit astro turf hockey pitch, a climbing wall, a bouldering wall, grass pitches and dance studio. Music is superb here- a number of choral opportunities are available for girls of all ages to access, ranging from Junior Choir and Quintable, to the Madrigal Society and Senior Choir. The art is outstanding with several girls progressing to the top art schools.
International Students
International students make up around 10 per cent of pupils. These students mainly come from the US. Canada, Spain, France, Lebanon and Hong Kong. Those requiring it receive advanced English language support every week.
Pastoral Care
Sherborne Girls is an incredibly nurturing school. The pastoral care team are experienced and well-qualified and include two counsellors who are at the school every day. Girls know that they can also approach their tutors or houseparents if something is worrying them.
Fellow parents
Parents range from Londoners (the train journey to Waterloo is only two hours), families based in the West Country, diplomats and forces parents. Parents appreciate the school’s sense of community and the fact that it isn’t pretentious.
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