Boarding & In-house Dining

It is very much a boarding school and 2023 was recipient of the ‘Supporting International Borders’ award from the Boarding Schools Association. It retains the relatively uncommon in-house dining, which promotes a real sense of family within the Houses as well as providing Houseparents with frequent opportunities for checking on the pastoral well-being of their pupils.

Manchester Airport is the closest major airport, an hour and a half away.

Academic choices

Amongst the usual choice of GCSE and A level subjects this school has some slightly more unusual offerings, which is maybe part of the special atmosphere and approach of the school. For example there is a Silversmith GCSE, a BTec in Agriculture and Geology at A level. The results are good with 85% gaining A - C grades in 2025, of which 35 % were A - A.

Outside of the Classroom

Well known for its sport in general it offers a good range of the usual options of rugby, football, hockey, netball, cricket and athletics but there are some interesting alternatives. Climbing, Fell running, fly fishing, scrambling and caving, rifle shooting and open water swimming are activities not regularly found in the British boarding school!

Music, Drama & Art

The musical offering is wonderful and over 50% of the pupils are involved in one way or another which may partly explain why they have around 75 musical performances a year.

Drama is performed either in the school’s own Arden Theatre but for bigger shows they take to the professional Brewery Theatre in Kendal. LLAMDA is another offering within the school and as well as enhancing the cultural lives of those in the school all of these have the added benefit of developing confidence in the individual.

The Art School offers a tremendous range of options from textiles to ceramics and is clearly a centre of excellence for the school. Trips nationally and internationally to galleries and exhibitions are part of the offering and it is staffed by seasoned teachers who are also practising artists in their own right.

Charity & Responsibility

The Challenge Week is one of the true highlights of the school year. During this week, pupils not only take on physical challenges but also engage in local projects or raise funds for national and international charities. In doing so, they immerse themselves in the school’s values – humility, ambition, resilience, and kindness – and end each day with the rewarding sense of having achieved something meaningful.

At the same time, they gain valuable practical skills that often reveal their full importance only years later – for example laying water pipes, repairing wooden furniture, or tending the school’s vegetable garden.

Famous Alumni

Will Carling - Captain England Rugby, Admiral Sir Jock Slater - First Sea Lord, Sir Michael Bowen, Head MI5, Baron Helsby - Head of British Civil service, Sir Christopher Bland - Chairman British Telecom and Chairman BBC, Robert Swan OBE - Polar Explorer