tatler.com Tatler Schools Guide 2020MIDL ANDS & EAST ANGLIAPUBLIC61OUNDLE
million worth of bursaries each year.
In line with this provision, it is
instilled in students from the start
how important it is to do good for
others, and every Friday afternoon
the upper sixth disperse to 19
different primary schools around
the city, with teachers in tow.RUGBY SCHOOL
Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 5EH
Website rugbyschool.co.uk Head
Peter Green, MA, since 2015;
previously Head of Ardingly College
Pupils 802. Day: 79 boys, 74 girls;
boarding: 355 boys, 294 girls Faith
C of E Ages 13–18 Term Fees
Day: £7,696; boarding: £12,226
Oxbridge 4% Registration Tw o
years before entry, £150 fee
Admission CE or school’s own exam,
interview and previous school’s report
Alumni Neville Chamberlain,
Lewis Carroll, Polly Stenham
Rugby recently withdrew from the
league tables, arguing that they
don’t give a true picture of a
school’s success. Academically,
things are flourishing. Last year,
senior mathematicians achieved
the best results in the school’s his-
tory in the Maths Olympiad, with
35 gold, 38 silver and 34 bronze;
10 students triumphed in the
Cambridge Chemistry Challenge,
a world-class test for the UK’s
lower sixth students; and three stu-
dents achieved medals in Oxford
University’s Physics Challenge.
Crude categorisations such as
league tables don’t gel with Rugby’s
motto: The Whole Person is the
Whole Point. ‘Our pupils are
achieving the best academic results
in the school’s history, but at Rugby,
there is a whole lot more to experi-
ence, achieve and share,’ says the
school. Indeed, there’s tons on
offer outside the classroom. Sport
is huge here, and punctuated by a
‘no one on the bench’ ethos, which
means offering excellent coaching
from the A to the F team. There
are more than 25 sporting activi-
ties throughout the year, including
sailing, polo, golf and road cycling,
and the school has links with
organisations like Leicester Tigers
Rugby and Warwickshire Cricket.There’s plenty on offer for artier
types too: the blockbuster school
film, released on 17 November
2017, has been viewed almost
80,000 times and become the first
school entry to achieve national
and international film awards. The
only odd thing is the slang: the
tuck shop is The Stodge and car-
parks are known as The Porridge.SHREWSBURY
SCHOOL
Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY3 7BA
Website shrewsbury.org.uk Head
Leo Winkley, MA, since 2018;
previously Head of St Peter’s, York
Pupils 830. Day: 135 boys, 62 girls;
boarding: 419 boys, 214 girls Faith
C of E Ages 13–18 Term Fees
Day: £8,590; boarding: £12,520
Oxbridge 1% Registration Tw o
years before entry advised; £100 fee
Admission CE or school’s own
exam and interview Alumni
Charles Darwin, Sir Michael Palin,
Lord Heseltine, John Peel
‘A traditional, co-educational full-
boarding and day school that is
not afraid to be itself; a school of
character; a school of serious fun,’
says Head Leo Winkley, emphasis-
ing Shrewsbury as a school that
is rooted in history (founded by
a royal charter of Edward VI in
1552) yet refreshingly forward-
thinking. This approach certainly
bears fruit: last year 60 A-level
students achieved a clean sweep of
As and A*s, 12 secured Oxbridgeplaces and six were accepted by
North American universities, no
doubt largely due to Shrewsbury’s
rigorous SAT training course.
Aspiring doctors gain exceptional
experience through the school’s
longstanding relationship with
Medic Malawi – every two years a
group of students and staff spend
a fortnight volunteering at a hospi-
tal and an eye clinic (funds for
which were raised at the school).
Year 9 has benefitted from Origin,
a new carefully crafted curriculum
that encourages students to see the
links between different subjects.
Special mention must go to
Shrewsbury’s home-grown musi-
cals, with lyrics by Director of
Drama Helen Brown and music
by the indefatigable Director of
Music John Moore, who has been
at the school for nearly three
decades – last year’s performance
of The Drowned Bride (based on
Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca)
received critical acclaim at the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The all-
boys days are a distant memory
(the first girls arrived, in the sixth
form, in 2008) and the girls speak
very highly of the boys’ gentle-
manly behaviour: ‘They are nicer
and more chivalrous than the classic
public school boy,’ they say, ‘and
without the pomp and arrogance.’
There’s further integration this
September, when nearby Packwood
Haugh prep (see page 109) joins
the Shrewsbury School family.UPPINGHAM
Uppingham, Rutland LE15 9QE
Website uppingham.co.uk Head
Dr Richard Maloney, PhD, since
2016; previously Head of St Bede’s,
East Sussex Pupils 800. Day: 6
boys, 9 girls; boarding: 462 boys,
323 girls Faith C of E Ages 13–18
Term Fees Day: £7,990; boarding:
£12, 906 Oxbridge 5%
Registration Two years before
entry; £200 fee Admission Pre test,
CE or school’s own exam, interview
and previous school’s report Alumni
Stephen Fry, soprano Elizabeth
Atherton, Johnny Vaughan
‘We always go and see each other’s
concerts, house plays or exhibi-
tions; it’s just what you do,’ says
one student, encapsulating the at-
mosphere of mutual respect and
support that pervades every aspect
of life at Uppingham – where 785
of the 800 students still full-board.
Last year, the school took this a step
further with the introduction of
pupil wellbeing advocates: two sixth
formers per boarding house who
have received training on effective
listening skills, confidentiality and
trust, how to recognise emotions
and the use of empathy. Dynamic
and charming Head Dr Richard
Maloney has worked tirelessly to
ensure that Uppingham is an
outward-looking school: the new
community outreach programme
Making a Difference has recently
seen one student group run a bas-
ketball club at a local primary
school and another coordinate a
canned food drive for the local
Food Bank. On a global scale,
years of planning have gone into
two Uppingham schools in China,
due to open in the near future.
Group and individual sporting
successes continue: the U14 Boys
made the National Hockey Finals
and one upper sixth former has
signed a professional rugby con-
tract. Not willing to stop at fantas-
tic A-level and Pre-U results, the
new sixth form parallel curriculum
(sports leadership and psychology
are just two of the courses on offer)
has been a roaring success because,
if there’s one thing an Uppingham
student loves, it’s a challenge. (10-19-Schools-Guide-PublicMidlands.indd 61 14/08/2019 21:57