Sherborne Girls might be the answer: a girls’ school perched on a hill, there
is easy access to the boys of excellent, Sherborne School in the town, as well
as the option of mixed A-level classes. Boarding life is pure Enid Blyton:
there are seven houses spread across campus, which house about 50 girls of all
ages. The houses, though officially run by a teaching Housemistress, are
unofficially governed by the girls: a wise but jolly six-form Head of House
setting the tone. The school, founded in 1899 by the famous local Wingfield-
Digby family, has a strong Church of England ethic: religious studies is a
mandatory GCSE, as is attendance at morning and evening prayers and church on
Sunday. Yet there is nothing dour or pious about Sherborne girls (Tara Palmer
Tompkinson is an old girl) and the high spirits are infectious.
Background and Reputation
Sherborne Girls is going from strength to strength. The pioneering
headmistress, Jenny Dwyer has a vision for the school and little seems to be
standing in her way. A science lab to rival NASA has just been opened and
there are grand plans afoot for new boarding houses to increase the number of
places (there are about 420 at the moment). The school prides itself on being
an all-rounder: there is no skew in favour of art, sports or music, each seems
to get equally good results, while there is an impressive 100% pass rate in
public exams.
Academic and Exit Results
Though Sherborne Girls rarely distinguishes itself in the league tables this
is misleading: there is a 100% pass rate for GCSEs and Alevels. In 2012, A
Level students achieved the highest percentage of A* grades to date. 23% of
papers passed at A* grade, 55% of papers achieved A* or A grade and 86% of
papers achieved A/A or B grade. University admission is consequently rarely a
problem for Sherborne girls, the average UCAS points per A Level candidate,
including the extended project, is 407.4 (very high) The International
Baccalaureate has recently been introduced, in 2012 ten girls (taught jointly
with Sherborne School) took the IB. The average points score was 33 (the
worldwide average is 29.83), with 40% of the girls achieving a Grade A in the
Extended Essay. GCSEs seem to be particularly well taught at Sherborne Girls.
In 2012, 44% of papers passed at A grade with 71% of papers at A* or A and
91% of papers getting an A*, A or B.
Social and Pastoral
Though only 10% of the school are day girls, many of the students live in the
surrounding countryside, so lots go out for the day with friends and family at
weekends; although staying away for the weekend outside of exeats is
discouraged. Yet there is also a strong flavour of internationalism to the
school, 20% of the pupils come from overseas, and there is a massive
recruitment drive happening in Hong Kong and China. Up until upper-sixth girls
are divided into six mixed age boarding houses, which means that they have
friends of all ages. Informal, although uncharacteristically serious,
conferences go on when GCSEs and A levels have to be picked, with older girls
giving sage advice about the best (or at least easiest) options. The boys
school down the road enlivens the weekends, although mid-week socialising on
the games pitches is strictly forbidden (which means it happens all the time).
There are frequent discos, formals and debates between the school and many of
the girls have brothers at the boys school, so they are very heavily
integrated.
Sport, Art, Music and Drama
Sport is taken seriously at Sherborne, with compulsory games every afternoon.
Though there are squash courts, badminton courts, 27 tennis courts and a
floodlit Astro Turf hockey pitch, lacrosse is the school’s real calling card:
two girls recently competed in the World Lacrosse Championship. Tension in the
school reaches Quidditch-level highs in the finals of the inter-house netball
tournament. The Art Department, gloriously plastered with the work of students
of all ages, has churned out a number of well-regarded artists, an ex-
Sherbornian recently exhibited her work to great acclaim at the Arthur
Ackermann gallery. Art students make it a point to go about covered in paint
and eat, sleep, breathe the department. DT and Design is another strong point,
the Textiles Department is converted into a veritable sweat shop for Leavers
Ball dresses at the end of the summer term. The choir at Sherborne, though
famously the place for girls that want to nap during morning prayers as the
choir loft is tucked away out of sight, is quite a proposition. Booked for
gigs well into the next decade, the 40 girl strong choir lift the rafters of
Sherborne Abbey whenever they are recruited to sing at the wedding of an
alumni (another perk of the school is that old girls are allowed to get
married in the Abbey). GCSE and A Level music is no soft option, which
explains the brilliant results achieved by the department. The Drama
Department has improved dramatically in the past few years. Historically the
best plays were staged at Sherborne School, so girls waited to be offered
parts there, a new Head of Drama has made it her mission to change this. Their
recent production of Wind in the Willows put the boys school to shame.
There is lots to do outside of lessons at Sherborne girls: from the Mah Jong
club to Chemistry symposiums, girls are encouraged to get involved and fill
their free time creatively. Though many ‘extras’ are charged, the school is
very receptive to girls who want to start societies of their own, often
offering school funding toward them. Duke of Edinburgh is also popular among
the girls, who generally arrive back at school after a DofE trek, exhausted,
filthy but happy.
