WHAT, WHERE?

Founded in 1928, Bryanston School occupies a stunning palatial country house on the outskirts of the village of Bryanston, near Blandford Forum. One of the most attractive-looking boarding and day schools in southern England, its 400 acres are home to around 800 boys and girls and, over 90 years later, still embodies its original ethos of offering a different type of schooling – independence, self-development and self-discipline.

The school was originally founded to do things differently – not a revolution in education so much as incorporating the best of the new with the best of the old. Bryanston is different from other schools, and thinks about itself differently; it challenges convention, incorporates new ideas, is innovative and embraces change while still offering a traditional education. There is no school uniform, yet there are firm expectations for academic achievement. It is highly creative, yet still outstanding in sport. Pupils experience more freedom than at many schools, yet the safety net of the one-to-one tutor system and one-to-one subject tutorials is also sturdier than most. Ignore the outdated rumour mill that pegs Bryanston as having a reputation for relaxed pupils in a slightly too relaxed environment, thriving in the creative arts but less so academically. It is so much more than that.

In 2022, Bryanston merged with Knighton House – now Bryanston Prep (read our review here) – to become a co-educational through school welcoming pupils from 3-18 years old.

Well-known alumni include Lucian Freud, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Mark Elder, Ben Fogle, Emilia Fox and Sir Terence, Jasper and Sebastian Conran.

Most pupils come from up to an hour away but there are plenty from London, and the school is growing in popularity across the rest of the UK, plus there is a strong international contingent.

FACILITIES

We have to say, they’re pretty extraordinary. A DT block to blow your mind, impressive art department, music school with (unsurprisingly) professional standard facilities including a concert hall and recording studio, which I was lucky enough to see in use. All pupils have singing or instrumental lessons in the first year and overall, there are some 600 individual lessons a week, plus a plethora of bands, orchestras and ensembles. Unsurprisingly, many pupils go on to make careers in music.

The Coade Hall Theatre stages productions from House plays and student-led performances to a co-production with neighbouring schools. There are plenty of opportunities for future stage managers, lighting and sound designers too. Well known as a creative school, standards in art, design, drama and music are extremely high.

The main school building houses three boarding houses, English, Politics and Humanities classrooms, social spaces and a dining hall, where all meals are taken. Every day offers a bit of drama – omelette bars, make-your-own pizza, themed days including Wild Wild West, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, or the very best of Nordic cooking.

A big nod must go to the sports centre, with not one but three sports halls, a performance sport room with indoor sprint track, indoor climbing wall, fitness suite, dance studio and a very shiny swimming pool. The Equestrian facilities are small but perfectly formed and, with 25 stables, you can bring your own horse.

Extra- and co-curricular activities are no less impressive, with Pioneering (a programme of community service projects and practical skills that includes everything from growing vegetables to hosting a club for the elderly) replacing CCF, pupils encouraged to try everything from knitting to eventing to cross country, and a strong charity outreach programme including helping in local schools, visiting care homes and hosting riding for the disabled.

ACADEMICS

Selective but not overly so, this is no academic hothouse. Independent learning is the name of the game here and pupils are stretched and challenged individually. With no rigid timetable blocks, pupils can choose the right subjects for them (there’s no ‘the timetable says ‘no’ here). Assignments and prep are set a week in advance, with students encouraged to manage their own time. Assignment Periods (study periods, to you and me), are more prolific than in most schools, with Year 9s allocated three a week and more as you go higher up the school. It’s a system that prepares students early for Sixth Form, for university and for the world beyond, encouraging initiative and time management.

To support all this, a safety net if you like, the school has an extraordinary and extremely successful one-to-one tutoring system, the Bryanston Method, which provides strong academic and pastoral encouragement. Tutors are carefully matched to each pupil at the start of their school journey, and remain with them throughout their time at Bryanston, ‘walking alongside them’, acting as an advocate – a sort of surrogate parent – and an important point of constant contact for parents too. One-to-one tutoring starts in Year 6 at Bryanston Prep as the School begins to equip pupils with the skills they need to become independent learners.

In the Senior School, each pupil meets their personal tutor at least once a week to review how things are going, and get help with GCSE and sixth form choices, as well as university or further study options and will ultimately to help write the pupil’s university reference. In the Sixth Form pupils also have one-to-one meetings each week with each subject teacher (three if taking A levels, six for the IB), a time to go through work or agree on how to progress. Not a system I’ve come across at other schools but surely a sensible, and much needed, one.

Each pupil has an eChart (it’s all quite visible and parents can read it online!) where pupils are marked each week on each subject – pupils and tutors discuss it together and it’s all about developing an ethos of self-motivation and independent study.

Pupils are offered a wide corridor at Bryanston. They can choose to walk down the right side, or the left side, or down the middle, but they have to make a choice. Yes, it is a wider corridor than at most schools but pupils are still going in the same direction. And while independence is encouraged, the tutor system ensures an extraordinary safety net and if a pupil needs more structure, their tutor will offer this.

In the Sixth Form, students can choose between A levels and the IB, with about 20% opting for the latter. A large selection of subjects is on offer (students don’t have to choose options in fixed blocks), including Philosophy, History of Art, Drama, Business and PE. Although results are good and getting better, value added scores has the school in the top 15% nationally. And this, rightly, is one of the things they are most proud of.

In 2022, 36.7% of GCSE grades were 9-8; 56.4% graded 9-7; and 89.2% graded 9-5. 40% of A Level grades were A or A* (surpassing pre-pandemic levels); 66% of IB grades were awarded at 6 or 7; IB Diploma pupils received an average score of 37 points, equivalent to A*AA at A Level.

Leavers mostly go to university, with a couple to Oxbridge each year, and a growing number to overseas colleges. Plenty of arts applications, too.

HEAD TEACHER

Richard Jones has been Head here since Spring 2022, after coming to the school in 2020 as Second Master and then promoted to Acting Head in 2021. Previously at Canford School and St John’s School in Leatherhead, he has a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership. Dynamic and super approachable, he’s no ivory tower Head, finding time to teach Economics in the Sixth Form and one of the famous Bryanston one-to-one pastoral tutors.

With Bryanston’s reputation for innovation, individualism and creativity – cross the board – sensibly, he’s not going to try and reinvent the wheel but build on these existing strengths. He talks about Bryanston’s four pillars: creative and performing arts; sport; the digital world; entrepreneurship and innovation are the school’s response to a swiftly developing future employment landscape, offering breadth of educational opportunities and flexible skill sets. Under his leadership, the new ‘Bryanston Promise’ allows pupils to discover what they are truly capable of encourages them to leave the school as unique individuals who work well alongside others yet are ready to lead. The aim is for children to ‘learn to love their minds’, ‘free their spirits’ and ‘find their mission’.

REPORTS

You can see the latest reports from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI), equivalent to Ofsted in the state sector, which describes the quality of the pupils’ academic, other achievements and personal development as ‘excellent’, here.

SPORTS

While sport is encouraged for all (yoga and zumba are just as popular as team sports) Bryanston very much supports its elite players. The Performance Sport Programme offers supervised gym sessions with specific performance targets and one-on-one specialist coaching; force platforms and 3D motion analysis cameras analyse running and gait to support the training for an athlete’s growing body. A very impressive honours board celebrates past and present students who have represented their country in their chosen sport.

BOARDING

Whilst the majority of the pupils are boarders, even the day pupils (around 120 of them) have a bed so they can stay over sometimes. Bryanston offers a uniquely individual boys’ boarding structure, with Year 9 boys heading into two junior houses of 40 each, before being divided up into five boys’ houses for the remaining four years. It makes for a jovial first year where new boys settle in and get to know fellow pupils across their year, not just those in their house or sports teams. Girls, on the other hand, go straight into one of five girls’ houses at the very beginning. The role of stripes (house prefects) are popular and hard fought for in the Sixth Form – it says a lot when an 18-year-old chooses to hang out with their younger cohorts.

Weekends are divided into ‘Whole School’ weekends, which are what they say on the tin, ‘Open’ weekends when pupils are able to leave after matches on Saturday afternoon and return on Sunday evening, and exeats (Friday lunchtime to Sunday night), although these are rare. It is a fuller boarding model than many and each day pupil has a bed so the switch from day to boarding is common, too. The plus side of this is that even on Open Weekends the school doesn’t feel empty as plenty of pupils choose to stay in.

WHAT ELSE?

One of the misconceptions about Bryanston is that it is just a creative school. Yes, music, dance, drama and art are exceptional here (Bryanston won the Dynamic Performing Arts (Senior) category in the Muddy Best Schools Awards 2024, for example), but creativity means so much more. Old boy and biochemist Frederick Sanger twice won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and he is a prime example of the importance of creativity in science (or maths, or geography) as well as in the arts.

Intelligently challenging convention are the buzz words here – this is what Bryanston is about and what Bryanstonians do. Bryanston is not a place where there are no boundaries, where kids are free and easy and not pushed to succeed; there are boundaries and certainly high standards, and, though the channel be wider, the pursuance of excellence is still very much here. There is no Bryanston ‘type’, instead the school strives to turn out those who can think for themselves, solve problems and have a conscience.

From sports to art to drama to community service (the school was Highly Commended in the Giving Something Back category in the Muddy Best Schools Awards 2024), pupils are encouraged from day one to step out of their comfort zone. The captain of the First XV will play Romeo in the school play or participate in the dance show and nobody will snigger, which all stems from Year 9s being given a taster in all sorts of activities – and who knows what they’ll be good at. Bee keeping? Climbing? Jewellery making? While there is a high level of coaching for those who excel at sport, there is plenty going on on the sports fields for those who don’t have a natural affinity with traditional team sports, plus a full fixture programme of up to five teams per year group in the main sports, so anyone wanting to play for the school gets a go.

The school has a voice within the independent sector but it also works with local educational networks and beyond. In 2022 they held a national Education Summit with some 250 educationalists, speakers Simon Armitage and Michael Rosen, as well as pupils taking part.

FEES

Fees per term: £14,450 for boarders and £11,850 for day pupils (with overnight stays at £51.45 per night).

WORD ON THE GROUND

Parents appreciate the phenomenal facilities (obvs) but also the relaxed but not totally laissez faire atmosphere and emphasis on independent learning. Also coming in for praise: the fantastic tutorial system, where each pupil is allocated a specific pastoral/academic tutor for their time at the school and the eCharts enabling them to easily access their offspring’s academic progress. Parents with kids who are day pupils say they feel as much a part of the school as the boarders (not always the case in some independent schools with a high proportion of boarders).

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: Unpretentious, joiner-inner types who thrive in a bustling atmosphere and who aren’t afraid of independent study. This is a true full-boarding experience, reinforcing the palpable sense of community and family at the school – great for those overseas pupils making a home from home. Busy London kids who’d benefit from the hearty, rural experience would also be well served. This is a school with a myriad of opportunities, so anyone with a positive give-it-a-go attitude will love it. The school is less interested in how many A*s they churn out but that each child achieves the best they possibly can, both inside and outside the classroom. Saying that, because of the tutor system they absolutely can support the brightest and best.

Despite the Dorset setting, the cry of “it’s not as far as you think!” was one I heard many times. Bournemouth, Poole and Salisbury are not far off, giving access to a strong train network.

Not for: Pupils who don’t like trying their hand at lots of different things. Joiner-inners are the thing here, but introverts can thrive too once they step out of their boxes.

Dare to disagree? Arrange a visit by calling the admissions team on 01258 484633 to arrange a suitable day and time or complete their online enquiry form. They also run small group visits at certain times of the year. Click here for more info on admissions.

Bryanston School, near Blandford Forum, Dorset DT11 0PX. Tel: 01258 452411 www.bryanston.co.uk

Bryanston School, near Blandford Forum

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