WHAT, WHERE?

Wellington School is a co-ed independent day and boarding school, taking littlies in the nursery from the age of 3 up through to 18-year-olds in the 6th Form (and many stay for the duration). Established in 1837, the school has grown up around the original buildings – the Great Hall and Memorial Chapel – and now extends back either side of the road leading into the centre of the small Somerset town of Wellington. It’s not huge – 210 in the Prep, 660 in the Senior School – but fairly diverse both socially and culturally, with lots of local pupils and over 30 different nationalities.

FACILITIES

The whopping great big Olympic sized sports hall with gym, fencing salle (learned a new word there), weights room etc, which, incidentally, is open to the public out of school hours.

They spent £280k on an all-weather astro turf pitch.

We love the niftily designed half lecture theatre-half lab science classrooms.

They’ve a professional level theatre space with connections to match – they used the set from the West End production of Sweeney Todd in their own show and Old Wellingtonian David Suchet (aka Poirot) has given acting master classes via Skype. Their recent production of Les Miserables was the highlight of a triumphant year in Drama with over 80 children gaining LAMDA distinctions. The state-of-the-art Dukes Library and Study Centre makes for a calm atmos for study and The Café 37 is rather cool.

Pick a booth, any booth, in the Dukes Library and Study Centre

ACADEMICS

The Senior School’s selective (but you don’t have to be a genius to get in), with entrance exams for Year 7 and Year 9; GCSEs 3 x level 6 (3Bs) and 3 x levels 4/5 (3Cs), (A in Maths/Physics to study those) to join the 6th Form. They offer 1-year GSCE courses for international students wanting to study A levels. The curriculum is along grammar school lines offering traditional academic subjects including Latin and Greek – no media studies here – and the more rigorous IGSCEs in Maths, Sciences and Modern Languages. Range of 22 subjects at A level. Results speak for themselves: in 2021 at GCSE almost half of all grades were at level 8-9 (A*) and over 60% at 9-7 (A*-A ); at A level over 20% were A* and 50% A*-A. A good number of pupils go onto Russell Group universities (16 to Oxbridge over the past few years).

HEADTEACHER

Wellington School Somerset headmaster Alex Battison

Alex Battison joined Wellington as Head in September 2024. Previously Senior Deputy Head at Lord Wandsworth College in Hampshire, Assistant Head at Wells Cathedral School and Director of Learning and Innovation at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex, he comes with masses of experience. Also on the CV: Chair of Educational Futures as part of Harvard University’s Human Flourishing Programme, a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, a Global Ambassador for HundrED (selecting the top 100 educational innovations in the world each year) and consulting for The Premier League (football)! He’s got a BSc (Hons) and PGCE from the University of Wales, Cardiff, a Masters from Oxford University in Learning and Teaching and is currently completing a Doctorate in Leadership, Learning and Policy at Bristol University. We’ll be talking to him soon, so watch this space!

REPORTS

You can see the latest reports from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI), equivalent to Ofsted in the state sector, here.

SPORTS

An innovative Sports Performance and Well-being department means that pupils have weekly well-being lessons, focusing on emotional as well as physical health – in addition to separately timetabled sports lessons. No slouches on the sports field either: there are county cricketers, a National Schools Equestrian Champ and GB Triathlon athlete in the school.

WHAT ELSE?

Lots of activities and trips via the Outdoor Education dept (cycling from Nice to Venice across the Alps anyone?) and the school competes in the Ten Tors Challenge where teams of six hike up to 55 miles over Dartmoor. Most trips, even abroad, are led by staff with the relevant know-how. There’s a sense of continuity and tradition here, choristers wear long red robes in the Memorial Chapel, built by a former headmaster in memory of his nephew killed in WW1 and, poignantly, the walls are painted with names of old boys killed in wars since then.

The Music department is strong. It’s an Bosendorf school – even chopsticks will sound good on the world’s best pianos – with trad instruments, various ensembles, orchestras, composition as well as music tech on offer.

Art here is described as purposeful play and apparently with a Wellington A level Art you can go directly to a degree course without passing through a foundation course.

School nosh (tried and tested) is a cut above. This is the ginger and coriander chicken…

The school can’t be pigeon-holed as a ‘sporty’, ‘musical’ or an ‘academic’ school with different teachers telling me that their subject was the school’s really big thing. It seems to be a genuinely good all rounder school with a heart, combining a classic grammar school education with private sector facilities and extra-curricular enrichment – and despite having plenty of trumpets to blow, it chooses not to do so.

BOARDING

About 185 pupils are boarders, mostly full boarding and about half from overseas, representing around 30 different nationalities. The Grange (girls Yrs 7–9) is the newest boarding house and a short walk up the road in a Victorian villa so pupils leave for school in the morning just like day pupils. The rooms are all doubles with en suites, and there’s stylish furniture and a mahoosive flat screen TV in the common room. Girls are put into ‘families’ of differing ages with a non-teaching member of school as a ‘godmother’, 6th Formers as ‘grand parents’; boys have buddies and mentors.

NURSERY & PREP

Price’s Nursery for 3–4 year olds. Early years enjoy specialist teaching in IT and Music and weekly Forest School. Although the Prep is self-contained, as they move up the school, pupils increasingly use facilities of the Senior School. They use the famous Singapore maths teaching method (quick explainer: this is the super successful step-by-step approach to maths in which kids get to grips with the subject through objects, then drawings and finally, by adding numbers to the drawings).

QUIRKS/BOASTY BITS

Wellington School was a Finalist in the Dynamic Performing Arts (Senior) category and Highly Commended in the Prepared for Life Award in the Muddy Best Schools Awards 2024.

They’ve got their own cannon. And radio station, Welly Echo, set up by pupils. Every Friday afternoon, most of Year 10 and above pull on their combats for CCF (Combined Cadet Force) activities in partnership with the Navy, Army, Marines and RAF. Doesn’t every 15-year-old girl need to know how to strip down a rifle? Plus the chance to learn to fly, sail, develop leadership skills. etc. They’ve got a plethora of ‘houses’ at different levels of the school – too many for me to get my head round.

WRAP AROUND CARE

Main school ends at 3.45pm and school buses leave at 5pm, so plenty of time for clubs and activities. Mostly music and sporty but also Robotics, the esoteric sounding Biological Drawing club or just Chill Out and Read. Sadly the Unicycle Club is not currently on the go (though an ex-member is now unicycling around the world). A bevvy of school buses cover routes all over Somerset and into Devon. Nursery hours are nice and long at 8am–6pm. Flexi boarding for day pupils.

FEES

Prep: Nursery: £57.50/day; Reception £2,425/term rising to Year 6 £4,485/term. Senior School: Year 7 day pupil £5,285/term and full boarding £10.120; Years 9–13 day pupil £6.095/term and full boarding £11,785 /term.

WORD ON THE GROUND

Parents across the board describe the school as a nice place to be – kind, friendly and inclusive – with well-mannered pupils who have no air of entitlement. They talk about teachers going the extra mile to help pupils both academically and pastorally. Maths teaching in the Prep gets singled out for special praise. Music and sports are seen as outstanding. Some like the fact that there’s no Saturday school – or hyper competitive parents.

MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: children who would thrive in an academic environment but it isn’t an academic hothouse and you don’t have to be Einstein’s love child to get a place here.

Not for: anyone wanting the grandeur of a school set in a posh historic house surrounded by acres and acres of countryside – the school’s in the middle of town and it’s got a collegey feel. The curriculum is fairly traditional so if you want to take lots of obscure GCSEs you’d best look elsewhere.

See for yourself Contact the Admissions Team on 01823 668803 or admissions@wellington-school.org.uk to arrange a personal visit, yourself onto onto an open day, the next one is Sat 11 May 2024.

Wellington School, Wellington, Somerset TA21 8NT. Tel 01823 668803. wellington-school.org.uk

Wellington School, Wellington

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