Sherborne School A GSG School

Other features

Choir school - substantial scholarships and bursaries usually available for choristers.

International Study Centre - school has a linked, international study centre for overseas students wishing to improve their English.

UK Independent Schools’ Entry Test

Sports

Unusual sports

Polo

Equestrian centre or equestrian team - school has own equestrian centre or an equestrian team.

Fencing

Shooting

Sailing

What The Good Schools Guide says

Headmaster

Since 2016, Dr Dominic Luckett, previously head of Mill Hill School. Educated at King Edward VII Grammar School (now King Edward VII Academy) in King’s Lynn, the University of Leicester, where he gained a congratulatory first in history, and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he completed his doctorate on Henry VII.

Encouraged by an inspirational history teacher, he was the first of his family to go to university. He taught for 11 years at Harrow School, where he was head of history and an assistant housemaster. Barnaby Lenon, head of Harrow at the time, suggested he should apply for a deputy headship and he subsequently moved to Worth School as deputy head. In 2007 he became head of Mill Hill School and chief executive of the Mill Hill School Foundation. He is a governor of several schools and was a member of the Council of the University of Leicester, the university’s governing body, for nine years.

His wife Cara is a barrister specialising in clinical negligence and they live in a school house with their two daughters (the elder at Sherborne Girls, the younger at Sherborne Prep). He loves the fact that Sherborne is ‘a proper boarding school’ and ‘doesn’t empty out at weekends’. When he first visited the school he was delighted to see boys in their early teens playing tag in the school grounds. ‘You don’t get boys in north London playing tag,’ he said wryly.

Parents and boys talk about him in glowing terms. They say he has upped the academic ante, put an emphasis on kindness and secured the school’s links with Sherborne Girls, a 10-minute walk away. ‘I really like him,’ said one mother. ‘His influence has permeated through the school. He wants the boys to make the most of every opportunity they are given but they don’t take it for granted. They know how fortunate they are.’ Another said: ‘We’ve felt very secure with him at the helm. He commands the boys’ respect and has made very good decisions.’

A thoughtful, likeable man, he’s hugely proud of the school and its pupils. ‘The boys are interesting, engaging and thoroughly decent human beings,’ he told us. He often mentions acts of kindness in assemblies. ‘It’s very easy to celebrate a first XV victory or a university place but if you aren’t kind you’re not a proper Shirburnian, however much you achieve.’

In his spare time he enjoys paragliding, hillwalking, music (‘the music here is incredible’), gardening and collecting clocks. Over afternoon tea in his elegant drawing room he pointed out his ‘second favourite clock’ – a lantern clock made by Ahasuerus Fromanteel in 1665 that chimed loudly during our chat. Leaving in summer 2025.

From September 2025, Simon Heard, currently deputy master at Haileybury, will be the head. Educated at RGS Guildford and the University of Exeter, where he studied French and Russian, he spent time in the Royal Marines and Ministry of Defence before moving into education. He worked at a number of established UK boarding and day schools – roles included deputy head, head of department and housemaster – before moving to Haileybury in 2018. He is currently completing an MSt degree in sustainability leadership at the University of Cambridge.

He is a keen cross-country runner and downhill skier – he represented Britain in the biathlon and cross-country skiing and was British champion in 2005. He also enjoys classical French and historical literature, walking and cycling in the Alps, kayaking and coaching rugby, shooting and cross-country running. Married to Isabel, with six children.

Entrance

Around 120 boys arrive in year 9 – from a host of different prep schools (57 in 2024), including Sherborne Prep, Farleigh, Hazlegrove, Port Regis, Sandroyd, The Pilgrims’ School, Perrott Hill, Cheam, Elstree, Sunningdale, Walhampton, Ludgrove, Papplewick, Windlesham House and Summer Fields. The school offers year 6 or year 7 testing for 13+ entry – boys sit the ISEB Common Pre-Test and are then invited to an assessment day for an interview, a piece of creative writing and a group task. Around 60 per cent opt for the pre-test in year 6, 30 per cent in year 7 and 10 per cent make late applications in year 8 (when the school uses CAT4 testing). ‘The most important thing for us is that boys thrive here, get stuck into school life and take advantage of everything on offer,’ the director of admissions told us.

Fifteen to 20 boys arrive in the sixth form. They need an average of grade 4 or above across all their GCSEs, including English language and maths, and 7s in subjects to be studied at A level. They also do an online assessment and have interviews with the deputy head (academic) and/or deputy head (sixth form) and a member of the pastoral team.

Exit

Very little fall-out after GCSEs (boys are no longer invited to move on if they don’t get the required grades). ‘It’s not a hothouse,’ said a parent. Vast majority go on to university, two-thirds to Russell Group. Three to Oxbridge in 2024, one vet and one dentist. Newcastle, Durham, Exeter, Nottingham, Southampton, Manchester, Leeds and Bristol are among the most popular choices, with degree courses ranging from economics, business and international relations to maths, physics and engineering. Growing interest in opportunities abroad.

Latest results

In 2024, 46 per cent 9-7 at GCSE; 42 per cent A*/A at A level (72 per cent A*-B).

Teaching and learning

Twenty-five A level subjects on offer, plus three BTECs in sport, creative media and enterprise and entrepreneurship. A few A level subjects are taught jointly with nearby Sherborne Girls – girls can do computer science and German at the boys’ school while boys can choose drama and theatre at the girls’ school. At the time of our visit girls were taking history and psychology A levels at Sherborne to overcome timetable clashes.

EPQs are strongly recommended but not compulsory, with some pupils choosing artefact projects rather than essays (one boy composed a piece of music while another published an anthology of his poems). Sixth formers can also join the aptly named Thinkers’ Society, where bright minds from Sherborne, Sherborne Girls and The Gryphon School debate together.

The majority of boys take eight or nine GCSEs but the most able might do 12 or 13 and those who find things harder might take six or seven. ‘We are selective but we are relatively broad church,’ said the deputy head (academic). ‘Boys are encouraged to be as successful as they can for themselves.’ Half take three separate sciences and half take combined science. Languages aren’t compulsory but two-thirds take French, Spanish or German at GCSE and some opt for two languages. Healthy take-up at A level too – seven boys doing German A level when we visited. Italian, Mandarin and Japanese on offer, plus Flemish and Arabic.

Boys told us that teachers are ‘wonderful’ in the main. ‘I’ve had one or two I wasn’t so keen on but I suppose I was quite annoying in lessons,’ admitted a sparky sixth former. Parents say the school is adept at teaching boys of differing abilities. ‘I have two very different boys and they are each getting the stretch and push they need,’ said one. ‘I feel that they are both going to hit their potential.’ Everyone is set loosely for sciences, maths and English in year 9 and then more formally in years 10 and 11. Boys meet their tutors regularly in-house, including at a one-to-one meeting every fortnight. Classrooms range from the historic Old School Room to the ultra-sleek Pilkington labs. The revamped library, in the heart of The Courts, is stunning, with an open-timber roof and an air of quiet scholarship.

Learning support and SEN

The learning support department is housed in its own building, warm and welcoming and staffed by a team of six. Around a quarter of boys receive support, mostly one-to-one and for needs such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD and working memory. Boys are never taken out of lessons for learning support although some may have reduced timetables. Sixth formers who have never accessed support earlier on in their school careers can pop in for a chat and advice on study skills, organisation and time management.

The arts and extracurricular

Music is heavenly, with a stunning, very modern music school, a concert hall and the sound of music pouring out of windows when we arrived. Music is woven into daily life – a fifth of pupils sing in the school choir twice a week in whole-school services in Sherborne Abbey and the chamber choir sings in both the chapel and the abbey. Half the boys play instruments (28 peripatetic music teachers visit every week, covering all bases) and the music school is busy from 7.30am till 10pm, with boys rehearsing, composing, practising and recording.

All year 9s audition for the school choir – ‘we discover innate talent, like the sports scholars who can sing a rather nice Swing low, sweet chariot,’ says the new director of music. There are myriad groups and ensembles to join, including two symphony orchestras (with Sherborne Girls and The Gryphon School), two junior orchestras, a 65-strong wind band, swing band, junior and senior jazz bands, a jazz ensemble and much, much more. Music and music technology are taught at A level (14 upper sixth boys taking these at the time of our visit). Every Friday there’s an informal concert in Cheap Street church – open to the public (lucky them) and where musicians of all standards can perform.

The art department, designed by the architect Sir Reginald Blomfield (also responsible for much of London’s Regent Street), is open seven days a week and offers painting, life drawing, sculpture, printmaking and digital media. Pupils who don’t study art are welcome to come and try their hands at something creative, whether it’s spray painting, photography or pottery. The art school and DT workshop, equipped with every bit of kit under the sun, work closely together.

Drama takes place in the Powell Theatre, with boys collaborating with Sherborne Girls to stage a school-wide musical and play every year. Rehearsals were underway for A Christmas Carol when we visited. There’s also an annual production by junior boys (The Three Musketeers recently) and a strong tradition of house drama – each house puts on a play every two years. With so many opportunities, no wonder Sherborne counts a host of illustrious thespians among its alumni – Hugh Bonneville, Charlie Cox, James Purefoy, Jeremy Irons, John le Mesurier, Charles Collingwood (alias Brian Aldridge in The Archers) and director Richard Eyre to name but a few.

Boys are kept super-busy. From 5pm every weekday they do activities – juniors have to do at least two and seniors one, choosing from a wealth of options – everything from robotics to bell ringing to poker club. Regular trips to concerts, plays and exhibitions, plus outdoor pursuits like Ten Tors and DofE. CCF, done in collaboration with Sherborne Girls, is massive, with Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Army sections. The Sherborne team won the prestigious Sir Steuart Pringle Trophy in 2024, a national inter-schools’ Royal Marine cadets event. The school is rooted in the community – events and fundraising opportunities include the annual Turing Bike Ride every autumn in aid of the Sherborne Voluntary Ambulance and The Samaritans. Links have also been set up with local primary schools, with boys reading with key stage 1 and 2 children.

‘Parents love the fact the boys can sing in the abbey, take part in CCF and be in the first XV rugby team,’ a member of staff told us. The boys concur and say that when they come up with bright ideas and ambitions, the school backs them to the hilt. A 16-year-old pupil became the youngest person to fly solo around the world in 2022 while another ran 100km in one day, 200km in two days and 400km in four days, raising £8,000 for Children in Need in the process (he’s now planning 700km in seven days). A third has launched his own podcast with a friend, interviewing the likes of novelist Kate Mosse and former cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill. We asked him what he’d say to year 9s joining the school. ‘Throw yourself at it,’ he replied with a grin.

Sport

Acres of playing fields adjacent to the school, including the Upper, where the first XV plays) plus tennis courts, 25-metre indoor swimming pool, two Astroturfs (one floodlit) and a very swish sports centre with squash courts, fitness studios, vast gym and climbing and bouldering walls.

Main sports are rugby, football, hockey, cricket, tennis and athletics but the school offers more than 20 in total. Rugby is the flagship sport (teams from A to E and sometimes F), but not at the expense of everything else. A sixth former told us how much he enjoyed being in the fourth XV rugby team – known as The Gents because they turn up to matches in tweeds, often with a bagpiper playing. New boys play rugby for their first three or four weeks but if they decide it’s not for them they can choose something else – you name it, golf, water polo, sailing, fencing, cross-country, cycling, they can do it. ‘No boy does a sport that he doesn’t want to do,’ said a housemaster.

Boarders

Sherborne is one of the UK’s few single-sex, full boarding schools and only seven per cent of pupils are day boys. Eight houses in total – four ‘in’ (in the heart of town) and four ‘out’ (slightly further away, but not by much). Each house has up to 80 boys, three resident staff (including a housemaster and assistant housemaster) and eight non-resident staff, including house tutors who each have around eight tutees. Day boys all belong to a house – some leave at 5pm but others stay for supper, homework (known as ‘hall’ here) and evening activities.

Lots of support for new boys who feel homesick or wobbly, particularly from matrons (each house has three matrons, who cover the hours of 7.30am till 10pm between them). One matron tells boys they must learn the names of domestic cleaners in the house. ‘I give them 24 hours to find out their names and two things about them,’ she said. ‘It’s very important.’ Meanwhile a housemaster told us: ‘There’s a lot of handholding in the first two or three weeks but by weeks four and five the boys are well-embedded. I always say to parents: “If you get a sniff of anything at all, please let me know.”’

Parents can list up to four choices of boarding house and say the admissions team goes above and beyond to ensure boys’ talents and characters are spread equally between them (no sporty, musical or drama houses here). ‘The on boarding is fantastic,’ said one. ‘They make an effort to find out what boys like and what they don’t and make sure the housemasters know. The set-up of the houses is brilliant – they position the third formers (year 9s) next to the housemaster’s study so he can hear what’s going on.’ Another told us that the school is very responsive and quick to act if concerns arise while a third described her son’s boarding house as ‘a friendly, respectful, safe place’.

Housemasters are a close-knit group and ensure that house rules and sanctions are consistent throughout the school. We visited Abbeylands, fondly known as Happylands, a boarding house in the centre of town, covered in wisteria and bearing the date 1649 above the door. Sixth formers and some year 11s get their own rooms while younger boys share (never more than five or six to a room). No year group corridors. The housemaster’s door is always open, complete with children dashing in and out, which makes the house feel like ‘a home from home’. Loads to do at weekends – from social events with Sherborne Girls on Saturday nights to go karting, paintballing, coasteering, climbing and trips to the beach at Weymouth or to watch the Bristol Bears play. ‘It’s a smorgasbord of activities,’ said a member of staff.

Ethos and heritage

A beautiful school in the heart of a safe, well-heeled Dorset market town. Former poet laureate Sir John Betjeman once described the town as looking ‘like a junior university city, with every other house an old college’ and it’s true. It was founded in 705 AD by St Aldhelm and following the dissolution of the monasteries was re-founded in 1550 by Edward VI, making it one of the oldest schools in the country. It became a free grammar school during the 17th and 18th centuries and has been a boys’ boarding school since the 19th century. At the heart of the school are The Courts, a vast quad surrounded by ancient golden stone buildings. The Courts boast two cloistered walls and share one with Sherborne Abbey. Every April the sixth form organises the eagerly anticipated CourtsFest, a live music event, there.

When boys pass a wall bearing the names of Old Shirburnians killed in the First and Second World Wars on the steps up to the chapel they fall silent as a mark of respect – very moving to witness. School chapel plays a key role in the boys’ lives. Every morning starts with an assembly or a chapel service and the whole school attends services at Sherborne Abbey on Wednesdays and Sundays. Pupils are of all faiths and none but the school reckons that moments of calm ‘bring structure to their routine and nurture their spirituality’. There’s also a multi-faith prayer room, an initiative led by boys themselves.

In 2024 the school’s already close relationship with Sherborne Girls was formalised, with the two senior schools, their respective preps (co-ed Sherborne Prep and all-girls Hanford) and Sherborne International, which runs spring and summer courses for youngsters aged 8 to 17, joining forces under the Sherborne Schools Group umbrella. The merger, say the schools, allows them to benefit from shared expertise, facilities and resources while leveraging ‘economies of scale’. ‘Separate yet together’ is the senior schools’ tagline and it seems to work for everyone, with lots of social events with Sherborne Girls, teaming up for CCF, music, drama, and debating boys and girls meeting up for coffee in Costa.

The pupils we met loved living in the heart of town and being able to pop into shops and cafés during their free time. ‘It’s nice to have a bit of freedom,’ one said. ‘Some schools are in the middle of nowhere but I prefer being in the middle of things.’ Another told us: ‘I didn’t want to be stuck in the middle of a field. I like being in the centre of town.’

Sixth formers wear smart suits and ties, while younger boys are kitted out in practical navy shirts and trousers, known as ‘blues’. Breakfast, lunch and supper are eaten in the central dining room; parents say the food has got better in recent years – ‘but there’s still room for improvement,’ one told us.

Pastoral care, inclusivity and discipline

Boys’ welfare is paramount, with plenty of support from housemasters, tutors, matrons, the chaplain, head of pupil wellbeing, 24-hour health centre, two counsellors (one male, one female), more than 30 peer listeners (boys trained by the counsellors), prefect mentors for new year 9s and in-house buddies. Housemasters urge parents to ring or email if they’re concerned about anything. Each year group has a PSHE lesson (known as wellbeing here) every week, covering topics like vaping, drugs, alcohol, consent, sexual harassment and county lines. Lots of external speakers and the school trains older boys to give talks to younger boys about issues like online safety. Two heads of school – they are appointed ‘because they are kind and think of other people before themselves,’ says the head – plus a raft of prefects.

Strict rules on mobile phones. Boys in years 9, 10 and 11 must hand them into house staff and are only allowed them between 6pm and 7pm and for 45 minutes after homework. Sixth formers manage their own phone use, but within certain boundaries. Any infringements lead to phones being confiscated (one or two every week). Like all schools, Sherborne has clamped down hard on vaping, which now comes under the umbrella of drugs paraphernalia. Vaping twice leads to suspension and supplying vapes would result in ‘removal from school’. Clear rules on alcohol permit it for sixth form only at specified social events. Over 18s are allowed to visit local pubs on Saturday evenings but they are all breathalysed on their return to the boarding houses (this privilege is only in place for the last term and a half of boys’ time at the school and is subject to parents’ permission).

As the head says, the onus is on kindness here. The deputy head (pastoral) admits that boys make mistakes but says the school doesn’t tolerate unkindness or the outdated notion that ‘boys will be boys’. The Bow award, a gold penny pressed by the Royal Mint and given to a boy who has shown outstanding kindness, care and compassion to other pupils, is the most prestigious accolade at Commem, the school’s annual speech day in June. Voting for the award is ‘semi-compulsory’ and the recipient always gets a standing ovation. The parents we spoke to praised the school’s pastoral care. ‘Teenage boys can be a tricky bunch but they keep them busy so they can’t get into trouble,’ a mother told us. ‘The school has a moral compass having the abbey close by and being in the town is a bonus.’

Pupils and parents

Pupils mostly come from south of the M4, including Hampshire, Wiltshire, Sussex, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. Fifteen per cent from London – the Sherborne to Waterloo train takes just over two hours so it’s easy for exeats, half-term and holidays. Parents like the fact that the school ‘isn’t snooty’ and our impression was the same. ‘It’s not a cookie cutter school,’ a mother told us. ‘It’s traditional but it’s forward-thinking and embraces boys’ talents and strengths.’ The boys we met were down-to-earth, full of fun and yes, very, very busy.

Around 11 per cent of pupils are from overseas (plus another 11 per cent expats), from 34 countries, such as Germany, Bermuda, the US, Nigeria, India and China. Famous old boys include Alan Turing (there’s a bronze of the Enigma codebreaker in the school grounds), Cecil Day Lewis, John le Carré, Major General Patrick Cordingley DSO, ITV News journalist Tom Bradby and Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

Money matters

Scholarships (academic, art, DT, drama, music and sport) carry no more than a 10 per cent fee reduction. Awards are also available for sons of current and former members of the armed services. Some means-tested bursaries (up to 100 per cent) available – in 2024 around 90 boys received a means tested bursary. Asked at the time of our visit about the government’s plan to add 20 per cent VAT to school fees, the director of admissions said the school planned to absorb seven per cent and pass on 13 per cent.

The last word

A terrific boys’ boarding school in a breathtaking golden setting. Sherborne, with its strong sense of community, good academic results and opportunities galore on all fronts, succeeds in combining the best of ancient and modern without diminishing either. Now that its close ties with Sherborne Girls are formalised, parents debating the merits of single sex versus co-ed schools for their sons reckon it offers the best of both worlds.

Special Education Needs

Boys with dyslexia, and other mild specific learning difficulties, are well supported by a team of three in newly refurbished accommodation

Who came from where