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Our view
Tradition and innovation are expertly entwined at this all-girls powerhouse that achieves enviable results but never at the expense of pupils’ wellbeing. There’s a refreshing balance of work and play here, something the head Emma McKendrick (who is something of a doyenne in the world of education) is rightly proud of. Sixth formers leave with all the tools they need to succeed (including a mini-MBA) and a tight-knit community that stays with them for life.
Where?
A two-mile drive off the M4 and a stone’s throw from Newbury, the low-slung whitewashed buildings and tangy orange roof tiles resemble a Spanish hacienda, but the sparkly Murray Centre (the largest building project in the school’s history) adds a modern touch. This new, light-filled centre for learning is an impressive hub, bang in the middle of the campus, where pupils can grab a coffee (in their reusable cups), top up on tuck, knuckle down to some work in a den-like study cove with screens that can be hooked up to their laptops or attend highbrow lectures in the auditorium.
Celebrating more than a century on its current site, Downe House is set on slightly rolling grounds in pretty wooded Berkshire countryside. The vibe is more university than all-girls boarding school, and the grounds cover over 100 acres. Kudos to the groundsmen for the immaculate gardens.
Central London is about a 90-minute drive away, and trains from nearby Newbury connect directly to London Paddington. New coach routes to London are now running for flexi boarders.
Head
Emma McKendrick – aka ‘Kenny’ – is a true Downe House legend and has been at the helm since 1997 (the school has had only five headmistresses in its history). She was universally championed by all the girls we met as ‘amazing’ and ‘very popular’, and her encyclopaedic knowledge of every girl, their achievements, families and siblings adds both genuine warmth and a soothing stability for the school as a whole. Wherever possible, she hosts a Friday breakfast for a group of sixth-formers and will have extended this special invitation to every upper-sixth girl within the academic year.
She is hailed as ‘dynamic and innovation-led’ by her staff and still finds time to meet every prospective family individually for tours and assessment days. The cosy feel of the school is down to her desire to not greedily increase numbers – our insider felt the manageable size was ‘Kenny keeping her stamp on things’. Parents value the school’s policy of taking an ‘achievable number of pupils, rather than trying to cram in too many’. If Downe House is the proverbial stick of rock, it is Emma McKendrick’s delightfully capable presence that runs right through it.
Admissions
Entry is at 11+, 13+ or 16+ and Downe House is academically selective. There’s no Common Entrance, but applicants for both 11+ and 13+ entry sit ISEB pre-tests in Year 6, as well as attending an assessment day at which Mrs McKendrick or a senior member of staff interviews all the girls, looking out for sparky young women who will embrace and make the most of what Downe House has to offer. Three applications per place is the going rate.
Around 60 girls join at 11+ from more than 60 prep schools following an assessment day packed with group activities, team building, a school tour, an interview with the head and a creative writing task. Offers are unconditional for entry at 13+ (there are around 45 places up for grabs at this point), while girls looking to join the sixth form must sit three exams the year before entry; two in subjects they currently study and one ‘general paper’, and there’s also an interview with the head of sixth form.
Bursaries are available at all entry points and to celebrate the school's recent milestone, Downe House launched a number of centenary day bursaries, which cover up to 100 per cent of the day fee (plus an allowance for extras) for talented local pupils.
Academics and university destinations
This is a very well-oiled machine academically – one parent told us that they relish the emphasis on ‘a well-rounded girl being more likely to reach her full potential, rather than a girl who has been focused on nothing but A*s’. There’s no sense whatsoever that this is a hothouse, but results are superb, with 92 per cent A*-B at A-level last year. Refreshingly, the school day is (for the most part) limited to 9am to 6pm, with prep factored into those hours, leaving more scope for a bit of après-school, which is so vital for girls who ‘work hard and aim high’ as a matter of course.
The Key Stage 3 curriculum has had a spruce: girls are now offered more choice from the upper fourth (Year 9), with a chance to specialise in key areas and have a firmer foundation for the GCSE years. Last year, they achieved an impressive 88 per cent of 9-7 grades at GCSE. There’s a dedicated EPQ department, and a brilliant elective programme recently kicked off for the lower fifth, with a series of bespoke subject-specific modules on offer covering everything from ‘the physics of music’ to ‘cognitive science’ and ‘the power of China’. It’s all part of the school’s super-curriculum, encouraging intellectual curiosity and challenge, and there’s no doubt that girls leave well prepared for the intellectual rigours of university.
But Downe House is well aware that academic ability is not the only string that these girls need in their bows – pupils are prepared for ‘Futures’ (higher education) by an integral enrichment programme that covers the softer skill sets, as well as an impressive array of exchanges and internships; last year sixth formers went to Allianz in Munich, PWC in Hong Kong, an animal hospital in Australia and an environmental project in Zambia. Alongside their A-levels, the Year 12s do a mini MBA as well learning about business, taking part in business simulation days and presenting a project. This gives them an edge on personal statements as they each have a case study they can write about. Each girl also has a weekly one-to-one catch up with her academic mentor to check in on her progress and smooth out any concerns, be they academic or pastoral.
There’s a stereotype-bustingly strong cohort who choose to read STEM subjects at higher education each year. Oxbridge preparation is done with local schools to broaden the community, but although Oxford and Cambridge aspirations are encouraged, the school doesn’t want girls to ‘narrow their pathways’. Some head on to US big-hitters including McGill, NYU, U Penn and Barnard, while art and drama schools are also a popular route – RADA and Parsons have taken a shine to Downe House alumnae in the past.
Co-curricular
The school breeds fine sportswomen. Lacrosse is top of the list (there are no fewer than 14 teams) and rivalries run deep – don’t get the girls started on Wycombe Abbey or St Mary’s Calne. Some pupils join national squads, and more than half of girls participate in weekly lessons on the eight dedicated courts. A new gym has just opened, kitted out with all the latest equipment for use, crucially not just by sports scholars, but in curriculum PE lessons and in girls’ own time. There are also new indoor cricket nets.
Tennis is extremely popular, with more than 300 lessons every week and semi-professional coaches (an ex-Wimbledon star is head of tennis). Add squash, netball, swimming, cross-country, hockey and cricket (which are growing at a rapid pace), equestrian (the school has a partnership with Oxford Polo Club) and football to the list, as well as a 100 per cent match-play rate on Saturday in the lower school – these sporty lasses mean business. They even scoop up medals at the British Schoolgirls’ Ski Racing Championships in France.
The arts are robustly encouraged: 500 individual music lessons fill the school every week, there are six choirs and 12 ensembles and the art room is a riot of inspiration. We rejoiced at the paint splatters everywhere – it feels like a space where you can let your imagination run wild. House drama is hotly contested every year, with five plays performed in a day and more than 300 girls taking part in the brilliant PAC (performing arts centre). Famous adjudicators have included Sir Tim Rice, Alexander Armstrong and Geraldine James. The drama team has just introduced acting classes for film and television, so look out for future alumnae on your screens.
Global-exchange programmes are on trend. Downe House has a network of 16 partner schools across the world (some as far afield as Australia and Japan), and girls in Year 10 and 12 can apply to visit for a three-week stint. It’s a great way to keep pupils open-minded and, in return, international pupils ‘slip into uniform and become part of the happy throng’, says the school. Younger pupils can sign up for trips ranging from a tennis tour to Portugal to a history and politics trip to Washington DC.
Clubs are plentiful: pupils can work towards their Leith’s Introductory Certificate in Food & Wine in cookery club, Cheese Society sounds tempting and the Phoenix Society caught our eye – girls link up with boys from nearby schools to chat about any subject, from climate change to Kenyan rhinos. The Medley Lecture series attracts a roster of high-profile speakers: recent attendees include journalists Max Hastings and John Simpson and the writer Simon Sebag-Montefiore.
Lower-school pupils get to sign up for the Wakefield Award, the school’s own mini DofE/Young Enterprise-hybrid leadership scheme. The school also runs a community-volunteering programme, with girls popping into care homes, helping out at local primary schools and assisting with riding lessons for the disabled. Meanwhile, a dedicated lecture programme for sixth-formers sees guest speakers pop in for talks on nutrition, online safety, personal finance and revision strategies, while parents are invited to join seminars on diet, drugs, the party scene and much more, to help keep the dialogue open.
Boarding
Full boarding has long been the ticket here, but flexi-boarding (up to four nights per week) is growing, as are the number of day pupils, which sits at 40 now. Along with fixed exeats, full boarders have one or two ‘floating’ weekends they can take each term, and they are allowed home on Saturday afternoons after matches. Closed weekends are filled to the brim with activities – boarders are present and engaged with wellness weekends, dance afternoons, movie nights and wackier options such as indoor skydiving. Girls have a very busy social life, and there are regular socials with Eton, Harrow and Radley (reeling parties seem to be a favourite), encouraging pupils to develop relaxed, platonic relationships with boys.
Boarding houses are arranged by age group: girls spend the first two years split across three lower-school houses, before taking the grown-up step in upper fourth to one of the five main houses (Aisholt, AGN, AGS, Holcombe and Tedworth). The final stop is a two-year stint in one of the two dedicated sixth-form houses, which are seen as a stepping stone between school and university. Some houses sit right in the middle of the campus; two are located in the main building and one is tucked away in the surrounding woods. We peeked into a few – all were wonderfully homely, decked out in smart Farrow & Ball colours and with plenty of spaces to study or practise music.
School community
Wellbeing is the buzzword here, with a strong focus on good mental health and mindfulness. Pupils are part of the conversations around nutrition, phone policies and sleep, and as well as a new director of wellbeing, each year group has a wellbeing committee. Each boarding house has trained ‘wellbeing champions’ to help with stress management – and to offer pampering treats and, what the head calls, ‘universal puppy therapy’. There are also counsellors and life coaches on hand if needed. The school uses AS Tracking – an online assessment tool designed to track pupils’ wellbeing – to help guide staff’s pastoral interactions and interventions. Every pupil has a personal tutor (a member of the teaching staff) who takes them under their wing, checking in with them weekly.
The Downe community is part of the package: parents socialise a lot (there was even a recent parents’ trip to Venice) and parents past and present provide an inspiring network of support, as do alumnae. There are 3,600 old girls living in 52 countries, plus seven fourth-generation families. DH Links brings them all together and offers internships, work placements and networking events all over the world. ‘Downe is a school for real life, not just academic life,’ says a former parent, and girls stay firm friends for life, affectionately referring to themselves as DHOGS (Downe House Old Girls).
The senior deputy head Matt Godfrey is also keen to drive the agenda for a regularly hosted CPD (continuing professional development) conference involving an equal split of state and independent schools – and offering a true collaboration and meaningful engagement in pursuit of the current theme of ‘academic excellence’.
And finally...
In the words of the head, Downe House is ‘an amazing place’ with ‘fabulous’ girls. We couldn’t agree more. Successful, caring and unstuffy, it’s hard to find anything not to love.