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Our view
This might be one of the oldest single-sex boarding schools in the country, but there’s nothing stuck in the past about this Salisbury senior where pupils are instantly recognisable by their signature blue pinny uniforms. It’s refreshingly down to earth, parents work hard to send their daughters here and greatly value the opportunities that Godolphin has to offer.
Where?
Winding through the streets of Victorian villas around Milford Hill, overlooking Salisbury, we felt like the handsome but modest red-brick main building was a pleasant distance from the bustle. Salisbury dwellers will have to contend with the occasional bottleneck on their drive to Godolphin but once at the school, there is ample parking and even enough space for the sixth-formers we spotted to begin and end their driving lessons in the spacious car park.
The train station is 20 minutes away on foot and the school has a handful of bus routes from local towns and villages, but is always happy to consider additional pick-ups where demand arises. London is only 90 minutes away by train, making it easily accessible for boarders.
Head
Jenny Price came to Godolphin in 2018 as deputy head pastoral, before officially taking on the top job in January 2023. She is warm and relaxed with a kindly aura and a keen understanding of what pupils need both academically and pastorally to succeed and, indeed, to be happy.
‘My aim is not to change the school,’ she says emphatically, although she also recognises that in education, change is the only constant and so they can’t afford to stand still either. But it’s more about ‘growing Godolphin and making sure that we have a sustainable future rather than change for change’s sake,’ she explains.
And she’s right not to want to reinvent the wheel, as the past year has seen the highest A-level grades the school has ever recorded and value-added scores that are the best they can be.
But all heads should have a grand plan tucked away somewhere and, if finances and planning permission were not a barrier, Mrs Price’s would be a dedicated STEAM area bursting with eco-credentials so let’s watch this space. Sustainability is a high priority for this head, and with a green-flag accreditation under the school’s belt already, it’s a momentum that she is eager to maintain. Keen to remain visible among the pupils, Mrs Price has retained her Year 8 tutor group and has also taken over the previous head’s role as leader of the orchestra. From September, she will also teach music to the Year 7 cohort, making certain that she gets to know every child from the very beginning of their senior journey.
Admissions
The main joining points are at 11+, 13+ and 16+. Traditional open days have been ditched in favour of Snapshot Mornings (involving a tour with Year 8 or 9 girls and a Q&A with the head) for a more informal and personal experience and prospective pupils can then come along for a taster day.
Around 75 per cent of girls at Godolphin prep will make their way up the hill to the senior, and there’s no need to sit any tests if they have been in the Godolphin fold for at least two years. Pupils from other schools will need to take formal tests in maths and English, have an interview with the head and provide a reference from their current school – although it all falls under the banner of ‘softly selective’, which we think is rather nice. Bursaries are available and there are scholarships for academics, sport, drama, art and music.
Academic and university destinations
There are three classes in Year 7, rising to four or five forms in Year 9 with roughly 18 pupils per class but often with much smaller teaching groups for GCSE and A-level. The 65-minute lessons are interspersed with regular breaks and lunchtime is a generous 70 minutes, meaning that girls have plenty of time to take part in a club or activity or catch up on any admin. Years 7 to 10 work on school-leased Surface Pro laptops.
The science department is a belter and is famous for its annual science week and the ever-popular all-school inter-house quiz. The approach to learning here, as with everything else at Godolphin, is about the individual. Pupils are allocated tutors according to the style of care they will best respond to and guided to choose subjects they will enjoy.
Career guidance is excellent, with a range of initiatives such as ‘Find Your Future Friday’ and the Bright Futures programme, which brings in inspirational speakers – from a vet to a fashion stylist, a psychologist to a financier – to encourage the children to think about a very wide variety of careers. There’s also a buddy system linking current pupils with career-relevant old girls for a more personal viewpoint.
Results are solid, with 2022 seeing the school's best-ever A-level results, but it’s the value-added scores that are seriously noteworthy and something parents should certainly acknowledge.
Not counting one deferral, every single one of last year’s leavers got into their first choice of university which the school feels is a success of both their academic and pastoral approach. Staff know their pupils so well that they are able to help them select courses for themselves that are aspirational yet achievable. Destinations have been more varied than ever (but still included both Oxford and Cambridge last year) and students are choosing UK courses with work and travel built in rather than running the gauntlet of lengthy American or European applications.
Interest in apprenticeships has reached an all-time high (one recent pupil bagged a place at the Dyson Institute) and parental buy-in is excellent as they value how well the school knows their daughter and what makes them tick. In short, Godolphin doesn’t have a standard exit – because there's no such thing as a standard pupil.
Co-curricular
A flurry of recent team wins and some high-performing individuals have put Godolphin back on the sporting map of late. The small suburban campus doesn’t afford a huge amount of pitch space, but the recently resurfaced tennis courts provide a useful multi-sports pitch and the indoor pool is a superb bonus. Participation is key, but the balance is struck accurately enough for those pupils with sporting talents to be able to play for their county or club outside of school hours.
Art is definitely a flagship department, and the standard really is knock-your-socks-off brilliant. Mr Egg (Nick Eggleton) is the art dynamo behind this success and his three-stage art rotation gives girls an opportunity to try their hand at a variety of techniques, as well as being wowed and inspired by the school’s own artist-in-residence.
Drama too is top drawer, and the purpose-built theatre has retractable tiered seating to offer maximum flexibility. Annual performances alternate between a whole-school production and an upper and a lower school play, but all are extremely impressive. Music has received a boost too with the appointment of a new director of music who will no doubt make their mark.
For extracurricular enrichment, there’s a whole host of clubs and activities that take place either at lunchtime or after school. CCF and DofE are huge – last year saw a school-record-breaking five- team entry into the Ten Tors CCF Challenge with one pupil even offering to hike the longer route with another school who had lost a teammate just days before. ‘This is where pupils learn resilience,’ says the head, ‘you can’t sit children down and teach them about resilience in the classroom’ – and sure enough, everyone was in school on time the next day, albeit with special permission to wear flip-flops on their blistered feet.
The on-site Leiths cookery school is a massive bonus for girls wanting practical skills to supplement their academic studies.
Boarding
There are four boarding houses: Walters for the junior boarders (ages eight to 13), Cooper for Years 9,10 and 11 and School & Jerred House for the sixth form (known here at the Godolphin Sixth). We hung out in Cooper, home to 60 boarders and a spacious and buzzy environment with pupils happily beetling in and out to sign in for lunchtime registration, attend the Friday talk or change for activities and games. All unobtrusively supervised by the Cooper house staff (affectionately known as ‘the dream team’) strategically positioned to just keep an eye on everyone or, as we saw, ready to whisk any worried-looking individuals off for a cup of tea and a reassuring chat.
Pupils can full board, flexi board or day board, and numbers increase as you go higher up the school with around 60 per cent of girls boarding at some point during their time here. Boarding for the Godolphin Sixth takes on a more university-like vibe, with more independence and facilities for pupils to do their own laundry – although amusingly the girls themselves seemed unaware that this was an option.
Weekends offer a change of pace – there’s no Saturday school and so boarders will take part in activities, go into town or catch up on prep before the afternoon sports matches. Despite the flexibility, there remains a significant cohort of boarders here at the weekend.
School community
Godolphin has between 35 and 40 staff with mental-health training, and pastoral care is much more than window dressing here. Staff across the board really do seem to take very good care of all the pupils. We noticed multiple phone calls in the boarding house just checking where people were, swapping info on who is doing what and even the marketing department sometimes uses social media posts and PR as a thoughtful way to boost a pupil’s morale. The individual is very important here – and as an ex-pastoral lead, this is a cause the new head is keen to champion.
And finally...
Godolphin’s newly announced values are a genuinely good summary of the school itself, as is the fact that ‘ambitious, authentic, courageous and kind’ are intended mantras for pupils and staff alike. Staff evidently get on well with each other and the professional, yet relaxed and convivial atmosphere must surely rub off on the pupils – it’s friendly, thoughtful, unstuffy and genuinely delightful.