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Our View of Taunton Senior School
Down-to-earth, inclusive and as excellent in academics as it is in sports and the creative arts, this all-through co-ed ticks pretty much every box, unless it’s name-dropping you’re looking for. There’s no sense of pretentiousness or one-upmanship here and pupils are all the better for it, validated by four different pathways after GCSEs, each one as respected as the other. And with seamless movement from the prep that shares the same site, pupils can enjoy a one-stop education where they’re valued as individuals and looked after as well as they are at home.
Where is Taunton Senior School?
Taunton School is located in a leafy residential area of Taunton not far from Somerset County Cricket Club’s grounds – at night, you can see the floodlights twinkling. The 56-acre campus incorporates a mix of old and new buildings that are tasteful and functional rather than imposing. Sports grounds are to the front and the rear, with a few extra pitches across the road. There are separate sections for the prep and for the senior school, as well as an amazing new sixth-form centre and an impressive library. A newish dining hall is not too shabby either.
London Paddington is just one hour 50 minutes away which makes weekend exeats convenient for London families. Day pupils are served by 11 bus routes that run as far as Exeter, Glastonbury, Sidmouth and Yeovil.
Headmaster
Although the pre-prep, prep and very successful international schools each have their own heads, James Johnson has oversight of all the Taunton schools and works with tireless purpose. Engaging and full of energy, he is passionate about what Taunton offers. It’s ‘unpretentious but aspirational’, he says, a place where inclusivity and diversity are more important than grandeur. Mr Johnson comes from a family of teachers and he was head of senior school at Ardingly College before joining Taunton in September 2022. He says he wants the school to ‘add more value than anyone else’ and is acutely aware of the area’s competitive market but sees that as a challenge: ‘We must be excellent. There is no room for complacency.’ Indeed, the school rarely sits on its hands and has just embarked on the building of two new boarding houses, one for boys and one for girls, with the plan being to integrate pupils from the international schools into both so they get more of a ‘British’ experience. There are over 60 nationalities represented at the school – a diversity which adds to the wonderful sense of inclusivity and breadth of options. As Mr Johnson says, the school is ‘a rare combination of ambition and lack of pretentiousness’.
Taunton Senior School Admissions Process
Children do not have to undergo any formal testing to get a place, but a one hour, online cognitive ability screening assessment gives the school the necessary information before arrival. Prospective pupils visit, have a face-to-face interview if possible, after which they can opt to come for a taster day and if they’re considering boarding can come for a sleepover to experience what it’s like.
Nearly all of the Taunton Prep School pupils join the senior school, with around 20 or so new children coming from other feeder schools. After GCSEs, around 35 pupils will leave, usually for sixth-form colleges, while 60 or 70 new students will start. To join the sixth form, pupils are expected to get five GCSE passes at grades 9-5.
Academics and destinations
The school gets outstanding results – in 2024, 92 per cent gained a grade 9-4 at GCSE, in A-level 52 per cent gained A*-B, at IB 76 per cent achieved a grade 5-7 and 81 per cent achieved a D*-D distinction at BTEC. Taunton School is unusual in offering so many pathways at 16+ and it works hard to find the right route for each child. Generally, class sizes are around 20 for core GCSE subjects and the average size in the sixth form is between 10 and 12.
Pupils are expertly guided by the careers department, which helps them explore all the
options for when they finish school – be that university, the armed forces, apprenticeships or internships. The vast majority (94 per cent) go to university or colleges, both in the UK and overseas. In the past 10 years, Taunton Senior School has sent more than 40 students to Oxbridge.
Co-curricular
The school is well known for its sporting prowess, regularly taking on competitive teams and winning, but the focus is on inclusiveness, with everyone getting an opportunity to shine. The usual sports are all on offer, such as rugby, cricket and football, as well as a broad range of the not-so-usual, including rowing, boxing, taekwondo and rock climbing. High-performance pathways support and develop the gifted, of whom there are plenty in multiple disciplines, from shooting, golf and riding to tennis, rugby and cricket (many academy players also play county cricket and as the county ground is a stone’s throw away, logistics are easy).
D&T and art are strengths at this school. The D&T rooms are modern and fully equipped with laser cutters, 3D printers and spray booths. There’s a hi-tech music studio too, and pupils have individual music lessons and can take part in weekly teatime concerts, among other regular performances.
Drama is inclusive, with open auditions that don’t just favour the leavers. Taunton Senior School stages a drama and a musical every year. Pupils talked about how they like it that teachers share out the big roles so everyone gets a chance to be in the spotlight.
There are a massive 150 clubs on offer, including the Combined Cadet Force which is the largest in the south west with 50 per cent of pupils participating.
Boarding at Taunton Senior School
The five boarding houses are all on site and in close proximity which makes for a very sociable community of some 400-plus boarders – although house loyalty is strong, especially when it comes to house singing. On our visit, the big news for one of the boys’ houses was a triumph in the annual pancake race which has been running since 1914. Pupils are in and out of their houses all day, and they all have a real home-from-home feel, with chippy nights, darts competitions and sibling-style, intra-year group relationships. Weekends are full of activities, from Big Brunch Sunday and house football competitions to theatre outings. Boarding house parents monitor each pupil’s workload to ensure they’re not overwhelmed – suggesting, perhaps, that they forgo a trip if they could benefit from some downtime. They even reach out to recent leavers to check in with them and invite them back for visits.
At the moment, around half the boarders come from overseas and the majority of the UK pupils board full-time; flexi boarding is offered three nights per week with an optional fourth night.
Taunton Senior School community
The school is just the right size so that no one gets lost and, between form tutors, houseparents (there are six day houses as well as the five boarding houses), peer mentors, a mental health nurse and therapy dogs, pupils’ pastoral care is in very safe hands.
The parent body is diverse and the parents’ association puts on events throughout the year to raise funds and give families an opportunity to mix socially.
And finally....
A school with fantastic assets and a grounded outlook, Taunton Senior School is unique in being able to cater for children from six months to 18 years old and, with its international arm, from all over the world. It makes for a vibrant and diverse community, and the absence of repeated testing means pupils and parents can relax and enjoy the Taunton journey.