Downside School: Bath, Somerset, UK

Are you looking for a boarding school UK? We present here Downside School in Bath, Somerset, England. This is a great Christian boarding school in a great location. Downside is an independent, co-educational boarding and day school for pupils aged 11 to 18, and one of England’s oldest and most distinguished Catholic schools. Founded in 1606 in Douai, Downside today is a school of almost four hundred boys and girls, housed in magnificent buildings at the foot of the Mendip Hills, twelve miles south of the city of Bath. Downside School is committed to remaining a traditional full boarding school: 79% of Downside pupils are seven-day-a-week boarders, with 22% of our pupils from overseas.

DOWNSIDE IS A CATHOLIC SCHOOL

The Benedictine monastic community of St Gregory the Great, now at Downside, has been running a school for Catholic children for over four centuries. Through the sacraments, prayer, catechesis and example, in the classroom and out of it, both monks and lay staff at Downside seek to inspire pupils to love God and to serve others.

DOWNSIDE IS AN ACADEMIC SCHOOL

Downside works with families to ensure that the boys and girls have high academic expectations, are successful in public examinations, and discover intellectual interests that will stay with them for life. The School has a thriving academic life to stretch the brightest pupils, and provides structured support for the less able. Class sizes are small and each pupil is assigned a tutor to supervise his or her academic progress.

DOWNSIDE IS A BOARDING SCHOOL

Almost all the boys and girls at this Christian Boarding School are seven-day-a-week boarders, although day pupils are also warmly welcomed. The School is committed to remaining a traditional boarding school, not a flexi-boarding school or a weekly boarding school. The opportunities open to boarders at Downside – academic, sporting, in music, drama and co-curricular activities – are exceptional. Weekends for boarders are full, busy and purposeful.

The School is particularly renowned for the quality of its music and sport. This Christian boarding school has a purpose-built 600-raked-seat theatre, large art studios and 100 acres of playing fields, as well as tennis and netball courts and all-weather hockey pitch. There is a fully modernised heated indoor swimming pool, a sports hall complex, which includes fitness rooms, and also a gymnasium and glass-backed squash courts.