WHAT? WHERE?

Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, Rugby in Warwickshire has long held a reputation as one of the UK’s most prestigious schools and is, of course, justly famous as the birthplace of the game of rugby, when pupil William Webb Ellis famously caught the ball during a football match in 1823 and hotfooted off with it. You’ll find the school on the edge of Rugby town on a punchy 400-acre site consisting of a mix of 18^th, 19^th, and early 20^th century additions, with the Old Quad Buildings, School House and the lovely chapel as the architectural stand outs. Co-ed since 1975 and now with a near 50/50 split between boys and girls, the school is home to 863 pupils, 36 nationalities, 25% overseas pupils and roughly 75% of boarders across 13 houses. Unusually in this age of flexi everything, the school only offers 24/7 full-time boarding, with exeats once every three weeks, though there are also two houses for day pupils.

FACILITIES

/SPORT

No surprise with its history that Rugby School is super-serious about its sporting heritage and reputation. Facilities are excellent here the beautifully-manicured turf where rugby was invented as its centrepiece on The Close, but there are also an additional 12 rugby pitches, 8 cricket pitches, and a sports centre on site with 25 metre swimming pool, 3 squash courts, fitness centre, 3 indoor sports halls, 3 outdoor astro pitches (including a 3G), 9 netball courts and 35 tennis courts, 2 polo fields, 2 rackets and 2 fives courts.

Rugby School likes to win (seriously, show me a school that doesn’t) and there’s an elite Aspiring Athletics Performer Programme (AAP) that produces training plans, provides a mentor in the sports department and is accessible online for all-year fitness. Significant recent wins include the National 2023 Rosslyn Park plate trophy for the Seven’s squad.

That said, there’s also a genuine ethos here that sport is for everyone and that, whatever level the kids want to participate in, whether that’s elite, competition or joiner-inner, it’s to be encouraged and facilitated. There are 25+ activity clubs to choose from every day – every day! – including the likes of HIIT, road running, fives and pilates.

Unusually, the Sports Science department, reserved at most schools for the dedicated, high performance athletes, is offered across all abilities at the school to build strength, mobility and conditioning – a clear reflection of the school’s inclusive ethos. The major sports here are rugby, hockey, netball, tennis and cricket and athletics (there are strong links with Leicester Tigers RFC, Warwickshire County Cricket Club and Central Warriors Netball, but pretty much anything goes at Rugby if the pupils have the will for it – fives, sailing, triathlon and fencing are all on the sporting menu.

/CREATIVE ARTS (MUSIC, DRAMA, ART, DT)

Rugby presents an accomplished musical offering through its exciting new chorister programme, The Rugby Choristers at Bilton Grange, on the back of its own strong chapel tradition. Case in point, 16-year-old Rugby pupil Naomi Simon recently won BBC Young Chorister of the Year – not bad going! Rugby School choir regularly broadcasts Choral Evensong on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 Sunday Worship. With over 600 peri lessons each week it’s no surprise that there’s a good take up of Rugby School pupils to fill the various orchestras.

What else? Well, regular chamber and other musical concerts take place in the Grade II listed Temple Speech Room, an early 20^th century red brick building with a striking copper cupola that is also seconded for assemblies, Speech Days and musicals. There’s a purpose-built recording studio, four pipe organs and a several grand pianos knocking around too. But it’s not all classical music here – The Blue Note (once Shoreditch, now Rugby!) offers regular more contemporary concerts from the kids, in everything from jazz and pop to grunge and soul.

For drama students, there’s the stand-alone fully equipped, 250-seater red brick Macready Theatre for productions, a touring school production for A-level students to the Edinburgh Fringe, a contingent that heads annually to RADA as part of the Bloomsbury Festival and also a arts festival open beyond the school – Festival on the Close – that showcases everything from dance and singing, to drama and comedy.

Budding art and design students will want to know there’s an impressive gallery space that’s used as an exhibition venue for professional artists as well as the students, reflecting the standard of art here, with Textile Design, Fine Art and Graphic Design all possible for A-level.

/SCHOOL

With deep pockets and grateful alumni, improving or creating new departments is no biggie for Rugby. The current library, the elegant Victorian Temple Reading Room, is shortly to undergo a face lift with a glass fronted, quad-creating extension. The sleek Modern Languages Centre opened in 2015 and, lest we forget, there’s also a Media Studio, with green room, full camera and editing gear, and a recording studio.

SIXTH FORM

Sixth Formers have their own dedicated building, the Collingwood Centre, a three-storey, Pugin-style building with common room, main hall, sports hall that acts as a base for the Economics, Business Studies, Art History, Politics, PE and Philosophy departments. Frankly, it’s all pretty fabulous, with an indulgent but impressive tour de force that speaks to the cash sloshing around the Rugby savings account – a scaled down House of Commons, green leather seats and bound legal books ‘n all. Not. Even. Kidding.

ACADEMICS

Obviously, parents expect great academics – and don’t worry Tigers and Helicopters, results are duly delivered, despite an entry process that is not overtly academically selective, bar pupils either passing the CE or, for select pupils, passing Rugby’s own maths and English attainment threshold. Academic results have been on the steady rise for over a decade and 2022 saw another set of great results – for GSCES, 65% of pupils gained A*, 83% A*-A and 93% A*-B. Nothing to complain about there! In A levels the results also strong with 30% of pupils gaining A*, 67% A*-A and 86% A*-B.

There’s certainly a passion from the senior management to drive new ideas– wayyyy back, Rugby School was the first to teach science as part of the curriculum, and also was the launch school for EPQs, the extended project that now sits beside A levels in most schools. In 2021 it joined a small but growing band of schools in the UK also offering the International Baccalaureate, which is seen increasingly as a more rounded, modern, outward-looking alternative to A Levels and the school has just celebrated a cracking round of results from its first cohort. In terms of subjects available, modern languages abound, with French, German, Italian and Spanish on timetable and Mandarin now being pondered over as a GSCE option. For A levels, there are 30+ subjects on offer, including a Textiles, Photography, Politics & International Relations and Theatre Studies.

What’s most interesting about Rugby (to me at least) is its approach to education generally. Academic attainment is not the top priority here – instead the school has a much-publicised mantra of ‘The Whole Person, The Whole Point (posters and signs everywhere!) with an explicit remit to develop character, spark interests, explore the moral and spiritual side of life and help its pupils come out the other side with more than a phone scroll of rich friends. Like all mantras generated by adults, ‘the whole person, the whole point’ is a phrase of great mirth to the pupils who love to make fun of its evangelical use amongst teaching staff – but, ironically, the thinking behind it has clearly got into their heads because the students I talked to clearly understood there’s more to a fulfilling life than a string of A grades.

How the idea of developing this ‘whole person’ is reflected in the curriculum is interesting. The History department, for example, recognising that the school needs to support and reflect the diversity within its own pupil body and the changing times, has a new long-term unit ‘Migration and the UK’, focusing on Windrush, and the legacy of colonialism. There’s also an award-winning school-wide Schools of Empire Project, working with leading academics, that explores the links between public schools and historic ideas of Empire and ‘race’. So as an elite, privileged, wealthy private school Rugby isn’t so much sticking its head in the sand as exposing itself on a mountain top.

In terms of co-curricular ways to develop character beyond the classroom, there are over 200 to choose from here – this includes DofE and the CCF but also a mind-boggling array of other interests from Afro-Caribbean Club and Boat Building to Improv Society and Pilates.

PASTORAL CARE

If I had to choose the area where Rugby School really scores between the posts, it’s pastoral care. I know quite a few kids at this school, and both they and their parents are lavish in praise. For boarders, pastoral care is really driven by their boarding houses, where they eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with their house parents and the same pupils day in day out, creating a sense of family and trust. The children are assigned a tutor in the house who helps with academics but is also another willing ear, and there are matrons in each house too.

Outside the boarding houses, there are 5 counsellors at the school, and the Chaplain is very much part of daily life also, available to chat with pupils, popping into the houses as a dinner guest, and making the grand 19^thcentury Chapel central to the school experience (even for those without Christian beliefs) with all staff and pupils coming together four times a week for a service.

One of the more unusual elements of the pastoral care at Rugby, I think, is the school’s willingness to engage in difficult subjects and also genuinely involve the students – it definitely creates a culture of feeling valued and listened to. Case in point, there are currently five senior students acting as Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) prefects – an area introduced in 2020 – who work with the teachers and pupils to promote discussion and work to make Rugby as welcoming and inclusive as possible (hey Eton College, are you reading this?). They make up part of a committee including staff, alumni, parents and governors who gather twice a term to keep the school’s responsibility to EDI moving forward. That’s a meaty commitment in anyone’s book.

Recently after Sarah Everard’s death, the school held a vigil in which the girls went into the chapel on their own and wrote sticky notes expressing their own experiences of harassment and fear. Only the following day were the boys then admitted to Chapel to read them. According to pupils, what they read hit the boys hard, and has made them much more aware of what girls go through, and why they need to be respectful. These initiatives are not easy and there was apparently some heated discussion even amongst teachers about whether it was a good idea, but it’s a great example of a school fully engaging in issues that really matter.

It’s worth noting as it is much more than privileged lip service, is that there’s a strong service ethic here, with the ‘Rugby 360’ community action programme making sure every child at the school ‘gives back’ – for the more senior pupils this includes weekly homework and mentoring clubs for local primary schools, where 100+ pupils visit Rugby School for help across the curriculum, including sports.

Finally, the PHSE course here for the Upper School has a great reputation amongst the pupils, as its largely student led and sounds pretty fearless in its approach, debating and discussing as a mixed cohort sexual harassment, free speech, coaching as a tool for personal development, gender politics, and everything in between.

BOARDING

Full boarding is one of the school’s major USPs so no surprise that they throw the kitchen sink, three-piece suite and BBQ at it. There are 13 boarding houses in total, 7 for boys and 6 for girls (including a house exclusively for girls joining for Sixth Form plus the two day houses), mostly dotted around the nearby streets and all roughly equidistant to the school, with roughly 55 pupils per house with over 100 in each of the Day Houses. Ask any pupil the best boarding house and they’ll invariably big-up their own – the house competitions are fiercely competitive, particularly house singing, and the boarders I spoke to seem to love it.

Most houses offer shared bedrooms for the first year moving on to their own study bedrooms as they progress. I didn’t see any bedrooms so I can’t comment on how flash they are, but the boarding houses are on a rolling programme of refurbishment and Rugby’s finances are sitting pretty, so you do the maths! And what of the day pupils? Well, they have two newly extended RIBA-nominated Day Houses to use from 7am – 10pm. Basically boarding without the bed, the boys’ and girls’ houses are next to each other with a shared courtyard, two dining rooms each seating 150 and the usual common rooms, kitchens and bathrooms, three matrons in each house, house parents and tutors, supervised prep and socials on the weekend.

THE HEAD

Former deputy head (academic) Gareth Parker-Jones has been in the hotseat since Sept 2020 (his predecessor now oversees the Rugby School Group) so he’s had the joy of steering the school through two Covid lockdowns as well as the pandemic aftermath since starting his headship. Business-like but friendly, his eight years at the school means he knows it inside out. The co-curricular initiatives of increased service and a stronger, more modernising student voice have happened on his watch.

QUIRKS

The public school tradition of using words no-one else understands continues here. Year groups are known as Blocks (F Block equates to Year 9 for example). Prefects are called Levée, PHSE is known as Floreat. The school boasts one of the oldest classrooms in the country, with the walls now decorated with old graffitied wooden table tops from centuries gone by – very cool, very Hogwarts with its library books and oak everywhere. Obviously having a global sport accredited to your school is pretty out there – England’s white strip apparently also comes from the school’s original unbleached cotton tops. The school has launched overseas cousins – you can now find pupils at Rugby School Thailand and from September 2023, Japan. Not exactly a quirk but worth knowing that you won’t find Rugby School in any league tables; they withdrew in 2018 on the basis of bald academic results not giving a true picture of the school’s success.

WRAP AROUND CARE

Well, three quarters of the kids are full-time boarders so, you know, pretty good! Day pupils have a mini-bus collection service in the morning (see transport) and food offered at supper in their houses if they’re staying late.

SEND

The school has 111 pupils who require support for special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), delivered via a mix of class support and individualised teaching via small group lessons and individual weekly sessions with Learning Development support teachers. The most recent ISI report from 2022 claimed that “almost all this group make progress in line with their peers”.

ISI REPORT

Read the most recent report from Oct 22 here

MOBILE PHONE POLICY

A sensible Smartphone policy restricts use during Year 9 which increases on a sliding scale as students move up the school to allow access in house, at weekends and outside lesson time. Upper school students can carry their phones as they wish, but still no use in academic periods.

TRANSPORT

There’s a minibus collection service for day pupils. The nearest mainline train is in Rugby and takes 48 minutes to reach London Euston. Birmingham airport is 27 miles away.

FEES

Chunky. Boarders are charged £15,330 per term, and day pupils £9630 per term. Registration fee is £250 and the entrance fee is £1250. There’s a 5% discount on net termly fees for a third child at Rugby, and 7.5% discount on net fees for fourth and subsequent children (seriously, if you have 5 children at Rugby it’s probably cheaper to open your own school!). Scholarship Awards are worth a fee concession of 5%. But here’s some good news. Rugby runs The Arnold Foundation, which since 2003 has provided 100% boarding bursary support to those who otherwise couldn’t afford the fees – there are currently 27 Foundation students at Rugby, but a new initiative ‘Fast Forward 50’ pledges to raise £50million by 2030 to increase that number to 40.

WORD ON THE GROUND

Participation is everything at Rugby – if your children like being busy, they’re going to have a lot of fun. Parents of pupils at the school very much buy into the ‘whole person whole point’ philosophy, with the focus on character growth rather than absolute achievement with some actively choosing the school on its proximity to this understated Midlands town, feeling it grounded their children better. Pupils say the food could be better- plus ça change! – and the Sixth formers would like the social time between houses extended back to 10pm please rather than 9pm! The headmaster is popular, but one tip is that the housemistress/master is just as important in the Rugby structure as the stability and nurture comes so strongly from the boarding houses. Integration and respect amongst the pupils is high, despite a wide variety of backgrounds.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: Any children who want to grab their opportunities and squeeze them till the pips squeak. The emphasis on personal growth and character over straight As and outstanding pastoral care makes Rugby a smart option for those wanting to avoid pressure-cooker education. Its all-round strengths across music, sport, arts and academics and the financial readies for facilities and opportunities makes it a no-brainer for both elite performers and joiner inners. Pupils will love hearing their voices truly heard.

Not for: Full boarding is not for everyone – with three exeats a term for pupils some parents may find the lack of contact not to their liking (but hey, your kids might love it).

Rugby School, Lawrence Sheriff Street Rugby Warwickshire CV22 5EH Telephone number 01788 556216.

Rugby School, Rugby

You may also like