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04 April 2018
by Ferdinand Steinbeis
by Ferdinand Steinbeis
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English Boarding Schools in Profile: Christ's Hospital School, England's most socially diverse boarding school.
Hello from sunny Oxford!
We hope you all enjoyed your break! With the Easter holidays but a blurry memory, we are doing our usual weekly round of school visits.
This week we visited Christ's Hospital School. This school is very, very close to our hearts. No other English boarding school brings pupils from all social and ethnic backgrounds together like Christ's Hospital does.
The result? A place of incredible diversity with all pupils' sharing a love of learning.
Christ's Hospital's stunning 18th century campus
An incredibly charitable school.
English boarding schools are run as charities. This allows them to hand out scholarships and bursaries to a small, select handful of pupils every year.
Christ's Hospital takes this to another level altogether. 75% of pupils receive some form of financial support; 35% pay less than 10%, 14% of pupils pay nothing!
The result of this generous financial support is a stunningly diverse group of pupils. A very poignant example was our tour guides: we were shown around the school by Max, the son of a London City investment banker and Toby, the son of a tyre sales man from Brighton. Max and Tobi became friends playing football for Christ's First Team.
We love stories like this!
The school's beautiful dining hall
Long, long corridors lead to the class rooms...
At von Bülow Education we send on average of four pupils to Christ's Hospital every year. Since we keep in close contact with 'our' pupils, we regularly hear of these types of friendships.
Needless to say, the Tudor-style uniform is free for everyone ;-)
The famous frocks!
'THAT' uniform.
'A school like no other' - Christ's Hospital lives this motto in more ways than one: the school's Tudor-style school uniform of long, black frock (think Neo's coat in the movie 'The Matrix' and you aren't far off!) worn with orange knee-length socks is special to say the least. Every time we at von Bülow recommend Christ's we preface our communication with "Keep an open mind about the uniform!"
Harry Potter or The Matrix? You decide!
Fortunately, every one of our pupils that has visited Christ's Hospital came away either loving or at the very least not minding the school uniform.
The Lord Mayor's Show parade and other traditions.
Another peculiarity of the school is Christ's marching band for lunch-time. Six days a week, the school's marching band complete with drummers, brass and flute players marches towards the dining hall for lunch. All pupils line up by boarding house behind the band.
Seems a little strange? Possibly. Though it is traditions like these that make English boarding schools the exciting, fun and, well, English schools that they are!
The school's amazing theatre
And the rest?
With everything that is special about Christ's Hospital it is easy to forget everything else that matters.
Christ's Hospital delivers here too.
Academically the school is on top of its game. In 2017 pupils achieved 63% A*/As and an average of 36 points in the IB.
In sports, the school is known for excellent football, hockey, rugby and netball.
Creatively, the school has a formidable arts and D&T department, as well as a great music department and theatre.
Oh, and breakfasts are famous at Christ's Hospital! The school offers a wide spread of breakfast staples from bacon and eggs to fresh fruit. We already invited ourselves over for in a few months' time.
Again, the dining hall - stunning!
Our view
Christ's Hospital's motto is 'A school like no other' - we wholeheartedly agree!
Want to read about other boarding schools? Have a look here:
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von Bülow Education
Holbrooke House
34 - 38 Hill Rise
Richmond
TW10 6UA
Tel: +44 (0) 203 9534063
Email: info@buloweducation.com
Holbrooke House
34 - 38 Hill Rise
Richmond
TW10 6UA
Tel: +44 (0) 203 9534063
Email: info@buloweducation.com