Oundle School is one of Britain’s leading co-educational boarding and day schools, situated in the charming market town of Oundle, Northamptonshire.
We are proud of our strong academic reputation; Oundelians have a natural love of learning and are ambitious in their approach to opportunity. We are a selective school but academic achievement is just one strand of an Oundle education.
We place firm emphasis on developing in our pupils the skills, attitudes and habits of mind that will sustain them throughout a long life, enabling them to flourish both at school and beyond. We want our Oundelians to be confident, well rounded, fundamentally decent human beings and all aspects of our education are underpinned by this ethos.
We have an extraordinarily rich curriculum and, as one of the largest boarding schools in the country, we are able to offer great breadth of extra and co-curricular opportunity with few limits on subject choice, whilst creating a strong network of smaller havens through our Houses so that every pupil feels part of a family as well as a School.
Oundelians are intellectually curious, energetic, resourceful: they are able young people who love school and value friendship. What I also see in Oundelians, however, is a sense of decency that gives a solid foundation for their other qualities. Oundelians do not strut but make the most of themselves and the opportunities they have around them. They emerge as ambitious contributors who go on to make their mark positively on the many communities to which they will belong throughout their lives.Sarah Kerr-Dineen, Head of Oundle School
Oundle is home to around 820 boarders and 310 day pupils, which equates to a pupil population of approximately three quarters full boarding and a quarter day. We are committed to a full boarding ethos, which greatly benefits both boarders and our day pupils. We have been fully co-educational for thirty years and the ratio of boys to girls has remained constant at 60:40. We are proud to attract pupils from over 120 schools across all corners of the UK, with virtually every county represented. Around twenty percent of our pupils have an overseas country of origin and a further eight percent of pupils are expatriates. We welcome pupils from over thirty different countries and all pupils, whether international or UK, sit the same entrance papers.
In the classroom, our average class size is nineteen up to the GCSE years with a maximum of twenty-four. Our GCSE class size is an average of eighteen with a maximum of twenty-four, and our average A Level class size is twelve.
pupils
boarders
feeder schools
pupil nationalities
Our House system lies at the heart of School life. In the junior years from 11 – 13, pupils are part of either The Berrystead, our junior boarding House, or Scott House, our junior day House. Both Houses are located together with a large shared garden and courts to ensure a deep sense of community for our youngest pupils. We have eight senior boys’ boarding Houses and five senior girls’ Houses, each catering for around sixty pupils, as well as Laxton and Sadler, our two senior day Houses. All pupils dine in their House dining room along with their Housemaster or Housemistress, teaching staff and Matron, fostering a strong sense of community and family.
Discover The Houses
Oundle is a charming market town in the heart of Northamptonshire, a beautiful rural county in central England with excellent access to Cambridge and London. Often considered a hidden gem, Northamptonshire in fact borders eight counties: Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Warwickshire, Rutland and Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
Oundle lies just fifteen miles west of Peterborough, a city which enjoys fast rail links south to London (45 minutes) as well as north to York (1hr15) and Edinburgh in Scotland (around four hours). On the road, Oundle has excellent access to the A1(M) and the A14, with Cambridge an hour away south-east. Birmingham lies an hour and a quarter west, and Oxford an hour and a half south-west.
miles north of London
miles west of Peterborough
minute train from Peterborough to London King’s Cross
The School’s buildings, dating from the 17th to the 21st centuries, are dispersed throughout the town. This gives the School a unique and distinctive character. Pupils pass through the streets throughout their day, instilling a sense of responsibility and independence.
