Best boarding schools in Bristol

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Only Badminton Junior School, Badminton, Clifton College Prep and Clifton College offer boarding within the city boundary, and many of these students will come either from abroad (Asia and parts of Europe mostly) or from too far away for a daily journey to be feasible; some forces families will choose these boarding schools to give their children a stable education. Numbers of boarders at both Clifton College Prep and Badminton Junior School are relatively low (under 30 and single figures respectively), but they appear to have a rip-roaring time in both schools, and the experience is a useful introduction to boarding at senior level. Arguably, these are also the two schools most adept at preparing your child for one of the big-name senior boarding schools elsewhere in the country. At Badminton, around 45 per cent of girls board, a mix of full, flexi and weekly, and about the same percentage of girls and boys but greater numbers of full boarders at Clifton College.

Boarding schools near Bristol

The nearest boarding option outside Bristol is Sidcot School, around 15 miles away. There’s no junior boarding but senior boarding is noted for its excellent pastoral care, if not its luxury accommodation. A handful of Bristol families might also send their offspring to other south west notables such as Sherborne, Sherborne Girls, Bryanston School or Canford School. The nearest state boarding school – more accurately, a day school with provision for only about 30 boy boarders with very good reasons for needing a boarding place – is Beechen Cliff School in Bath.

For mild SEN needs, Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire offers CReSTed accreditation for dyslexia and boarding from year three.

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