Brymore Academy

Since September 2024, Stafan McHale.

Places for 70 boys are available in year 7 – 30 boarders and 40 out-boarders, as day boys are known. Applications must be made by 31 October for entry the following September, through the local authority and to the school, and all hopefuls (and in

After GCSEs, to a range of college courses – Bridgwater College takes many Brymore leavers, but Bridgwater and Taunton College Trust, to which Brymore belongs, makes sure to send in tutors to help further-flung boarders explore options local to th

School has not published detailed results for the past few years, but in 2023 its GCSE results were the best they had ever been, with the highest number of grades 7-9 in its history, as well as 15 distinctions for technical awards in in engineerin

A broad enough secondary academic offer, with an alluring array of practical subjects given equal importance. Alongside the necessities of maths, English, sciences, humanities and a smattering of Latin, boys get to experience top-level DT (school

Unequivocally mainstream but school boasts exemplary SEN provision which supports a higher proportion of students than in almost all mainstream settings (more than half); this is one reason parents choose it. Boys are not screened on entry but tho

More Kaleb from Clarkson’s Farm than Olly Alexander, Harry Styles or Ai Weiwei, though art, drama and music are timetabled for the first three years and art can be taken as a GCSE option. A school play is performed in some years. Music lessons can

One of the four cornerstones of the school: alongside the farm, the gardens and workshops, rugby rules. Hockey and cross-country are also important and the school is fortunate to have enough land for several rugby pitches and a MUGA. Chads – a dem

Just under half of Brymore boys board, though all of them will during their farm week with that 6am start – and it’s the making of the place, winning over parents who would never have considered parting with their sons, but accept that it may be t

‘We put the boys first’ has been added to the school’s traditional Latin motto, ‘diligentia et labore’ – and this plays out in its excellent pastoral care – excellent but not soppy. Wellbeing is given as much attention as academic achievement, par

A mix of very local out-boarders and further flung boarders, one even whose family live in the US. What unites them is a desire for an education for their sons where the practical is given as much emphasis as the academic and, in many cases, where

As a state school, tuition is free but boarding is paid for by parents. In comparison with independent schools, boarding fees seem very reasonable; school lists sources of financial support on its website.

A beguiling mix of necessary academics, unsentimental and practical focus on the land, traditional values (yes, manners!) and a complete lack of pretension, which prepares boys who often have not thrived in conventional schools for a productive wo