What the Good Schools Guide Says About Teddies

3

THE GOOD SCHOOLS GUIDE

Entrance There are 155 year 9 places: 65 per cent offered in year 6; 25 per cent in year 7; 10 percent in year 8. Siblings very welcome, though they’ll need to clear the same hurdles: ISEB pre-test in year 6; interview and activity day for those invited. School’s own papers for later registrations. ‘Children are getting better scores and interviewing extremely well’, says school, forcing ‘difficult decisions’ in recent years; but ‘don’t confuse increased interest with a different approach to admissions,’ because they’re ‘categorically not’ looking for anything new. Simply supply and demand: combination of weekly boarding and new warden has piqued the interest of parents hungry for another credible co-ed option. Ten spaces at 14+ and 60 at 16+. Online adaptive test, written subject papers and an interview for year 12 candidates. Again, competition tougher than it was. Exit Majority to Russell Group: Exeter, Bristol, Newcastle, Edinburgh popular. Steady handful to north America or mainland Europe. One to Oxbridge in 2022, usually a couple more. Just under 10 per cent leave after GCSEs.

A standout headmaster... a visionary warden with a serious CV

Getting pupils out and about: ‘We’re in a city, not down a tree-lined drive,’ says warden. They’re ‘spreading their wings’ through Teddies Collaborate, volunteering at local primary schools, museums, food banks, shelters. Of course, Teddies has always been urban, rather than the stately-home-and-a-few-hundred-acres model (‘Being edge-of-town means it’ll never be too wow-factor, and I like that,’ says one mum), but town relations used to be more about pubs than primaries; life here is much more wholesome than it was. Vision is for Teddies to be UK’s ‘leading co educational boarding school’, extending to academics, commitment to service, facilities, teaching and the rest. ‘It doesn’t mean getting the best grades’ – it means being innovative, outward-looking, brave. Newsletters are packed with good ideas and explanations of their rationale (parents praise excellent comms). A big ambition and an enormous job, but the new warden is all guns blazing. Reader, take note: Teddies is no longer your insurance.