Advertising feature from Sherborne Schools

While Sherborne Schools have thrived in our honey-coloured buildings for 1,300 years, we have always felt slightly ahead of the curve, happily steering away from any short-term, educational fads. We have educated tens of thousands of forward-thinking pupils, from actors, generals and musicians, to scientists, business leaders and global figures, male and female. But we are especially proud this year to be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the arrival at Sherborne of Alan Turing, who, thanks to his pioneering work in computing, did as much as anyone to influence the world in which we live. To honour him and to further Sherborne Schools Group’s reputation as a first mover in education, we are launching an initiative in Turing’s name to nurture the next generation of technologists.

Last year, Sherborne Boys, Sherborne Girls, Sherborne Prep and Hanford Prep came together as the Sherborne Schools Group (SSG). It was a courageous move to secure the financial future of the schools and deliver an even better educational experience.  For many years Sherborne Boys and Sherborne Girls have benefitted from a close relationship, underpinned by shared values and a commitment to full-boarding. They describe their unique collaboration as Separate Yet Together – meaning they deliver single-sex boarding and teaching as discrete schools but come together for busy co-curricular, enrichment and socials programmes. This provision is extensive with joint activities as wide-ranging as music, drama and debating, to climbing, outdoor education and the Combined Cadet Force.

Walking through Sherborne’s streets, it is clear there is something special about this gorgeous Dorset town. Routinely named in lists of the UK’s most beautiful places to live, it has a tangible air of history, with a glorious abbey standing at its heart. But it’s the two full-boarding senior schools and two local prep schools that give Sherborne its identity as a place of learning unlike any other. Each of the senior schools offers single-sex full-boarding education, one for boys and one for girls. Historically, they have operated as discrete entities, though always working closely to enhance the education they provide.

It is a cold evening in the picturesque Dorset town of Sherborne. The Sherborne Astroturf pitch twinkles, diamonds of condensed fog glinting on its blue surface. Through the mist drifts the low chatter of girls and boys, smartly attired in military fatigues and readying for the sternest test of their cadet lives. This evening is the ‘Beret Test’, when these young pupils from the separate boys’ and girls’ schools earn the right to wear the berets of fully fledged cadets. They’ve been working towards it for months, repeating drills until they can recite them by heart. The preparedness of the pupils is a result of the training provided by their older peers: those who have walked in their boots and are now bringing the next generation up to speed.