Shrewsbury School Review: Fees, Rankings And More
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Table of Contents
Summary Of School
- Type of school: Co-educational boarding & day school
- Age range: 13-18
- Pupils: 823; sixth formers: 387
- Boarders: 614
- Fees: Day £30,162 – £31,797; Boarding £43,980 – £45,582 pa
- 2023 A-Level Results: 29.4% A*-A
- 2022 GCSE Results: 72.9% 9/7
Shrewsbury School Overview
Shrewsbury School was founded in 1552 as one of the ‘great nine’ schools in England as identified by the Clarendon Commission of 1861. The school is located in one of the best locations for a school in the country, with a beautiful campus on the edge of one of the most historic counties in England.
The school aims to educate and empower each pupil to flourish in life and contribute to a better world. The school strives to equip its pupils with academic capability, life skills and a good character to pursue a meaningful and successful life.
On average, 98% of pupils go on to Higher Education and about 30% of them take a gap year, mostly to Shrewsbury International School in Bangkok. Some 90% of its 2020 cohort have been accepted at their first choice of universities. 72% of Salopians (former students of Shrewsbury) have entered Russell Group universities with Exeter as their top choice, followed by Newcastle, Edinburgh, Durham, Bristol, Cardiff, UCL, Manchester, Nottingham, King’s College London, LSE, Leeds, York, Imperial, Loughborough and Bath. In 2020,16 of its graduates went to Oxbridge, 10 attended medical schools, and one went overseas to attend MIT. Their chosen disciplines range from Art and Drama to the Sciences and Humanities.
Shrewsbury School Courses / Programs
Shrewsbury School offers a broad curriculum for GCSE courses. They also offer a choice of 25 subjects for A-Level with the option to do Extended Project Qualifications (EPQ).
The school is particularly strong in Maths and Further Maths at A-Level/Pre-U. Outside of academic subjects, pupils can choose from a great variety of options such as ceramics, photography, computing, art and design, theatre studies and PE, even a combination of them.
Shrewsbury School Deadline
Application forms for 2024 entry should be returned to us by Monday 2nd October 2023.
Sixth Form Assessments (arrangements for assessment in November 2023)
The school will write to candidates in July/August 2023 to confirm that their child intends to take the entrance exams and to enclose the application form.
On the application form, candidates will nominate three subjects for assessment. Ideally, these should be the subjects that they intend to take for A Level.
The Entrance Examinations will be held in November 2023. International candidates will be able to take the written papers either at an Examination Centre in their home country or at the offices of Academic Asia and UK Boarding Schools. The school would anticipate that international candidates will take the exams in November 2023.
Offers of Places
The school will aim to have made our decisions by early December, and will then offer successful candidates a place in their Sixth Form, conditional on them achieving at least three GCSEs at Grade 7 and three GCSEs at Grade 5 (or three A and three B grades).
Contact us today if you’d like us to help with your application process, at no extra cost.
Shrewsbury School Ranking And Results
Shrewsbury School was named the Independent School of the Year at the Independent Schools of Year virtual national awards on 8 October 2020. The school also received the prestigious national award for Community Outreach 2020.
To quote Julie Robinson, CEO of ISC, Shrewsbury School won the Independent School of the Year award for “… outstanding contribution to student experience in their own school and beyond, working tirelessly and positively, changing the lives of their own students, and the lives of people in the much wider community.”
Meanwhile, Robin Fletcher, CEO of the Boarding Schools’ Association presented the Community Outreach Award for Shrewsbury School because “Shrewsbury School impressed the judges with the sheer breadth and scope of their community outreach especially during the national lockdown.”
Shrewsbury School also received the Times Educational Supplement (TES)’s Boarding School of the Year “Highly Recommended” 2020 Award for its Independent School Awards 2020.
In 2019, Shrewsbury School was named as a Top 10 UK Co-Educational Boarding School based on their 2018 A Level results by Best Schools.
Here are the latest A-Level and GCSE results published in 2023/2022, as reported by Shrewsbury School:
- 2023 A-Level Results: 29.4% A*-A
- 2022 GCSE Results: 72.9% 9/7
Shrewsbury School Fees
For the academic year 2023/24, the fees per term are:
| Lower School (Third, Fourth & Fifth Forms) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Boarding, UK/EEA resident | £14,660 | |
| Boarding, non-UK/EEA resident | £15,464 | |
| Day | £10,054 | |
| Sixth Form | ||
|---|---|---|
| Boarding, UK/EEA resident | £15,194 | |
| Boarding, non-UK/EEA resident | £16,004 | |
| Day | £10,599 | |
Music fees per 40-minute lesson are £27.68 (£26.10 payable to the music teacher + £1.58 admin fee payable to the School).
Conditions relating to unpaid fees, notice, deposits for overseas pupils, confidentiality and other matters may be obtained from the School on request.
Optional Expenses
All School fees are inclusive except for personal expenditure or optional activities such as music lessons, instrument hire, stationery, theatres or concerts trips and supplementary books outside of what is available for borrow or hire from the School’s book pounds.
Fees in Advance
There are some discounts for advance payment. Please contact us to enquire further.
Scholarships and Bursaries
Various types of generous scholarships and other awards are available to both Under 14 and Sixth Form candidates. Contact us for more information.
Shrewsbury School Entry Requirements
International pupils can apply at Year 9 (13+), Year 10 (14+) and Year 12 (16+).
13+ and 14+ applicants
Applicants must take the School’s entrance exams in Maths, English and if applicable, French (if the applicant has studied French for more than a year). Registration is required before sitting for the examination.
Ideally, all exams are taken on a same day in November of the previous year to prepare for the following year’s September intake. The exam location can be either Shrewsbury School or the applicant’s current school, a local law firm or a local Consulate. Results will come within 2 weeks from the exam date.
The parents will need to cover any administrative costs for overseeing the exams.
The school will require a suitable academic and character reference from the applicant’s current school for an unconditional offer.
The admission staff would prefer to meet the applicant in person during a tour of the School or via a Skype interview.
16+ applicants
Applicants will take the School’s entrance exams in four written papers of choice and an interview with one of the Admissions Tutors. It is preferable for the applicant to tour the School and meet the Admissions Tutors in person. A Skype interview would also be sufficient as an alternative.
All applicants must register before sitting for the examinations.
The applicant will receive a conditional offer when the School has received a satisfactory reference besides at least three GCSEs at Grade 7 and three GCSEs at Grade 5, or 3As and 3Bs.
Shrewsbury School Reviews
“The staff at Shrewsbury are of rare quality, combining their academic strength with a real desire to teach and develop the pupil.”
“I think Shrewsbury is a place where you can really be yourself and where everyone’s personality has a place.”
“They encourage you to be ambitious but most of all to find the right thing for you.”
“Over my five years at Shrewsbury I have always felt that I have been pushed to the best of my abilities.”
“He has made some super new friends, and seems to be making the most of the vast range of opportunities available. Also, I must say the Shrewsbury musical experience is second to none. Every child has the opportunity to enjoy a huge range of musical activities, in one of the best musical facilities in the country.”
Shrewsbury School Accommodation
Shrewsbury School provides 13 Houses in total: 7 boarding houses for boys, 4 boarding and day houses for girls and 2 day boys’ houses. The boys’ houses are comfortable and the girls’ ones are newly equipped with en suite bathrooms. The boys start with dorms then separate bedrooms as they get older. The houses’ residents enjoy healthy competition with other houses in music, drama and sport.
All pupils choose their meals from the self-service counters at Kingsland Hall. Most are made from scratch using fresh ingredients that are locally sourced. Special dietary needs such as dairy/lactose intolerance, gluten-free diets and halal food are also available.
Sixth Form pupils have a common room called Quod with separate social and study areas as well as a shop run by a committee of Sixth Formers to organise talks, lectures, film nights and socials. They can also choose their own tutor or apply to be a prefect – praepostor – with the headmaster.
Shrewsbury School has a Medical Centre just outside the main school gates, which is run by a team of fully qualified Registered Nurses. There is a Doctor’s surgery every weekday during term time from 8 AM and concurrently a Nurse-led triage clinic. The Centre has 12 beds and is staffed 24 hours a day for all advice and management of illness and injuries as well as support for long-term medical conditions. There are also counselling, routine vaccinations, health education and promotion services available.
Pupils are allowed into the town in the afternoon if they have free time. Evening trips would require specific permission from their Housemaster or Housemistress. Saturday night outs are disallowed without a good reason.
Shrewsbury School Student Services and Extracurricular Activities
Pastoral Care
Each of the 13 Houses has a dedicated Housemaster or Housemistress to take care of pupils’ well-being and emotional support. They are supported by a resident Matron, an Assistant Housemaster/mistress and 8+ House Tutors.
Pastoral Care services include:
- Listening services from peers and staff
- Mindfulness training for staff and pupils
- School-wide Personal and Social Development curriculum
- Lectures and awareness weeks/days
- Visiting speakers
- House visits and workshops
15-20% of the pupils at Shrewsbury are from more than 50 different countries. They are required to have a guardian to provide a homely environment and support during short holidays and school breaks.
Extracurricular Activities
Shrewsbury School has a well-earned reputation for academic, musical and sporting excellence. Their cricket and rowing teams have competed internationally, while their football, cross-country running and fives are among the strongest in the country. The school provides excellent facilities and coaching for the above sports as well as other ones such as tennis, fencing, lacrosse, hockey, rugby and netball: a Newish Yale boathouse with training room and indoor rowing tank, “the most beautiful playing fields in the world” of cricket pitches, top-class indoor cricket centre and Tally – the school’s own cottage in Snowdonia for outdoor pursuits and hike walking.
Their school plays and musicals are widely praised in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in London. Hosting one of the strongest Music Departments in the country, many pupils from the school move on to attend some of the top music colleges each year. Art pupils can hold solo art exhibitions, particularly in ceramics.
There are also many clubs, societies and other extra-curricular activities that take place on a dedicated weekly activity afternoon. Some options for societies are millinery, wine tasting, beekeeping and green power electric car racing team. Sixth Form pupils can voluntarily take complementary study programmes, such as Global Perspectives Pre-U, BTec in public services, sports leadership programme, Russian or Arabic language, debating societies and Model United Nations. The school hosted the International Young Physicists tournament and received a gold medal in the British Biology Olympiad.
Community service is strong in this school, which gave the school the prestigious Community Outreach Award. Pupils can volunteer to work in old people’s homes, schools, charity shops etc. Close links with Shrewsbury House community centre in Liverpool also provide plenty of opportunities for Sixth Formers to see the other side of life.
Shrewsbury School Contact Information
Official website: https://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/
Phone call: +44 01743 280552
Email: [email protected]
Location: Shrewsbury School, The Schools, Shrewsbury, SY3 7BA, United Kingdom
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