Great British Education 2025 Sample

2025 EDITION

THE BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES GUIDE

YOUR PATH

to success

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO STUDYING IN THE UK

APPLYING

Scholarships and securing a place

UNI LIFE

From course choice to settling in socially

ALL ABOUT BOARDING BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY

Tradition

LUCY PITTS OF CHRIST’S HOSPITAL IN WEST SUSSEX REFLECTS ON THE HISTORY OF BRITISH EDUCATION AND WHAT MAKES ITS RICH AND COMPREHENSIVE CURRICULUM THE GOLD STANDARD AROUND THE WORLD

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PHOTOGRAPHY: ALAMY/FELIX LIPOV

A REALM of POSSIBILITIES

Tradition

Bishop Cosin’s Library at University of Durham dates back to 1669 greatbritisheducationmag.com

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WORTH STRIKES A BALANCE OF

retaining traditional and historic features while updating its campus

WITH STATE-OF-THE-ART AMENITIES

The boarding school is set within 500 rolling acres of lush West Sussex greenery

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Boarding

HEART AND SOUL

Worth School’s Catholic ethos and close-knit community secured it 2024’s Independent Boarding School of the Year award. Headteacher Stuart McPherson reveals what contributes to its winning formula

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orth school is younger than many of the county’s other independent schools, having occupied its current site since the 1930s. Nonetheless, it has its own well-defined history and origins in a Benedictine community founded in 1606.

Community spirit

Inspiring spaces

Worth strikes a balance of retaining historic and traditional features while updating its campus with state-of-the-art, contemporary facilities, including the magnificent Spencer Building featuring a modern library, auditorium and sixth form centre. Sports facilities are excellent, and there’s also a superbly equipped performing arts centre.

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Worth is an academically ambitious school with excellent examination results and pastoral care, wonderful facilities and hugely diverse co-curricular activities, but we don’t just provide an outstanding education; we offer education with heart and soul, preparing our pupils to become well-rounded citizens of the world who are kind, purpose-driven and community-minded.

Our friendly, inclusive atmosphere is seen in the seamless blending of the boarding and day houses. Day and boarding pupils enjoy a structured, phone-free day from 8.30am until

5.30pm. These hours include co-curricular and prep time, so most of the school day is spent together, having fun and caring for, and learning from, one another.

One of the significant developments for boarders has been to promote our weekend activities to all pupils (day pupils as well as boarders). This means the weekends are buzzing, exciting occasions for all, further cementing friendships. The extensive programme of activities and excursions on offer range from games night on campus to kayaking locally and days out further afield.

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PHOTOGRAPHY: SHUTTERSTOCK/ONRUECHA WASAN

International schools

Seoul in South Korea is home to a selection of British international schools

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International schools

A WORLD OF

knowledge

No matter where you are on the globe there’s likely to be a school offering your family a British education

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ritish international schools – of which there are thousands dotted across the world – enrich the lives of students and parents from all over the world. Schools with a British curriculum instil British values in their students, while promoting a global mindset. This holistic curriculum comes with a commitment to educating the whole child, by nurturing essential attributes like care, tolerance and respect for others. These international schools encourage and inspire students to engage actively and purposefully with the world around them, while providing a learning environment that’s both secure and stimulating. This is done by recruiting qualified, well-trained staff whose background and experience is thoroughly vetted. Safeguarding, pastoral care and the wellbeing of pupils is at the heart of every British international school, with rigorous checks and balances in place.

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Sports, especially rugby, are popular extracurricular activities with students at University of Edinburgh

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Extracurricular

JOIN THE CLUB

FROM SILLY SOCIETIES TO SPORTS CLUBS, EXTRACURRICULAR PURSUITS ARE A CORE ASPECT OF HIGHEREDUCATION, KATIE HUGHES DISCOVERS

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K universities can have hundreds of them.

They can cater for every taste and inclination.

And they can range from the sensible to the silly. Extracurricular clubs and societies are so abundant in undergraduate and postgraduate life, there are even whole directories dedicated to them.

So, what exactly is on offer beyond the lecture halls, labs and libraries of UK universities, and why are extracurricular activities such an important part of the student experience?

Every week or so, students at the University of Exeter get to play traditional British games like Grandma’s Footsteps, Stuck in the Mud or Hide and Seek. Come summer, they might try their hand at outdoor sack races, egg-and-spoon relays or hammer throwing. All because they’re part of the Hide and Seek Society, whose aim, say its organisers, is to give members “a fun, chill time with a friendly and inclusive community”.

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PHOTOGRAPHY: CHARLIE GOULD

Something for everyone

WITH ACTIVITIES USUALLY RUN BY STUDENTS for students, they also provide opportunities to get experience in employer-impressing tasks, like planning and budgeting for LARGE EVENTS, MARKETING AND NETWORKING greatbritisheducationmag.com

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Applying

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Independent schools in the countryside – like Walhampton in Hampshire – often have especially splendid grounds

Rugby School benefits from a vast library based in the 19th century Temple Reading Room

on English, maths and verbal and non-verbal reasoning.

Older children are likely to be tested on these core skills and other subjects, depending on what they’ll be studying.

The written assessment usually takes place in November or December of the academic year before entry, or in May for entry at age 13. Successful applicants may then be interviewed.

Some schools offer online interviews for overseas applicants.

The UKiset

Around 200 independent schools ask overseas applicants to sit the UKiset, a test designed to give a fair assessment of international students’ academic potential compared with their British peers. It can be taken online or in one of many international centres. The test covers reasoning (verbal, non-verbal and mathematical), reading and listening, and a short English essay.

The admissions process

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Most independent schools will have a member of staff responsible for admissions, usually called the admissions manager or registrar, who can guide you through the process. You’ll find their details in the admissions section of the school website.

Parents based overseas would be advised to speak to a UK consultant who has first-hand knowledge of the schools they recommend. They should also ask if the consultant takes fees from the school they recommend. The best UK

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