Derbyshire’s Repton School is one of the UK’s top co-educational schools for day pupils and boarders. The independent school, for pupils aged 13-18, is known for its academic excellence, sporting achievements, and pupil success stories.
Meanwhile, Repton Prep, for children aged 3-13, enriches pupils’ formative years with plenty of fun. Children discover their talents and interests through a host of academic, physical, and creative activities, both in their daily lessons and extra-curricular activities.
In 2020, Repton formed a through-school with Repton Prep. Together, the Schools offer a superb education to pupils, allowing them to transition seamlessly from primary to secondary school.
Given the excellent education on offer at the through-school, Repton School and Repton Prep have won several awards over recent years. While The Week’s “Best of the Best Schools Guide” has awarded Repton School the title of “Great for Sport,” the Tatler Schools Guide 2023 has praised the School’s reputation for producing well-rounded, confident young people.
These are some of the awards that Repton School and Repton Prep have won in recent years.
Award-Winning Boarding at Repton School and Repton Prep
Repton Prep: Winner of the 2023 Supporting Junior Boarders Award
Earlier this year, Repton Prep won the Supporting Junior Boarders Award at the Boarding School’s Association annual conference. The award recognises schools that go the extra mile to ensure junior boarders feel at home. Repton Prep’s win speaks to the School’s outstanding Pastoral care and the exceptional support boarders receive from staff.
Repton Prep boarders endorsed the School’s signature warmth and pupil-first approach. One junior boarder said boarding at the School was “fun” and like “one big family.”
Another young boarder praised the remarkable features of Repton Prep’s site: “The school is our home — we get to run around in the woods, play in the fields, and enjoy all the facilities — we are so lucky.”
Repton Prep Head Vicky Harding said winning the award affirmed the hard work of the “amazing staff” who make the School “a fantastic place to board.”
She added: “The whole school benefits from the strength of the boarding community on site and all pupils really thrive here; it makes me very proud to see what we experience every day recognised by this national award.”
Repton School: The UK’s Happiest Boarding School
In 2022, the Muddy Stilettos Best Schools Awards named Repton School the UK’s Happiest Boarding School. More than 400 schools entered the competition last year, and Repton came out on top after three rounds of judging. The School also received a highly commended award in the Most Inventive Sports Programme category.
Muddy Stilettos’ Schools Guide is an online resource for families that offers insights into the UK independent school system. Muddy Stilettos’ Best Schools Awards recognise exceptional schools across 13 categories.
Last year the judging panel included respected senior educators like the former head of Westminster School and the head of Oxford’s Dragon School.
Hero Brown, Muddy Stilettos’ founder, visited Repton in 2022 and noted the School’s “passion and care.” The Muddy Stilettos website describes Repton’s “deserved reputation for sporting brilliance, mind-boggling facilities — and a refreshing lack of pretension.”
Repton’s nomination for the 2022 Muddy Stilettos Best Schools Awards included comments from current and former pupils. One full boarder said their favourite part of a Repton education was the School’s “sense of community.”
They added: “My House has become my second home and being a border has enabled me to make strong friendships that I know will last way beyond my Repton career.”
Repton Headmaster Mark Semmence called the award “particularly special” as it recognised the School’s emphasis on the happiness of its pupils.
“This is borne out in our exam results as well as by our pupils’ performance on the sports pitches, in the theatre, the music school, and in Repton’s superb House spirit,” Semmence said. “By interweaving traditional care with scientific data-driven tracking we have developed highly tuned Pastoral care provision that works for every child.”
Brown called Repton’s win “an accolade that’s richly deserved for this excellent school.”
Boarding At Repton School
While 70% of Reptonians board, every pupil belongs to an integrated House. As a result, all Reptonians enjoy the strong sense of belonging that the School’s House system affords.
Housemasters, housemistresses, matrons, tutors, and pupils create a nurturing and familiar community. From this supportive network, Reptonians gain the confidence to try new things, flourish academically, and make the most of their education.
Day pupils and boarders also take part in Repton’s rich extra-curricular programme. With so much to get involved with, weekends at Repton are busy and exciting.
Superb Facilities in Stunning Surroundings
You’ll find Repton School in the rural village of Repton. Located in the heart of the Midlands, the village is the ancient capital of Mercia. Founded in 1557 on the site of a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon abbey and a 12th-century priory, today the School incorporates historic buildings with state-of-the-art facilities.
Just a few miles away, Repton Prep is set in 55 wooded acres and based at Foremarke Hall, a Palladian mansion with scenic gardens. Muddy Stilettos has called the site “a play palace for kids.”
Children from preschool to Year 2 enjoy the School’s Teletubbies-style adventure playground. Meanwhile, older pupils benefit from:
- A swimming pool.
- Astroturf pitches.
- An adventure woodland area.
- A lake for paddle boarding, canoeing, and kayaking.
Repton Prep devotes the first week of each academic year to adventure. Pupils have the opportunity to form friendships and develop independence, leadership, and team-building skills.
Repton Prep’s facilities and surroundings secured the School the accolade of “Great Country Prep” in The Week’s “Best of the Best Prep Schools” Guide 2022. The guide described the School’s facilities as “superb,” mentioning Repton Prep’s art and ceramic studio and design and technology (DT) centre.
The DT centre has four electric racing cars, and Repton Prep pupils recently participated in Greenpower’s F24 electric car challenge for schools.
Repton’s Award-Winning STEM Programmes
STEM at Repton offers pupils of all ages abundant opportunities to get involved in scientific studies. The School’s STEM programme, which runs from Repton Prep to the Upper Sixth, won the Education Business STEM Award 2022. All UK schools can apply for the award, and Repton stood out as the winner from 32,000 entrants.
Repton’s STEM programme offers a hands-on approach to learning and real-world applications. The School recognises the workplace demand for people with STEM skills, even in jobs that aren’t associated with STEM industries. At Repton, STEM departments are open all day and accessible to any pupils who wish to use the facilities.
These are some of Repton’s STEM programme highlights:
- The Repton School site has exceptional STEM facilities. These facilities include a maths block, DT labs, a sports centre, and a university-standard science priory with an observatory.
- Repton Prep pupils take part in science days at Repton School. These days include practical laboratory classes and observatory visits.
- Year 8 pupils participate in the CREST awards, the British Science Association’s scheme for STEM project work. The CREST awards inspire young people to think like scientists and engineers.
- Both junior and senior school campuses offer many STEM-focused clubs and societies. Repton’s Engineering Society has built a functioning hovercraft. Meanwhile, the Medical Society took part in a fracture workshop with a top orthopaedic surgeon. Repton also organises regular talks and workshops with well known speakers, such as Professor Robert Winston.
- Repton’s STEM team often hosts partner state schools from the village of Repton and wider Derbyshire. Repton also works with international schools, such as Toyota Nishi High School Japan and Repton’s schools in China, Malaysia, and Cairo.
Recognising Repton’s Remote Learning Efforts
Repton School Shortlisted for 2021 TES Independent School Awards
In 2020, Repton partnered with The Greenwood Academies Trust to procure a cutting-edge IT system. The Trust provides education for approximately 17,000 pupils in some of the UK’s most deprived areas. Repton’s new system enabled the School to provide pupils with seamless remote learning.
Repton connected most of its Saxon village — across two rural campuses — to the network in just 16 weeks. The project involved:
- Building vital infrastructure and establishing hardware, software, and integrations.
- Training more than 400 staff members to use the new system.
- Transforming the School’s entire IT architecture.
Repton’s team worked remotely for most of the project, which occurred during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2021, Repton School made the shortlist for two categories in the TES Independent School Awards: Best Use of Technology and Independent-State School Partnership of the Year.
This achievement recognised Repton’s innovative approach to technology during the pandemic. In response to the TES recognition, Repton’s Headmaster emphasised the School’s dedication to “delivering an education that is fit for the 21st century.”
Repton School and Repton Prep: Outstanding Remote Learning Provision
Repton’s efforts to support pupils during the Covid-19 pandemic received further recognition from the Education Business Awards. In 2021, Repton School and Repton Prep won the Education Business Award for Outstanding Remote Learning Provision.
The first of its kind, the award highlighted Repton’s impressive commitment to remote learning. Judges noted the School’s robust Pastoral care during the pandemic.
In a well-being survey Repton conducted in January 2021, 96% of pupils reported either “no or very low levels of anxiety as a result of homeschooling.”
Throughout the pandemic, Repton kept its community connected, delivered an enriching timetable, and ensured each pupil received support to suit their needs. The School’s new IT system meant that pupils didn’t miss one day of learning.
Repton also continued to provide a dynamic co-curricular programme, which included:
- Sports coaching.
- Musical recitals.
- Dramatic productions.
- Societies.
- House challenges.
- An online international universities evening. The evening featured speakers from leading academic institutions in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Europe.
Repton also encouraged pupils to consider outreach work in their local communities wherever safety allowed. Some of this community work saw pupils:
- Share home-cooked meals with lonely, isolated individuals.
- Make birthday cards for elderly residents.
- Take part in outdoor musical performances.
Semmence called Repton’s remote learning award win a “clear demonstration” of the School’s community strength.
About Repton School
Founded more than 450 years ago by Sir John Port, Repton School in Derbyshire is one of the UK’s oldest schools. Despite its rich history, Repton is a thoroughly modern school in terms of outlook, practice, and facilities.
Repton believes in the pursuit of academic excellence, but not at the expense of a well-rounded education. Award-winning Pastoral care and impressive extra-curricular provisions ensure Reptonians have the additional support and opportunities they need to thrive at the School.
Learn more about Repton School’s inspirational environment.
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