We had a super visit to boarding and day school Ardingly College last week and one cannot help but be impressed by it. The school was founded in 1858 and built in a Victorian gothic style set in 250 acres of beautiful Sussex countryside. Only 40 miles from central London with great links to Heathrow and Gatwick as well as the south coast.
Impressive art on display from the outstanding art department
Ardingly is co-educational with around 1000 pupils to include the prep and senior school. Ardingly have a good number of boarders of which half of those are from overseas making Ardingly very much an international community. The campus is a mix of traditional buildings with state-of-the-art modern facilities such as the Science & Technology block. The school achieves excellent academic results. It offers both IB and A level in sixth form and is consistently in the Top 10 UK IB schools.
Strong sport with plenty of facilities in its acres of grounds from two all-weather hockey pitches, football pitches, cricket fields, dance studios and tennis courts plus a fabulous new strength and conditioning centre. It excels in hockey and football for girls and boys and there is an elite football programme for boys and elite hockey for girls. It also offers lots of other sports including netball, athletics, sailing, rowing, fencing, golf, equestrian and many more.
Creative arts are strong with an outstanding art department and the school offers an exhaustive list of extra-curricular activities allowing students to discover and develop their interests.
As to be expected of a school of this calibre, it has excellent boarding facilities which all have cosy common rooms, TV’s, kitchens for making snacks. Hugely popular with students is ‘Café 150’ which was opened to celebrate the school being 150 years old and has the look and feel of an independent coffee shop.
Ardingly is an academically selective school, but not a ‘hothouse’ and its mantra ‘nobody excels at everything, but everyone can excel at something’ sums up the school ethos perfectly. It offers a well-rounded education, strong pastoral care with a plethora of excellent opportunities.
