Abingdon School

Park Road, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 1DE

The sight of pink and white-clad oarsmen lined up by the river is the Abingdon School snapshot. Rowers are flushed with success and the school is a hive of budding athletes; 13 pupils tore off to GB regattas in 2008. But there’s more to this Oxfordshire establishment than prowess on the still waters of the Thames. Academically the school is speeding up at a rate of knots, with record results and prizes being awarded left, right and centre. Chemistry A-level gave Abingdon its stellar moment last summer, with an unprecedented five pupils achieving marks in the country’s top 10. That lab must have been fizzing. One of the oldest public schools in the UK, Abingdon is traditional but not dragging its feet. The opening of the long-awaited £8 million shiny sports hall has provoked much excitement and an unsurprising renewed interest in swimming, squash and general bouncing around in the gym. Predominantly a day school, with only 120 boarders, it is rocketing in popularity with hordes of boys arriving at 11 from local primary schools or from Abingdon Prep (formerly Josca’s). One super-generous old boy, Nigel Hammond, bequeathed over £500,000 to the school to provide a huge amount of funding for pupils. There are currently more than 100 boys on academic, musical, sporting or drama scholarships and there are cracking bursaries for those without deep reserves.