Badminton School

Westbury on Trym, Bristol BS9 3BA

Badminton is a hardy perennial indeed. Founded to educate Bristol girls to the same standard as the boys at Clifton College, the school still sticks by that original ethos today. This grand country pile is home to one of the top girls’ schools in the west, loitering with intent in 14th place in last summer’s league tables, and surely planning on climbing up even higher. But, rather refreshingly, there just isn’t the Pressurised atmosphere that one would expect to be behind such blistering results. Instead, teachers are quietly efficient at getting the best grades possible from the girls. There seems to be no spoon-feeding – just a tried and tested formula of small classes (never more than 16 in a lesson), one-on-one attention and unabashed enthusiasm among the teaching staff. And the girls aren’t a hand-picked parade of brainboxes; the school has an genuinely broad intake, and there isn’t a highly-Strung Harriet in sight. Outside the classroom, things are hotting up on the sports pitches, with a brand-new AstroTurf that’s the first full-size, on-campus, all-weather sports facility in Bristol. Field-sports champs will flourish.