Downside School

Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Radstock, Bath BA3 4RJ

Rumbling towards its fifth year of co-education, Downside seems to be flourishing since the addition of girls. Perhaps it’s not so traditional any more in many an old Gregorian’s eyes, but this remains a Catholic boarding school with daily sacraments and prayer, practising Catholic pupils and monks heading up the classrooms. Academically, things are speeding up, with exam results improving year on year. Musically, as expected, standards are sky-high, with the Schola Cantorum (the school choir to you and me) churning out chart-topping CDs. With just over 400 pupils, 85 per cent of whom are seven-day-a-week boarders, Downside is a tight-knit little gang and pastoral care is excellent. This has been a busy year. The CCF celebrated its centenary by staging a military extravaganza with parades, helicopters and hand-to-hand combat, all to the tunes of the CCF band. The 1st XI hockey team has had an unbeaten run. Plans for the future include bulking up the IT provisions and enhancing the already superb Petre Library. Means-tested bursaries for Catholic children are also getting a long-overdue boost, with a specific focus on fundraising to subsidise their cost. It puts things into perspective when the school points out that the expense of educating a child there from 13 to 18 is £125,000.