Three Schools. One Journey
From September 2026, Sherborne Prep, Sherborne Boys and Sherborne Girls come together under a single, unified Sherborne brand, offering a clear and distinctive all-through pathway from age 3 to 18. One that is unlike anything else in the UK.
Separate, yet together
At the heart of our approach is a simple but powerful insight: what is best for a child's education changes as they grow. At Sherborne, we have spent centuries refining our understanding of those changes, and building a structure that responds to them intelligently.
We are not simply co-educational. We are not simply single-sex. We are something more considered than either: a school that moves deliberately between the two, at exactly the moments the evidence tells us each serves pupils best.
The result is an educational model that is unique in the UK, and one that is evidenced by our senior schools' consistently outstanding value-added results.
The journey through Sherborne
The journey through Sherborne follows four carefully considered stages - each designed for what we believe serves our pupils best:
| Prep (up to Year 8) - Sherborne Prep |
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| Sherborne Prep is fully co-educational. At this stage, gender differences in learning are less pronounced, and play-based exploration builds natural social confidence. Boys and girls learn, collaborate and develop together, forming friendships and ways of thinking that will serve them throughout their lives. In Years 7 and 8, the Sherborne Prep Diploma brings together academic rigour, character development and a spirit of discovery. Discover Sherborne Prep |
| Girls (Years 9-11) - Sherborne Girls |
| From Year 9, girls thrive in a single-sex environment where self-consciousness is removed from the classroom, subject choices are free from social pressure, and academic ambition can flourish without distraction. We want girl physicists and girl engineers, and in a Sherborne Girls classroom, those ambitions feel natural, not exceptional. Sport, music, drama, and the broader life of Sherborne continue jointly throughout. Discover Sherborne Girls |
| Boys (Years 9- 11) - Sherborne Boys |
| The GCSE years at Sherborne Boys are where intellectual risk-taking becomes habitual, resilience is built, and a boy's sense of who he is, and what he is capable of, takes shape. A single-sex classroom removes the social noise of adolescence and creates the conditions for genuine academic engagement. Meanwhile, the wider life of Sherborne, shared with girls across music, drama, sport, CCF and the community, continues to grow. Discover Sherborne Boys |
| Sixth Form (Years 12-13) - Sixth Form |
| By the Sixth Form, boys and girls are ready to learn alongside one another in a more discursive, intellectually demanding environment that mirrors the world they are preparing to enter. By September 2028, the majority of lessons will be taught together, combining academic rigour, ethical leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation in a Sixth Form of the Future that prepares every pupil not just for university, but for a life of purpose and impact. |
Why it works
It is more than a choice between co-education and single-sex
| Developmentally intelligent |
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| Our structure responds to how children actually grow, adjusting the environment at each stage to match where pupils are, not where convention says they should be. |
| Free from stereotypes |
| In a single-sex classroom, a girl choosing Physics or a boy choosing the Arts feels entirely natural. We actively challenge the assumptions that can otherwise narrow a young person's sense of what is possible. |
| Socially rich throughout |
| Even during the single-sex years, boys and girls share music, drama, sport, the CCF, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, and the broader life of the community; growing up together while learning separately. |
Boarding
With over 1,200 pupils, more than 900 full boarders and a combined history of 1,500 years, Sherborne is one of the great boarding communities in the country. To board at Sherborne is to learn to live alongside others, developing independence, practising empathy, and building the kind of resilience that only comes from real experience of community life.
Day pupils are an equally valued part of that community, sharing fully in the life of the schools and benefiting from everything that makes Sherborne exceptional.
There is more to Sherborne
What sets us apart goes deeper than structure
| Character & Wellbeing |
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| The qualities that endure. Academic results matter. But what has always distinguished Sherborne pupils is who they are - the quiet confidence, the readiness to serve, the integrity that does not bend under pressure. From 2026, that commitment becomes deliberate, structured and measurable. Discover our approach to character |
| Innovation & Entrepreneurship |
| The pupils who think differently make the greatest difference. From the Turing Innovation Centre to a real Sixth Form start-up programme, we are equipping every Sherborne pupil, at every age, to think originally, act ethically, and lead with purpose in a fast-changing world. Discover innovation at Sherborne |
Come and see it for yourself
There is something about Sherborne that is not easily conveyed in words. The community. The humanity. The quiet confidence of pupils who know who they are and where they are going. Something you need to experience in person.
