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Our View
Selective but aimed at a broad range of abilities, Shiplake College is an authentic and unpretentious place that takes a holistic approach to educating ‘good eggs’. Previously boys only until sixth form, Shiplake has made the decision to organically grow into a totally co-ed school with meticulous planning and preparation resulting in the first mixed Year 7/8 cohort already nicely balanced with 40 per cent girls - a remarkable opening gambit.
Where?
Set in a generous 65 Oxfordshire acres, right on the river front and 2.5 miles upstream of Henley-on-Thames, Shiplake boasts an enviable position with the beautiful Victorian Shiplake Court at its centre. It’s extremely accessible, being within easy reach of both the M4 and M40, 20 minutes from Reading station and only 40 minutes from Heathrow airport. The school also runs nine bus routes which, pupils told us, are very much part of the culture.
Head
Tyrone Howe came to Shiplake College in 2019. An approachable and articulate man, he is clearly heavily invested in Shiplake and his charges, for whom he wants ‘the most positive school experience’. He has already seen numbers grow on his watch, but he is quick to say that he ‘inherited a school on an upward trajectory’. Pupil aspiration is high on his agenda, and encouraging them to look up to each other is, in his view, the best way to achieve it. Pupil forums are vitally important, as are opportunities for everyone to share their experiences and successes with their peers. Students are encouraged to help and guide each other and the impact of this can be transformative, particularly for the younger pupils. The school motto is ‘The Example Teaches’, and the head expects both pupils and staff to contribute.
Overseeing a co-ed Year 7/8 cohort for the first time, Mr Howe is delighted that ‘it just feels normal’ – a sure sign that it was well planned and executed and ultimately that it was the right decision.
When potential pupils visit for an admission day, Mr Howe wants them to leave insisting that they ‘really want to come here’, but with more applicants than places, he also feels that those who are accepted have a duty to make the most of it and to be accountable for their own learning. ‘Fairness, transparency and high standards’ are the name of the game here, and students earn independence and privileges through consistency, work ethic and engagement. ‘We have unashamedly high standards,’ says Mr Howe, but he is clear that these are different for every pupil – ‘personal bests’ is a recurring theme at Shiplake. Regardless of where you sit on the academic, sporting or creative spectrum, achieving and celebrating your own personal bests rather than reaching a universal yardstick is how Shiplake builds that all-important teenage confidence and self-esteem.
Adding value is enormously important to him and this too is a two-way street and pupils need to perpetuate ‘the culture of saying yes’. But the good news is that ‘if you turn up with a good attitude, good things will generally happen - hard work pays off’ he notes with a smile.
Mr Howe is a very visible head, not least because his office has glass on three sides, but also because he makes a point of being around – he is front and centre at sports fixtures and concerts, and meeting prospective parents over lunch is very much part and parcel of his modus operandi.
Admissions
There are three main entry points at Shiplake – Years 7, 9 and Year 12 – and although the timescales differ for each stage, the process remains broadly the same. Applicants come in for an assessment day, require a full report from their current school and take part in written assessments and a one-to-one interview with a member of staff as well as being observed as part of group activities and during a sports session. Admissions aren’t based on academic ability but on the applicant as a whole. Sixth-form entry is co-ed, and has been for some time, and in September 2023, the school became co-ed from Year 7, growing organically year on year.
Scholarships are available in music, drama, academics and sport, and any pupils securing more than one would receive an all-rounder. Interestingly (and in line with the head’s mantra of fairness), pupils gaining scholarships at each entry point will need to reapply at the next stage, ensuring that there is a level playing field for new joiners – and that pupils who develop a particular talent later in their journey still have opportunities to be recognised.
Academics and destinations
Right from the outset, pupils have specialist teachers and move around the campus between dedicated subject areas. Lower-school pupils work in their allocated house groups for every subject except maths, for which they are set. Shiplake College has an excellent reputation for maximising the potential of learners who might need a little extra support, and the dedicated learning development centre is a large and motivating space. It sits adjacent to the ‘Thinking Space’, the College’s library and collaboration space that has a very Google-esque vibe. Opened in 2014, it was specifically designed to inspire creative thought.
There’s no Saturday school but pupils will come in for training or matches in the morning or occasionally later in the afternoon.
There are 19 subjects on offer at GCSE and no less than 28 at A-level. Sixth formers have the choice of all the core favourites or they might select sociology, psychology, photography, criminology or a BTec in music, business studies or sport – it's a case of matching a pupil’s interest and style of learning to the right course.
Careers advice is well structured and begins in Year 7 although it ramps up significantly in Year 10. By Year 12, students benefit from weekly timetabled careers lessons and take part in an off-timetable ‘Futures Week’, an action-packed carousel of activities including visiting speakers and the opportunity to attend at least one university or college open day.
Grades are solid with the most recent sixth form examination results being the highest ever - 97 per cent secured A*–C grades at A-level whilst 39 per cent of results were A*/A. 93 per cent of 2024 GCSE grades were A*-C with just over a third bagging an A or A*. It’s an impressive set of stats, particularly for a mixed ability school, ‘we haven’t changed our ethos’ says the head, ‘but academic rigour is completely embedded, it's the first box you tick’. Shiplake’s value-added scores are very impressive too and a clear delivery on the promise to help pupils beat their own personal bests. Every single student gained a place at their first or second choice of higher education last year – perhaps as a result of the focus on aspirational but achievable goals. A varied list of destinations over the past few years includes apprenticeships and rowing scholarships to Harvard, Washington, Iowa and Boston.
Co-curricular
Music is brilliantly inclusive, with every pupil in the lower school learning to play an instrument via a fortnightly group lesson. Everyone sings in the lower-school choir and takes part in the lower-school panto. The first few years are all about getting students involved – they might end up loving something they wouldn’t ordinarily have tried.
Art is impressive, and the huge photography studio is a creative jewel in the crown. With around a fifth of students having some form of dyslexia, art and D&T can offer some pupils a real opportunity to shine - we spotted a brilliant poster with ‘dyslexia is your superpower’ adorning one art room wall. Dramatists too are well catered for with a large dark-room theatre and drama classroom, and an upcoming performance of My Fair Lady which hopes to be as dazzling as the recent and apparently ‘awesome’ Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Sport for boys centres around rugby, rowing or football and cricket over the three terms. For girls, it’s hockey, followed by football, rowing or netball and cricket, tennis and rounders in the summer. They hold their own on the local circuit in pitch-based sport and the 2025 completion of a fabulous new international sized hockey pitch with 3G practice pitch (and covered cricket nets) will undoubtedly further boost both skills and prowess in the sporting department. But it's rowing that takes centre stage here. The new boathouse is superb – there’s an extensive climbing wall and boathouse downstairs, and an enormous gym on the top floor with masses of static bikes and more rowing machines than you could shake a stick at.
The College is proud of the very ‘club’ feel of the boathouse – girls and boys train together and older pupils are expected and encouraged to help mentor the younger ones. The physical demands of rowing mean that pupils must wait until Year 9 to really get stuck in, although they can have taster sessions in Year 8. It’s fair to say that the school has a truly ‘oarsome’ track record in this department – no less than 26 Shiplake students competed at the 2024 Henley Royal Regatta with crews reaching the Quarter Final, Semi Final and Final. Five of these talented students went on to represent Great Britain at the Coupe de la Jeunesse and World Championships, where every one of them returned with a medal. And by the way, in the last 7 years, three Shiplake College students have been crowned U19 World Rowing Champion. ‘We are a school that generates stories’ says Mr Howe, 'and in order for a school of our size to do that, you need to be dynamic and aspirational’ and there’s definitely a good dose of both at Shiplake, especially out on the river.
Boarding
From Year 9 onwards, around 40 per cent of pupils are boarders, with around 30 full, 100 weekly and 50 flexi boarders. Overseas pupils make up around five percent of the boarding community and hail from a diverse range of countries. Current provision is due to change with an extensive refurbishment in summer 2025, making way for both boys and girls boarding spaces as the first co-ed cohort approach Year 9.
Pastoral care is provided by housemasters, matrons, resident tutors and ‘independent listeners’, and the boarding activities coordinator makes sure that there’s a good balance between high-octane paintballing, laser quest and go-karting and the more relaxed sushi making, cooking or chilling out with a film.
School community
Pastoral care is high on the agenda, with pupils gaining support from their dedicated tutor as well as their houseparents, matrons, and the school chaplain, whose open-door office is endearingly termed ‘The Rev’s Den’. Our pupil guides told us that pupils really all do know each other, and multiple siblings as well as the majority of students being from within an hour’s drive give the school a proper family feel.
The College doesn’t have its own chapel but instead uses the nearby local parish church, instantly linking them more formally with an important part of the local community.
And finally....
With their natty Regatta-inspired striped blazers, pupils here are treated to an all-round education in a mixed-ability environment where personal bests are championed above all else and hard work is non-negotiable for pupils and staff alike. Progress is celebrated just as heartily as achievement and opting in and saying yes are at the heart of ensuring that every pupil has the opportunity to be recognised. It’s a clear message, amply summed up by the school's three core values: ‘inclusive, individual and inspirational’. We sensed that there’s been something of a turbo charge at Shiplake – numbers are up, infrastructure is being enhanced and updated on a massive scale and ambition for every pupil is at an all-time high - we suggest you take a look.