Winchester College Launches Forum, a Life Skills Programme

WINCHESTER, 28 October 2026. Winchester College has launched Forum this academic year, a personal development and life skills programme taught weekly to every year group. The school says it brings careers, financial education, wellbeing and relationships education together in one structured curriculum.

The school announced the programme on 6 October in an article on its news pages. It describes Forum as a bespoke programme designed to give pupils the knowledge, skills and confidence to engage thoughtfully with the opportunities and challenges of modern life.

Forum is not examined and is taught weekly across all year groups. According to the school, its topics include higher education guidance, careers and employability skills, financial education, study skills, wellbeing and relationships education. It follows a spiral model, returning to key themes with greater maturity, complexity and independence as pupils move up the school.

The curriculum combines statutory PSHE and RSE requirements with broader life skills and personal development. The school adds that Forum sits alongside Div, its non-examined subject taught to all year groups, which asks pupils to think seriously about ideas within and beyond the liberal arts. Together, the two create dedicated space for pupils to discuss, debate and reflect on contemporary scientific, philosophical, political and social issues, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, leadership, AI and ethics, and citizenship.

The programme is led by the school's Head of Forum and taught by a team of experienced teachers, many of whom hold senior pastoral roles. The school says this creates strong connections between pupils' academic and personal lives, and notes that, as a full boarding school, Winchester is well placed to reinforce the lessons beyond the classroom.

The school describes the approach as reflecting its characteristic promotion of independence of mind alongside the skills of living in a close community. Its stated hope is that Forum will help pupils to become thoughtful, informed and responsible young adults.

About Winchester College

Winchester College is an independent boarding school in Winchester, Hampshire, founded in 1382. The school says it has the longest continuous history of any school in England.

It offers full boarding for boys aged 13 to 18, with day and boarding places for boys and girls in the Sixth Form. Entry is at 11+ through The Pilgrims' School, at 13+, which is the main point of entry, and at 16+. The school has thirteen houses, each with its own house staff, matron and tutor team.

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What this means for families

For families weighing a boarding education, the announcement sets out what personal development now covers in a typical Winchester week: careers guidance, financial education, study skills and wellbeing sit within a single programme for every year group.

The school says the curriculum is calibrated to the needs and interests of its pupils, and that it combines the statutory requirements with wider life skills.

You can contact Winchester College here.