Oakham School

Oakham has taught the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme for more than 25 years. Students choose six subjects, three at Higher and three at Standard Level, from 26 options, and complete Theory of Knowledge, the Extended Essay and Creativity, Activity and Service. Recent additions include IB Dance, English B for non-native speakers and the school-supported self-taught Language A option for students whose first language is not taught. A Levels and BTECs are offered as an alternative Sixth Form route.

The school is organised in three sections. The Lower School (Years 7 and 8) offers small classes, personal tutors and its own houses. The Middle School (Years 9 to 11) starts with a broad Form 3 year and leads to GCSEs, with options including separate sciences, languages, classics and computer science. The Upper School (Sixth Form, Years 12 and 13) offers the IB Diploma, A Levels and BTECs, supported by a Futures department for university guidance.

Oakham states that the purpose of its education is to give students the knowledge, skills and values to flourish at school and beyond. Its four values are care, courage, contribution and connection, and its curriculum links academic, co-curricular and pastoral learning in what it calls a Connected Curriculum. The Latin motto, Quasi cursores vitai lampada tradunt, compares students to runners passing on the torch of life.

The 70-acre campus combines historic buildings, such as Old School from 1584 and the 1924 Chapel, with modern facilities. The Sports Centre, refurbished in 2017, has a 25-metre indoor swimming pool, a fitness studio, a gym, a strength and conditioning room, and squash and fives courts. Outdoors there are playing fields, hockey astroturfs and netball and tennis courts. Other facilities include the 200-seat Queen Elizabeth Theatre, the Wilson Auditorium, a Music School, the Smallbone Library, design and technology workshops with 3D printers and CNC machines, art studios, a medical centre and an indoor 25-metre shooting range.

Nine minibus routes bring day students from towns such as Leicester, Stamford and Oundle, Monday to Saturday. Fees include breakfast, lunch and supper, textbooks and access to the Medical Centre, which is supported by mental health workers and a school counsellor. The Learning Support team helps students with needs such as dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD and some autism profiles, and EAL lessons are available. Lower School houses open from 7.30 am to 6 pm with a homework club. Scholarships and means-tested bursaries are offered.

Oakham offers full, weekly and flexible boarding, and boarders and day students live side by side in the same houses. Lower School students in Years 7 and 8 have their own dedicated houses, and day pupils in these years receive two free boarding nights per term. In their final year, Form 7 students move into dedicated final-year houses: School House for boys and Round House for girls. Boarders take all their meals at school and house staff, matrons and tutors provide day-to-day care.

Sport is part of everyday life, with athletics, cricket, hockey, netball, rugby and tennis as core sports, plus fives, squash and swimming, and personalised pathways for talented athletes. The activities programme lists more than 125 options, from cooking, dance and art to academic societies, Model United Nations and an enterprise challenge. Music includes around a dozen weekly ensembles and several choirs, and drama stages productions and musicals in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Adventurous learning runs through every year, with camps in Years 7 and 8, the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, the Combined Cadet Force and Voluntary Action.