Bedford School

Awarded five stars in Fortune’s World’s Leading Boarding Schools in 2023 and named ‘Independent Boys School of the Year 2021’, Bedford School is lauded for “its holistic school experience, tailored to the specific needs of the all-boys community, designed to ensure that students’ individual qualities are nurtured without inhibition and lived without awkwardness, so that they be good men.”

Bedford School class sizes are small and we operate vertical tutor groups, giving boys the chance to mentor and lead those younger, learn from those older and simply ‘be’ together without peer pressure. Bedford is a boarding school, first and foremost, with boarders and day boys alike benefitting from the strong boarding ethos. With 250 boys and around 40 staff living full-time on-site, the boarding community gives a heartbeat to the school in a way that nothing else can.

Our curriculum is broad, offering GCSE, IGCSE, A-Level and IB alongside a bespoke curriculum including Theory of Knowledge in Year 10 and an internal research project in Year 12. Every boy finds his individual path, with strong Sixth Form uptake across the sciences, humanities, creative arts and languages – there is no ‘typical’ Bedford student.

Academic results and destinations speak for themselves with 91% of our boys going onto their first or second choice university, including several to Oxbridge each year, and international universities. Many students are successful in gaining places at medical schools.

Facilities are first-class - two simulators (golf and flight), an observatory and planetarium are standout features. Our recently built Music School and Theatre house dynamic creative departments and excellent student performances.

Every boy makes a meaningful local contribution via our Community Partnership Programme, working in mutually beneficial partnerships with individuals from varied backgrounds, and we have run the Ivy House Leadership Award since its inception. We regularly top the schools' leader board in fundraising for Movember.

Sport is a forte: 96% of boys represent the school annually, and our major sports teams regularly make national finals, with many pupils playing at county or national level and at least one leaver almost every year going into professional sport. We work with Northampton Saints, Northants CCC and Woburn Golf Club. But we have a philosophy of ‘sport for all’ and we regularly field E and F teams.

We aim for our boys to be balanced, outward-looking, forward-thinking, kind and sociable young men who are comfortable in their own skins. We invite you to explore our school through the news stories we regularly publish on our website and on social media; these provide an insight into our boys, their stories and successes, and a strong sense of the enviable community that is Bedford School.