Oundle School

The historic and hugely successful Oundle School, set in a delightful market town but within easy reach of London (Peterborough to London King’s Cross takes 45 minutes by train), offers a wide range of GCSE subjects, including Arabic, Chinese, Design Technology, Computer Science, Greek, PE and Russian – everyone has to do at least one modern foreign language – and there’s also the Cambridge Pre-U qualification and various extension courses in the sixth form, such as a medical preparation course.

The school incorporates a theatre and gallery (the Yarrow Gallery, built in 1918 in memory of a pupil killed at Ypres), both open to the public, a radio station (Oscar Radio) and a particularly whizz-bang DT and engineering centre .

• 1,100 pupils aged 11–18, co-ed, mainly boarding
• About £6,000–£12,000