Haberdashers' Adams

Free tuition, Cambridge offers and a Grade II* listed Georgian mansion for its youngest boarders make an unusual package for a state school. Haberdashers' Adams is a selective grammar for 11 to 18 year olds on the High Street in Newport, Shropshire, with 1,110 students on roll and room for 1,126. Boys and girls take day places, and boarding is for boys. In October 2026, Ofsted graded all seven areas of its report card Strong standard and found the safeguarding standards met.

The numbers carry the same message. In summer 2025, the average Attainment 8 score was 71.8 and 75% of A-level results landed at A* to B. FindMySchool's own inspection band for the school is Elite. Getting in is the hard part. Entry depends on an entrance test, and in 2026 there were roughly 4.1 applications for every place offered.

Approaching 400 years of educating Newport's young people lies behind the school, which taught boys for most of that time and now teaches girls as well. It became an academy in 2011 and belongs to the Haberdashers' West Midlands Academies Trust, which chief executive Brynley Evans runs, with trustees chaired by Mark Searles. Beyond the trust sits the Haberdashers' Company, one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies, and its family of fifteen schools spread across state-maintained and independent sectors. That family is more than a badge. Students mix with peers from sister schools at shared sport and music festivals, Year 12 leadership days and sixth-form careers conferences.

Daniel Biggins is headteacher, having previously served as deputy headteacher, and the school framed 2025-26 as a new chapter under a new head. Around him sit Ruth Crichton as deputy head for curriculum, Esther Moss as deputy head for pastoral care, Charlotte Harman as deputy head for the sixth form and girls, and Sam Obeng-Asare as assistant head for boarding. The two school captains show the two main routes in: Rosie Sheehy joined in the Sixth Form, while Will Farmer started as a boarder in Year 7.

Since 2024, Year 7 entry has been co-educational. Girls are therefore moving up the school one cohort at a time, and the older year groups that predate the change remain boys only until mixed cohorts reach them. Families joining mid-school should check which year groups are mixed.

Respect, service, responsibility, integrity and resilience are the five school values, and students can explain what each means for their own place in school and in wider society. Manners stand out. Students are polite and courteous almost without exception, and they work together willingly. Leaders have built a highly inclusive school.

The intake is comparatively advantaged. Some 6.89% of students have had free school meal eligibility at some stage in the past six years, against an England average of 30.4%, which is worth keeping in mind alongside the headline results. Parents are highly positive, with many praising how well the school communicates, and staff feel valued and speak well of how leaders handle workload and wellbeing. The school describes its aim as raising confident, articulate young people who are interesting, balanced and kind to one another.

GCSE results come first, and they are formidable. In summer 2025 (the 2024/25 school year), 149 students finished Year 11 with an average Attainment 8 score of 71.8. Their Progress 8 score was +0.46. Since 0 represents the England average, that means students went clearly further than others across England who began secondary school with similar Key Stage 2 results. A selective intake explains high raw scores; positive progress shows the school adds to them.

The grade profile is top-heavy. Some 38% of results were at grades 9 or 8, with another 21% at grade 7, so 59% reached grade 7 or higher. On the English Baccalaureate, 51% of students achieved grade 5 or above, with an average EBacc point score of 6.7. In the same year, 94.6% gained grade 5 or above in both English and maths.

In FindMySchool's proprietary rankings, built from official data, it ranks 292nd of 3,895 in England for GCSE results, the top 7.5%, ranked against all schools in England with published GCSE results, state and independent. Its overall GCSE position is 294th in England. Locally it ranks 2nd in Telford and Wrekin.

At A-level, summer 2025 brought 17% of results at A*, 28% at A and 29% at B. The headline figure is 75% at A* to B, set against an England average of 47%. Average points per A-level entry reached 41.26 in 2024/25, compared with 35.00 across England.

On FindMySchool's A-level measure it sits 284th of 2,549 in England, the top 11.1%, measured against every school in England with published A-level results, state and independent. The sixth form's results sit above the England average. On the overall A-level measure it is 288th in England. Within Telford and Wrekin it ranks 2nd. Taking GCSE and A-level together, it is 246th in England.

One measure tempers the picture. A-level value added was 0.0 in 2024/25, close to average: sixth-formers achieve broadly what their GCSE results predict, rather than outstripping expectations as students do lower down the school.

The school also publishes its own figures. It reports that among its 2024 leavers, 12 students achieved A* grades across three or more subjects and 51 gained nothing below an A.

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Teaching is consistently strong. Teachers bring deep subject expertise, question students skilfully and make small adjustments when someone needs them, breaking complex material into steps students can manage. The payoff is a wide working vocabulary that lets students take on demanding content and build on what they already know. Feedback is regular, so students know what to work on next. Students recall earlier learning with confidence, and a reading culture across the school lifts confidence as well as knowledge.

Several structural choices shape the week. Since September 2026, Year 7 students begin a single language, French or German. Biology, chemistry and physics are taught as separate sciences at both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. Every GCSE mathematician is entered for the Higher Tier of the Edexcel 1MA1 specification, while English is taught in mixed ability sets. Citizenship and PSHE run as off-timetable activities across Years 10 and 11.

The school describes a deliberately wide spread of teaching styles, anything from quiet textbook work to students re-enacting battles of the Russian revolution on the playground. Homework is set online and is often handed in the same way, which builds the habit of using technology for study.

In the sixth form, students take three A-levels. During 2026-27, Lower Sixth students also take either one AS-level or the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ); from September 2027 AS-levels will no longer be offered, though the EPQ continues. The option blocks for 2026-27 include Geology, Psychology, Computer Science, Religious Studies and Design & Technology alongside the sciences and maths, plus AS Further Mathematics, AS Art and AS Music. A non-examination lecture programme brings in speakers from outside, and every week includes an afternoon of sport.

Most students head to university. Of the 178 students in the 2023/24 leaving cohort, 61% went on to university, 7% started apprenticeships and 16% moved into employment. The step at 16 is just as secure: 99% of 2023 Year 11 leavers stayed in education or employment for at least two terms, against 92% across England.

Oxbridge figures for the 2025 application round show where the school's strength lies. Students made 22 applications in total and received 5 offers, a success rate of about 23%, and all 5 offers were taken up. Every one came from Cambridge, where 14 applications produced those 5 offers; Oxford's 8 applications yielded none that year. Families eyeing Oxford should treat that as one year's pattern rather than a rule.

Separately, the school reports that 7 of its 2024 leavers secured places at Oxford or Cambridge, that 25 chose to study medicine, dentistry or veterinary science, and that more than 80% won a place at their first-choice university.

Preparation is structured. The Aspire and Elevate programmes give sixth-formers mentoring, interview practice and help applying to the most competitive destinations, pushing them to aim high. A weekly sixth-form lecture often centres on careers and destinations. Lower down, careers work draws on a Careers Library within the main School Library, the Fast Tomato guidance system and the optional Morrisby Profile. Students also get the chance to meet Old Novaportans, as former pupils are known, to talk through courses, universities and careers. That network gives a selective school in a market town a practical route into professions its students might not otherwise meet.

Entry to Year 7 depends on reaching the required standard in the entrance test, and on a place being available. Each year the school admits 135 day pupils, boys and girls, and up to 15 boy boarders. Families complete the Consortium online registration, ticking SWW so that their child's data is shared with the school. They must also list the school on their home local authority's application form, because registration alone is not treated as an application.

For September 2027 entry, registration opened on 5 May 2026 and closed at 4pm on Friday 26 June 2026; the entrance test took place on 14 September 2026 and results followed in October 2026. That cycle is past its test stage. Families will hear the outcome from their home authority on National Allocation Day, 1 March 2027, and the Year 7 waiting list runs until 31 December 2027. Anyone considering 2028 entry should check the school's admissions page for the next window.

The bar is high. For 2026 Year 7 entry the required score was 205, or 195 for pupil premium candidates. Demand is intense: in 2026 the school received 558 applications for 135 offers, roughly 4.1 applications per place, and about 2.2 first-preference applications for each first-preference offer. It is firmly oversubscribed.

When more children pass than there are places, priority runs in this order: looked-after and previously looked-after children; then children recorded for pupil premium or service premium funding in the October 2025 census, who need a score no more than 5% below the general qualifying mark; then pupils attending one of a designated list of primary schools, which runs from Apley Wood Primary to Wrockwardine Wood CE Junior and includes Newport CE Juniors School; then everyone else by test rank. Straight-line distance from the school settles any tie. Parents of children with SEND can request special arrangements for the test in advance, though an EHCP brings no greater right of admission.

Joining later is possible but uncertain. For Years 8 to 11, a registration form places a child on a waiting list, and the test is sat only if a place opens up.

The sixth form takes at least 50 day students from other schools, and sixth-form entry has no catchment area. Applicants normally need five GCSEs at grade 7 or above, a grade 7 in any subject they continue (or the nearest related GCSE) and at least grade 4 in English and maths, though each application is considered individually. Applicants without GCSEs sit entrance tests based on their A-level choices.

For September 2027 sixth-form entry, registration opens in January 2027 once mock results are known and closes in mid-March 2027. Offers follow in late March, conditional offers must be accepted in early April (date to be confirmed), external candidates confirm GCSE results by 2pm on 20 August 2027, and final offers must be accepted by 2pm on Friday 21 August 2027. Internal and external applicants are treated equally. In an oversubscribed subject, boarders choose first and a lottery breaks any remaining tie, with sets capped at 30. Offer holders are invited to an Offer Holders' Day in late June.

Sixth-formers facing financial barriers can apply to the 16-19 Bursary Fund. Vulnerable bursaries of up to £1,200 a year go to young people in defined vulnerable groups, and discretionary awards are assessed on need, for example where gross household income does not exceed £32,000; funding is limited, so early applications are advised.

Welfare is organised around the House system. Every student joins a House and has a Form Tutor, seen at least once a day, with a Head of House above. Students identify strongly with their House and work hard on its behalf, and they rate it as the single best feature of school life. Older students, sixth-formers included, mentor and encourage younger ones, and students speak warmly about their form tutors.

Behaviour and attendance reflect that belonging. Bullying is rare and dealt with quickly when it happens, and incidents of discrimination or harassment are uncommon. Overall absence was 4.9% in 2024/25, against 8.4% across England, and persistent absence was 15.6% against 23.4%. New Year 7 students and sixth-form joiners settle quickly.

Learning support is based in the Learning and Intervention Centre (LINC), led by Tanya Atkins as Head of Learning Support. Esther Moss is deputy headteacher (pastoral), SENDCo and designated safeguarding lead. Students in Years 7, 8, 9 and the Lower Sixth sit baseline tests, and screening uses LUCID Exact. Help with social, emotional and mental health needs comes through the counselling service, by internal referral, and the school's ELSA, with outside routes such as BeeU/CAMHS where appropriate. Exam access arrangements, such as extra time or a word processor, depend on evidence of need.

Some 10.37% of students receive SEN support, below the England average of 14.0%. Some older and listed buildings limit access, so the school uses room changes and similar adjustments to keep every lesson within reach.

Around 100 students board, all of them boys, and the school counts itself among only 30 state boarding schools across the UK. The education is free; families pay only for boarding.

Since September 2025, junior boarders in Years 7 to 9 have lived at Longford Hall and senior boarders in Years 10 to 13 at Beaumaris Hall. Longford Hall is a Grade II* listed Georgian mansion in one hundred acres of grounds, home to about 50 boys who share dormitories by year group, with a dining hall, a recreation room and two further games rooms. Mr Dan Murray, a long-serving member of the PE department, heads junior boarding and lives on site with his family. Boarding tutors and three matrons support him, one of them a Residential Boarding Matron available around the clock.

Beaumaris Hall is a modern house a few yards from the main school entrance, with en-suite twin rooms, a large communal area, a supper room for cooking and an American-themed diner. It is led by Mr Bhalraj Chima, a physics teacher and former pupil, with Ms Woodward as Residential Houseparent. Each boy also has a Personal Tutor linking boarding, school and home.

Evenings follow a pattern: free time and dinner, then prep with staff tutors on hand, then house activities. Boarders may stay at weekends or go home; those who stay get organised outings such as the cinema, ice-skating, a trampoline park and paintballing. Meals come through catering partner Aramark, with a choice of cooked breakfasts and two-course lunches. The school shuts completely over exeat weekends, half terms and holidays.

For 2026-27, full boarding costs £5,278 per term (£15,834 per year) in Years 7 to 11 and £5,797 per term (£17,391 per year) in the Sixth Form, the sixth-form fee being fixed for two years. Fees cover meals, laundry, supervised prep, activities and full board with the choice of weekends at home, and they are exempt from VAT. Sixth-form day students can flexi board for up to three nights a week, where space permits, at £73 per night excluding laundry.

Accepting a place requires a £3,000 deposit, refunded in full when the boarding contract ends but forfeited if parents withdraw the child after accepting. Fees are reviewed each December, and boarders joining from overseas pay an extra one-off charge. Families can pay the full year before 1 September, termly in advance or in 10 standing-order instalments. Armed Forces families who qualify for Continuity of Education Allowance pay 8% of the boarding fees. On boarding fees, the school offers no sibling discounts, scholarships or bursaries.

Every boarding applicant is interviewed with their parents, by Zoom where a visit is not possible. Boarding places go first to looked-after children, then to Armed Forces children eligible for Ministry of Defence help with boarding fees, then to those with a boarding need, then by test rank. Boarders must hold a UK passport or Indefinite Leave to Remain, and overseas boarders need a UK guardian. Suitability can be reviewed at any point, and a boarding place cannot be switched to a day place.

Participation is expected. The school wants every student involved in activities, in quality, quantity or ideally both, and its ideal pupil would sing in the choir, march with the Combined Cadet Force, argue at the Debating Society and play hockey for the 1st XI. Enrichment is open to every group of students, spanning debating, music, sport and engineering, and leaders clear barriers for anyone who needs help to take part.

Uniformed service and expeditions form one pillar. The Combined Cadet Force sits alongside the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, which is offered at Bronze in Year 10 and Gold in the Sixth Form; Silver is not offered in Year 11. For students who want structure and challenge outside lessons, that pairing gives a clear progression.

Speaking and argument form another. Public speaking and the Debating Society give students practice in putting a case, and they connect it to expressing their views democratically. Will Farmer, one of the school captains, names debating, politics and economics among his interests alongside rugby.

Sport is a third. Students have a PE lesson on site and an afternoon of Games at Longford. Rugby, hockey, football, netball and cross country are the main winter sports, with athletics and cricket in the summer term, and hockey fields a 1st XI. Sixth-formers keep an afternoon of sport each week, with further options including golf, tennis, badminton, volleyball, table tennis, rounders and basketball. The school has no swimming pool, so families wanting regular swimming should plan for it outside school. Boarders, spared a commute, gain time for sport, rehearsing plays and practising instruments, and cross-school sport and music festivals within the Haberdashers' family add fixtures and performances.

Science reaches beyond Newport too: the physics course includes a November trip to CERN for Upper Sixth students. Sixth-formers set up and lead their own clubs and societies, and student-led groups include an LGBTQ+ society. Charity work, mentoring and civic involvement round out the leadership opportunities, which build confidence well before university applications.

School start and finish times are something to confirm with the school, as are the hours of its Prep Club.

Transport takes planning. Telford & Wrekin's education authority covers transport for students living over three miles from the school inside what it calls the Newport catchment area. The school runs its own buses from Shrewsbury, Telford and Wolverhampton. For 2026-27, Telford North costs £1298 per student a year, Telford South £1366 and each Wolverhampton route £1468, always for both journeys, while Shrewsbury prices were still to be confirmed. Buses run full, and seats go to existing riders, then the previous year's waiting list, then new entrants, so a back-up plan is wise. Arriva services reach Newport from Stafford, Stone and Eccleshall, and London Euston to Stafford is a 75-minute direct train, then a 25-minute taxi.

The autumn term ends on Thursday 17 December 2026. Spring term runs from Monday 4 January to Thursday 25 March 2027 (half day), with half term from 15 to 19 February; summer term runs from Monday 12 April to Wednesday 21 July 2027 (half day), with half term from 31 May to 4 June. Remaining exeat weekends are 21-22 November 2026, 23-24 January, 13-14 March, 1-3 May and 26-27 June 2027; boarders leave at 4pm on the Friday before each and there is no Prep Club. Term-time leave has no automatic right and needs a request at least four weeks ahead. Students are expected to wear uniform with pride.

• Entrance pressure. Entry hinges on one test, with a required score of 205 for 2026 Year 7 entry and roughly 4.1 applications per place offered in 2026. Families should weigh how much preparation they ask of a ten-year-old, and how a near miss would feel after months of effort.
• A new peer group. Every classmate has cleared the same academic bar, so children used to topping their primary class will find themselves among equals. That is healthy over time, but the first terms can dent confidence, and parents should watch for it.
• Boarding is for boys, and it stops at exeats. Girls can take day places only, and boarders must go home or to a guardian over exeat weekends, half terms and holidays because the school closes entirely. Distant families need a plan for every break, and day students' bus seats are never guaranteed.
• A sixth form still taking shape. AS-levels end from September 2027, A-level value added was close to average in 2024/25, and the school's next steps are to deliver its post-16 plans in full while widening students' choices, and to bed in recent changes to PSHE. Sixth-form applicants should ask how the new model will work for them.

Haberdashers' Adams pairs grammar-school results with heritage approaching four centuries, a House system students genuinely value and something few state schools can offer at all: boarding where only the board is charged. GCSE progress is clearly above average, A-level grades sit well clear of England's, and Cambridge has proved a reachable target. It is best suited to academically able children who will thrive among equally able peers and throw themselves into House life, the cadets, debating or sport, and to families wanting a state boarding place for a son, whether they live far away or serve in the Armed Forces. The main caveat is getting in: the test is demanding and places are scarce, while the sixth form is mid-change, so families should go in with a back-up plan and clear questions.