When Arthur Ransome wrote that "a love of boats and sailing is the surest of all passports to a happy life," he could have been describing Windermere School itself. Perched on 45 acres overlooking England's largest lake in the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Lake District, this independent boarding and day school for ages 3-18 transforms its extraordinary setting into a working curriculum rather than mere backdrop. The school's 300-odd pupils, roughly half boarders, half day students, drawn from across the UK and 30 countries worldwide, learn to sail, canoe, and kayak on the water at Hodge Howe, their private RYA-accredited watersports centre, whilst mountaineering, climbing, and fell-walking become part of their academic week. Founded in 1863 in Lancashire as "The School for the Accomplished," Windermere moved to its current fell side location in 1924 and has since evolved into a centre for what the school calls "adventure learning", a philosophy that outdoor challenge is inseparable from intellectual and personal development.
The school's sixth form results consistently exceed global averages in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. Its 2025 cohort achieved a mean score of 32.5, approximately 10% above the world average, with a 100% pass rate. Two students scored over 40 points (equivalent to four A* at A-level), placing them globally in the top 2%. The school's non-selective admissions mean this is achieved not through cream-skimming but through a nurturing, personalised approach that Head Frank Thompson (in post since 2023) describes as matching the right pathway to each student's genuine interests and capabilities. Small class sizes, averaging 10-15 pupils, and a genuine commitment to knowing every child are the hallmarks here. The school's motto, Vincit qui se vincit (One conquers who conquers oneself), appears repeatedly throughout school life not as mere decoration but as lived philosophy.
Arriving at Browhead Campus feels like stepping into an idealized version of English school life. The Victorian main building sits at the heart of the 23-acre estate, its period architecture lending gravitas, whilst surrounding it are purpose-built facilities added thoughtfully over a century: Crampton Hall (added 1967), the Jenkins Centre (housing music, performing arts, and languages alongside dining facilities), and the dedicated art studios at South Lodge. The sense is of a school that has grown organically rather than been designed from a template. Landscaping dates from the nineteenth century, with rare plants and heritage planting creating an atmosphere of deliberate cultivation.
The boarding houses, Langdale House (for boys and girls aged 8-16) and Westmorland House (sixth form), maintain a genuinely family-like atmosphere. Boarders live in single-sex accommodation at Langdale, with kitchenettes and common rooms, whilst sixth formers enjoy university-style flats with study-bedrooms and shared living spaces. Weekend programmes include trips to local areas, craft workshops, watersports sessions, sporting fixtures, evening entertainment (discos, barbecues, quizzes, film nights, karaoke), and access to climbing, ghyll scrambling, and walking in the surrounding fell landscape. The school explicitly allows flexible boarding options: full boarding, weekly boarding, and occasional boarding, recognizing that one-size-fits-all boarding doesn't suit modern family life.
Frank Thompson leads a school where the language used by staff and pupils reflects genuine values. The Wellbeing Room, with its views over the Lake District, houses the Head of Safeguarding & Wellbeing close to the school nurse, creating a genuine care infrastructure rather than a tick-box exercise. The school's recent initiative to lock pupils' mobile phones in Yondr pouches during the school day represents a deliberate choice to reduce distraction and anxiety whilst strengthening in-person connection. This feels less gimmicky and more aligned with the school's broader philosophy of creating time and space for real engagement.
The school is notably international. Around 70% of the pupil body is British; the remaining 30% represent nationalities from China, Hong Kong, Eastern Europe, Russia, and further afield. This genuine diversity, not merely aspirational but embedded in daily life through boarding provision and Round Square membership (a global network of around 180 schools embracing internationalism, democracy, environmental awareness, adventure, leadership, and service), creates a genuinely cosmopolitan atmosphere alongside the deeply English Lake District setting.
The secondary data presents an unusual profile for this school. metrics show a GCSE Attainment 8 score of 12, and the school ranks 4001st (out of 4593), placing it in the bottom 13% in England. This dramatic disconnect between GCSE and sixth form results requires careful explanation. In 2024, 34% of GCSE entries achieved grades 9-7. The school itself acknowledges this through an important structural point: it is deliberately non-selective at entry, welcoming pupils across the full ability range with the core conviction that "character and potential" matter more than entrance test scores.
What the data reveals is that GCSE is not this school's strength, nor is it where the school positions itself. A significant cohort leaves after Year 11, approximately 12% in 2023 progressed to local grammar schools or further education colleges rather than staying in sixth form. Those who remain, combined with sixth form entrants, create a substantially different population for the IB programme. The school's mission emphasizes "matching the right pathway to each student's ambitions" rather than pursuing across-the-board academic selection.
Here the picture transforms dramatically. Windermere ranks 436th in England for sixth form results (FindMySchool ranking), placing it in the top 16% of schools. The A-level equivalent metrics show strong performance: 63% of examinations achieved A*-B grades, well above the England average of 47%.
However, the school's defining achievement is its commitment to the International Baccalaureate Diploma and Career-Related Programmes. The 2025 cohort, Windermere's "Class of 2025", achieved a 100% pass rate with a mean Diploma score of 32.5, approximately 10% above the global average of 30.6. Two students scored 44 and 40 points respectively (equivalent to 4 A* and 3 A* 1 A at A-level), placing them in the top 2% globally. Remarkably, 47% of the cohort achieved the prestigious Bilingual Diploma, compared to a global average of 28%, evidence of genuine international depth rather than tokenism.
The school's previous cohort (Class of 2024) achieved a IBDP average of 33 points, again significantly above global norms. The Class of 2022 averaged 33 points with 47% bilingual diplomas. This consistency over multiple years indicates genuine institutional expertise in IB delivery. The school was named Sunday Times International Baccalaureate School of the Year for 2017-2018, a recognition of this sustained excellence.
The school also offers the IB Career-Related Programme, incorporating BTECs in Business, and from 2024, BTECs in Sport and Outdoor Activities, a deliberate exploitation of the school's unique location and facilities to create vocational pathways of equal standing to the academic diploma.
England ranks and key metrics (where available)
A-Level A*-B
63.33%
% of students achieving grades A*-B
GCSE 9–7
—
% of students achieving grades 9-7
The school follows the National Curriculum in Years 7-9, with six levels of an Adventure Programme embedded as a compulsory element. This is not an activity wedged into free time but a formal part of the curriculum, with pupils recording progress through challenges named after famous explorers. Years 10-11 study nine GCSEs from 18 optional subjects, with all pupils studying English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, and a Modern Foreign Language (French or Spanish). IGCSEs and GCSEs are both offered, reflecting flexibility in qualification choice.
The sixth form curriculum splits between the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (standard route) and the IB Career-Related Programme (vocational pathway incorporating BTECs). This breadth is deliberate: the school explicitly rejects a one-size-fits-all approach to post-16 education, recognizing that different students require different structures to thrive.
Class sizes average 10-15 pupils, substantially smaller than state school provision and meaningfully smaller than most independent schools. This enables the personalized attention the school emphasizes. Learning support staffing includes a full‑time head, a dyslexia specialist, and support assistants (two full time, three part time), covering needs from speech-and-language development to mild/moderate ADHD. The school explicitly states it does not "specialise" in SEN provision but has become "proficient at recognising also pupils experiencing difficulties plus identifying their needs."
Teaching is described in recent school documentation as based on "sound research" that recognizes children learn when they are interested. The curriculum explicitly prioritizes learning and communication skills alongside subject content. Outdoor learning is woven throughout: Year 5 might undertake "outdoor science" collecting leaves and flowers for scientific analysis; Year 7 studies "wind speeds at the top of Orrest Head" (a nearby fell). This is environmental education as serious pedagogy, not field trip frippery.
The school's sixth form destinations data reveals a student body succeeding at leading universities across the UK and internationally. The 2025 cohort examples highlight this diversity: one student scored 40 IB points and secured a place at the University of Exeter for Biological Sciences; another scored 44 points and progresses to Glasgow University to study Mathematics. A third student, Senior Student and integral to school leadership, will attend university in Bulgaria to study Dentistry, illustrating the genuinely international character.
The school does not publish aggregate university destination percentages in its public materials. However, examples cited include University College London, Cambridge, St Catherine's College (Oxford), University of Glasgow, Manchester, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Bristol, and others. The absence of systematic data publication reflects the school's small size, with fewer than 50 leavers per year, detailed percentages would be misleading or subject to year-on-year volatility.
The school's IB Diploma credentials carry weight with universities globally; IB credentials are "highly regarded and actively sought by universities and employers across the world." The emphasis on independent research, critical thinking, and the Extended Essay (1600-word independent research project undertaken by all IB Diploma candidates) prepares students well for university-level academic work. The school notes that IB students often find "the gear shift into university academic life smoother than others" due to their prior engagement with independent research and academic writing conventions.
The 2023-24 cohort data shows leavers destinations as follows: 47% progressed to university, 0% to further education, 3% to apprenticeships, and 16% to employment. These figures merit careful interpretation. The school is small (approximately 300 pupils across all ages), and sixth form cohorts typically comprise 40-50 students. Small numbers create statistical noise; a single student's choice can shift percentages dramatically. The 47% figure likely reflects the subset choosing to progress via the IB Diploma route; the 3% apprenticeships figure suggests students pursuing alternative pathways, whilst 16% employment likely includes gap year employment or military service prior to university entry.
Music occupies a genuinely central position in school life at Windermere. The Music department offers ensemble opportunities far beyond standard provision: orchestra, chamber ensembles for strings and wind instruments, Senior and Prep choirs, a madrigal group, plus jazz, flute, string, and saxophone groups. Individual music tuition is available across an extraordinary range of instruments, from harp to rock guitar. The school is a Centre for ABRSM and Rock School Examinations.
Performance opportunities suffuse the calendar. Musicians perform in morning assemblies, in annual concerts for parents (the summer concert featuring "performers of all levels and disciplines"), and in the Inter-House Performing Arts Competition. Participation in regional music festivals is expected: the Mary Wakefield and South Cumbria Festivals are "regular venues," with Carlisle Music and Drama Festival recently added. The school specifically notes "many of our students have enjoyed great success at these festivals."
Most spectacularly, the school's annual musical production, mounted in December in the tiered theatre, involves the Drama/Theatre, Art, and Music departments collaborating to produce a "major musical" performed over several nights to public audiences. This is not a school play squeezed into available time but a cornerstone event. Professional expertise supports this: Ashley Johnson, a West End choreographer and performer, runs the school's "West End at Windermere" holiday courses, bringing contemporary choreography and professional staging standards to school productions. The drama department is led by Chris Jones, a professional actor with 15 years' industry experience, whose previous credits include playing King George VI in Bill Kenwright's stage adaptation of "The King's Speech" and roles in productions across UK theatres.
The school maintains a tiered theatre on campus (Crampton Hall), a genuinely professional space hosting productions that move beyond typical school theatre. The drama curriculum includes Key Stage 3 Drama, GCSE Drama, and IB Theatre Studies as popular subject choices. The Inter-House Performing Arts Competition (early February) creates a secondary performance opportunity alongside the autumn musical.
The art provision spans three large, light-flooded studios, a dedicated ceramics room with a large kiln, a darkroom for photography, and individual studio spaces where pupils can work. The department remains open after school for boarders also to work on pieces "to their heart's content." Year 8 Art pupils have recently embarked on studies creating lino prints inspired by Lake District landscapes, embedding visual arts within environmental and cultural context.
Sport at Windermere divides into two categories: traditional sport (available for all) and adventure-based activity (embedded in curriculum). Traditional competitive sports include netball, hockey, football, tennis, cricket, and athletics. Sports facilities include an all-weather floodlit astroturf pitch, tennis courts, a sports hall, and sports fields. Previous sports tours have taken teams to Barbados, South Africa, Spain, and France, evidencing genuine competitive standing to justify international fixtures.
However, the defining sporting characteristic is water-based and adventure activity. Hodge Howe, the school's private watersports centre on Lake Windermere's shore, is an RYA (Royal Yachting Association) Teaching Centre. In 2018, Windermere became a rare school in the UK to achieve british, youth, sailing, recognised, club and status by the RYA for its race training, a formal recognition of teaching quality and competitive racing engagement. Pupils learn to sail through the RYA Youth Sailing Schemes; summer months centre on water activity.
The school's outdoor leadership credentials are substantial. Several sixth form students hold RYA Dinghy Instructor qualifications, and a number are qualified powerboat drivers, all trained during their time at school. The Outdoor Education Department (led by Head of Outdoor Education Mr. Platt) runs the Adventure Programme, coordinating expeditions including recent trips to the Cairngorms in Scotland. The school's location in the fell landscape transforms PE and expedition work into living geography and environmental science.
The school's weekly newsletter and news archive reveal an extensive array of named clubs and activities. The Young Leadership Team undertook a full day's training with outdoor education staff, learning outdoor leadership skills. Year 12 students undertook Theory of Knowledge exhibition research at Kendal, with town studies feeding directly into IB curriculum requirements. The Adventure Team coordinates expeditions; the Outdoor Council engages with environmental stewardship.
Beyond the research-accessible activities, the school operates a Service programme embedded in the school's foundation. Year 10 pupils specifically engage in "Service" as a formal element, reflecting the Round Square movement's emphasis on community engagement. The school explicitly states that "all students engage with local and wider communities through our Service programme."
Boarding enrichment is substantial. The weekend programme includes activities ranging from local cultural visits (Christmas markets in Windermere town, ice-skating, local beach paddling) to crafts workshops and evening entertainment (discos, barbecues, quizzes, karaoke, film nights). Boarders have genuine agency: "students are free to go home on weekends whenever they are able by arrangement with their House."
The campus comprises distinct buildings serving specific functions. Crampton Hall (the tiered theatre, added 1967) hosts major productions. The Jenkins Centre houses the Music, Performing Arts, and Languages departments alongside dining facilities and kitchens. The Victorian main building at Browhead contains administrative offices, library, and girls' boarding accommodation. South Lodge holds the Art and Technology departments. Westmorland House serves as the dedicated sixth form complex with purpose-built study-bedrooms and flats. Langdale House provides boys' and girls' boarding (ages 8-16) with common rooms. The Headmaster's house, Brow Wood, reflects the residential leadership model.
Specialist facilities include a science complex, dedicated music practice rooms, additional classrooms, and outdoor facilities (astroturf hockey pitch, tennis courts, sports hall, sports field). The 45-acre campus sits within the Lake District National Park, with direct access to fell landscape and, via Hodge Howe, to Lake Windermere itself.
Windermere School is independent and fee-paying. ISC data indicates day fees per term range from £377 (pre-school) to £6,994 (upper school day), with boarding fees per term ranging from £7,500 to £13,055 (excluding VAT). This translates to roughly £11,000-£21,000 annually for day pupils and £22,500-£39,165 annually for full boarders, depending on age and programme. The school moved to a single campus structure from September 2025, consolidating previously split Elleray and Browhead campuses; the school explicitly committed to maintaining educational quality and extracurricular breadth despite anticipated VAT implications arising from the General Election.
The school welcomes bursary applications from families who might "under ordinary circumstances not consider Windermere School for financial reasons." The scholarship and bursary framework is designed to make the school genuinely accessible beyond families with unconstrained means.
*Bursaries may be available for eligible families.
Basis: per term
Windermere is explicitly non-selective. Entry does not require entrance tests. The admissions process emphasizes "character and potential," with families required to provide references from current school alongside completing an interview and, for some international candidates, online assessments in English and mathematics. A tour, taster visit, and formal interview with school leadership assess aptitude and fit rather than prior attainment.
The school accepts entry at multiple points: Reception (age 4), Year 1, Year 3, Year 5, Year 7, Year 9, and Year 12. This flexibility acknowledges that families join at different junctures. Scholarship programmes are available for entry into Years 7, 9, and 12, offering Academic Scholarships alongside Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Music, and Sport Scholarships. International Scholarships (for any year) and Round Square Scholarships (Year 12) are also available. Scholarships are awarded not as cash reductions but as credits redeemable against school trips, explicitly designed to ensure all pupils can access the school's extensive extracurricular opportunities regardless of family financial means. Separate bursary applications may be made to the Finance office, with means-tested support available for families who could not otherwise afford fees.
The school operates a dedicated Wellbeing Room, positioned centrally with views over the Lake District landscape, housing the Head of Safeguarding & Wellbeing and providing proximity to the school nurse. This infrastructure enables pupils to access support "when necessary" in a private space where they "feel safe to talk about whatever is worrying them." The room functions simultaneously as a refuge, "a peaceful place within the school where pupils can come and take some time out, pause and reflect", available for pupils to sit quietly with friends during breaks.
The broader pastoral infrastructure includes a dedicated wellbeing team (mentioned in school documents as comprising multiple staff) and a formal counseling arrangement. The school invests in the National Online Safety platform, an award-winning provider of online safety e-learning, giving families access to courses and resources addressing digital wellbeing.
Boarding pastoral care follows a traditional house structure. Housemasters (or equivalent staff) live with families in boarding houses, enabling genuine relationship-building and awareness of boarders' wellbeing. The school explicitly creates space for homesickness and adjustment, allowing flexible contact and exeats (home weekends) "by arrangement" rather than forcing a rigid schedule.
School hours run from approximately 8:50am to 3:20pm (standard secondary times). The school operates wraparound provision: breakfast club from 7:45am and after-school care until 6pm for day pupils. Holiday clubs operate during main school holidays, addressing the practical challenge families face during long breaks.
Transport is coordinated by the school for many boarding pupils; the school is 90 minutes from Manchester and Liverpool international airports (with a dedicated chaperoned airport collection service on travel days) and three hours from London by high-speed train, making access straightforward for international families.
School hours are structured around five days of teaching; the boarding houses operate comprehensive weekend programmes (as detailed under Beyond the Classroom). The mobile phone initiative, locking devices in Yondr pouches during the school day, represents a deliberate pedagogical choice to foster engagement and reduce distraction and anxiety.
Small school implications: Windermere genuinely comprises approximately 300 pupils across all ages (3-18). This creates a genuinely familial atmosphere, but means limited peer group at certain points. For pupils seeking enormous sixth form cohorts or highly specialised clubs matching every conceivable interest, a 40-50 pupil sixth form may feel small. The upside is intensive attention and genuine community; the downside is reduced anonymity and less potential for niche specialisms.
GCSE-sixth form discontinuity: The dramatic disparity between GCSE performance (bottom 13% ) and sixth form performance (top 16% in England) reflects a deliberate school choice to remain non-selective. Families should understand this represents genuine openness to a wide ability range at secondary, with the expectation that some pupils will leave after Year 11 to pursue further education or vocational routes. Those remaining and entering the IB thrive, but the school is not pitched as a pathway to comprehensive GCSE excellence.
Location as commitment, not novelty: The Lake District location is stunning and educationally generative, but it is remote. Windermere town is small; Manchester and Liverpool are 90 minutes away. For day pupils, this means genuine commitment to the location and extended travel for some. For boarders, it is designed as total immersion. Families prioritizing urban proximity or weekend independence should note the geographic reality.
International mindset as school DNA: The school's Round Square membership, IB programme, significant international boarding population (30 countries represented), and emphasis on multilingualism create a genuinely international school culture. For families seeking traditional English boarding school atmosphere, this cosmopolitan character may feel different from expectations.
Outdoor adventure as curriculum, not optional add-on: The emphasis on adventure learning, fell-walking, water-based activity, and expedition work is not peripheral enrichment but embedded in the curriculum. Families uncomfortable with physical challenge, heights, or water-based activity should note this is not a school where outdoor work can be circumvented.
Windermere School offers a genuinely distinctive independent education, architecturally and geographically unique in its Lake District setting, ideologically committed to matching education to individual capability and character rather than academic selection, and academically strong at sixth form level through International Baccalaureate excellence. The school is neither a conventional boarding school nor a progressive hippie retreat: it combines serious academic rigour (sixth form rankings in top 16% in England) with genuine emphasis on outdoor learning, adventure, and personal development.
For families seeking a non-selective small school where their child will be known thoroughly, outdoor learning is integrated rather than optional, and sixth form education prioritizes critical thinking and global mindedness via the IB rather than A-level specialisation, Windermere represents a compelling choice. The boarding community is genuinely warm and internationally cosmopolitan. The staff expertise, from professional drama practitioners to RYA-qualified sailing instructors, is authentic. The facilities are modest by independent school standards but thoughtfully used.
The main caveat is GCSE performance: if primary interest is a school offering predictable GCSE excellence, secondary progression to selective sixth forms, and traditional boarding school atmosphere, families should look elsewhere. Windermere is deliberately, fundamentally different. For families aligned with that difference, valuing adventure, international perspective, and personalized rather than streamed education, it is distinctive and genuinely exceptional.
Yes. The school achieves strong results, particularly at sixth form level where it ranks 436th (top 16% in England) in the International Baccalaureate Programme. The 2025 cohort achieved a mean IB Diploma score of 32.5, approximately 10% above the global average, with two students scoring 40+ points (top 2% globally). The school was rated Excellent by ISI inspectors in 2018 for academic and other achievements and personal development. However, GCSE results are significantly weaker than sixth form, the school ranks in the bottom 13% in England at GCSE, reflecting a deliberate non-selective admissions philosophy prioritizing character and potential over entrance test performance.
Day fees range from approximately £377 per term (pre-school) to £6,994 per term (upper school), translating to roughly £11,000-£21,000 annually depending on age. Boarding fees range from £7,500 to £13,055 per term (approximately £22,500-£39,165 annually). These figures exclude VAT. The school welcomes bursary applications from families who would not otherwise consider Windermere, and scholarships are available for entry at Years 7, 9, and 12 in academic and performing/visual arts disciplines. Scholarships are awarded as credits redeemable against school trips rather than fee reductions, designed to ensure all pupils access extracurricular opportunities.
The school is located at Browhead, Patterdale Road, Windermere, Cumbria LA23 1NW, in the heart of the English Lake District National Park on the shores of Lake Windermere. It is 90 minutes from Manchester and Liverpool international airports (with dedicated chaperoned airport collection service), three hours from London by high-speed train. The location is remote; Windermere town is small and Manchester/Liverpool are the nearest major urban centres.
The school is explicitly non-selective. There are no entrance tests. Admissions are based on "character and potential," with families required to complete a tour and taster visit, undergo a formal interview with school leadership, provide references from the current school, and (for some international candidates) undertake online assessments in English and mathematics. Entry points include Reception, Year 1, Year 3, Year 5, Year 7, Year 9, and Year 12. The school accepts pupils across the full ability range with the conviction that academic potential is not the sole measure of potential success.
Windermere is an IB World School offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) and the IB Career-Related Programme (incorporating BTECs in Business and Sport and Outdoor Activities). The IBDP is studied in sixth form as the primary A-level alternative, comprising six academic subjects (with choice across groups), Theory of Knowledge (a curriculum-wide critical thinking course), the Extended Essay (an independent 4,000-word research project), and Creative, Activity and Service (CAS) requirements. The school achieved a mean IBDP score of 32.5 in 2025 (10% above global average), with 100% pass rate. The Career-Related Programme is designed as an equally valued vocational pathway, incorporating vocationally relevant BTECs within the IB framework.
Windermere is centred on outdoor learning and adventure. Competitive sports include netball, hockey, football, tennis, cricket, and athletics. Water-based activities dominate: the school operates Hodge Howe, a private RYA-accredited watersports centre on Lake Windermere, and is a rare school in the UK to hold recognised club status with British Youth Sailing for race training. Pupils progress through RYA Youth Sailing Schemes and British Canoeing Paddlepower awards. Adventure activity is embedded in the mandatory curriculum (Years 7-9 undertake six levels of adventurous challenge with progress recorded in an adventure logbook). Sixth form students qualify as RYA Dinghy Instructors and powerboat drivers during their time at school. Fell-walking, mountaineering, and climbing in the surrounding Lake District are regular activities.
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