Radley College
Sicut Serpentes, Sicut Columbae
Founded in 1847 in the Oxfordshire countryside, Radley College is one of a small number of schools that admit boys only on a full boarding basis. Its boarding houses are known as Socials, its teachers as Dons, and it has long been known for the warmth and happiness of its community, alongside a longstanding record of academic and sporting strength.
Key Facts
Location : Radley, Oxfordshire
Type : All-boys, full boarding
Age Range : 13 to 18
Pupil Numbers : Approx. 770 boys
Founded : 1847
Motto : Sicut serpentes, sicut columbae ("Wise as serpents, innocent as doves")
Academic Profile
In the Shell year, boys at Radley study across the full range of subjects, before choosing their GCSEs. In the Sixth Form they take A Levels alongside the school's Curriculum Extension Programme, and Old Radleians proceed to Oxbridge, Imperial College London, and Ivy League universities.
Co-Curricular Life
Music has a particularly strong presence, with more than half the school learning an instrument, a chapel choir well over a hundred strong, and several concerts most weeks, supported by a recital hall and recording studio. Drama is staged in a professionally equipped theatre seating over three hundred, with a play for each year group led by a professional director, and the visual arts are pursued in a dedicated atelier under the guidance of artists in residence. Sport is played across eighteen disciplines, with rugby, rowing, hockey, tennis, and cricket to the fore, supported by genuinely world-class facilities including a boathouse on the Thames, an indoor rowing tank, a strength and conditioning centre, a swimming pool, and courts for real tennis, rackets, and fives.
Admissions Essentials
Boys join Radley College in Year 9, at age thirteen, with a small number of places available in the Sixth Form. Families are encouraged to register by the start of the summer term in Year 5, ahead of the ISEB Common Pre-Test taken in Year 6. Successful boys are invited to an assessment day at Radley, comprising an interview and a short written exercise, with results issued in the spring term of Year 6. A place is confirmed through Common Entrance or Radley's own papers at the end of Year 8. A limited number of places are also available at Year 10, known at Radley as the Removes. At Year 9 entry, scholarships span six categories, awarded for academic distinction, art, drama, innovation, music, and sport.
In Essence
For a boy who wants the tradition of England's great boys' schools alongside genuine warmth, Radley combines academic ambition, strong pastoral care, the space and beauty of its Oxfordshire setting, and a real and lasting happiness in its boys.