School guide · Bath · Coeducational · Day & boarding · 11+, 13+ and 16+
Monkton Combe: Prep to Year 8, then a Senior School with Saturdays
Monkton is not a conventional five-day day school with beds attached. Years 7–8 remain in the Prep School, Senior School starts at Year 9, and Saturday forms a real part of the older pupils’ week. Day pupils can share breakfast, supper, prep and house life—but families need to decide whether that richness solves a need or simply creates a very long week.
Updated · Sources last reviewed · By Eleven Plus Diary
Year 9 stays broad before GCSE choices narrow the week
The current academic overview keeps English, mathematics, separate sciences, humanities, theology, languages, arts and design in Year 9. Enrichment adds technology, outdoors and rowing exposure.
At GCSE, English Language, English Literature and mathematics form the core. Pupils choose six options. Most study two sciences; three, or occasionally one, may be possible after discussion.
Sixth Form normally means three A levels. Four require discussion and an average GCSE grade of 7. EPQ, Global Perspectives or IELTS can supplement the programme. Individual subjects may have their own entry prerequisites.
The current public pages do not give a recent subject-by-subject results table or leaver-destination breakdown.
Weekly boarding includes Friday night
The boarding model has one Prep house and six Senior houses—three for girls and three for boys. Senior houses mix Years 9–13 and include day pupils in their communities.
Weekly boarding runs from Monday night through Friday night. That makes Saturday travel part of the product. Ask when pupils leave after lessons, chapel, fixtures or an evening event, and when they return. The public fee pages do not answer every route.
Years 7–8 day fees include six midweek boarding nights a year. Senior material says up to ten nights subject to beds, while a separate day-pupil page describes nine nights in blocks. Ask which is current and whether nights can match family needs.
Senior boarders hand phones in overnight. No current public whole-school daytime phone rule was found. Confirm what a day pupil carries, when a boarder regains a phone and how travel changes are communicated.
Saturday is a real school day, not an occasional fixture
Current school descriptions place Senior lessons and chapel on Saturday morning, followed by sport or matches and later social activity. Sundays are looser, with brunch, optional onsite activities, transport into Bath or to church and occasional trips.
A day family should ask which Saturday elements are compulsory by year, how often the likely sport travels, and what transport returns after each finish. The coach guide shows a Saturday morning inbound service subject to demand, but no tabulated return.
A family may value the extra time for community and activities. The same structure can compete with family weekends, outside clubs and recovery time.
Day pupils can share house life without sleeping at school
Day pupils may arrive for breakfast, stay for supper and supervised prep, join house events and take part on Saturdays. The day-pupil page describes breakfast, supper and evening participation as included. Each Senior house has two weekly in-house nights.
The published term calendar gives an 8.10am day-pupil start. At Senior exeats, departure is 4.15pm and return is between 5pm and 9pm on Sunday. Staying at school during an exeat costs extra.
Follow a real pupil’s week: breakfast, lessons, activity, prep, supper, Saturday and journey home. The word “integrated” matters only if the pattern is practical for your child to use.
The buses are designed around a long Senior day
The 2026–27 transport guide lists routes from Frome, Chippenham, Keynsham and Bath Spa, Shepton Mallet and Radstock, and the Warminster–Westbury–Trowbridge corridor. Senior arrivals are roughly 7.45–7.59am; the common afternoon departure is 5.45pm.
Bath Spa is listed at 7.30am outbound and about 6pm return. Senior sports clubs run 4.15–5.30pm, so the coach supports participation—but it also creates a long day before the onward journey home.
Current termly return fares are £250, £370 or £460 for Monday to Friday, and £275, £415 or £495 where Monday–Saturday service is used. One-way fares are lower. A full term’s cancellation notice applies. Confirm the 2027 stop, seat and Saturday return.
The Christian framework is visible in the timetable
Senior chapel is published for Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, and the admissions policy expects weekly chapel attendance. ISI also found provision for non-Christian worship and dietary observance.
Families of any faith or none should ask what attendance means in each year, how belief and doubt are discussed, and where a pupil follows another religious practice. This is a more useful conversation than treating “Christian ethos” as either a promise or a warning on its own.
Support exists, but capacity and charges matter
The September 2025 SEND policy describes assess–plan–do–review, individual learning plans, classroom strategies and individual or small-group support. Senior has three qualified learning-support teachers, and Year 9 pupils are screened soon after arrival.
The admissions policy makes admission conditional on the child’s needs being manageable within the school’s resources, physical site and cohort. Reasonable adjustments are considered individually. Discuss needs before registration and ask for the assessment-day arrangement in writing.
EAL and some learning support are charged separately.
The pastoral network includes houseparents, tutors, older-pupil mentors, school and independent listeners and anonymous online reporting. ISI found pupils confident in those routes and the medical centre appropriately staffed for boarders at night.
The inspection passed, with three questions for lessons and life
The April–May 2024 ISI inspection covered Prep and Senior together. It recorded 686 pupils and 246 boarders at that visit. All inspected standards were met.
Inspectors found generally good progress, targeted SEND support and effective pastoral and safeguarding systems. They also asked the school to make lesson planning consistently engaging and well paced, strengthen mutual respect and understanding of democracy, and provide comprehensive economic education.
The fee step at Year 9 is substantial
The current 2026–27 fees are per term, include VAT and exclude compulsory lunch of £340 a term. Calculated annual day totals including lunch are £25,005 in Years 7–8, £32,475 in Years 9–11 and £34,140 in Sixth Form. They are not separate figures promised by the school.
| Stage | Route | Termly fee |
|---|---|---|
| Years 7–8 | Day | £7,995 |
| Years 7–8 | Three-night | £10,815 |
| Years 7–8 | Weekly / full | £12,120 / £13,365 |
| Years 9–11 | Day | £10,485 |
| Years 9–11 | Three-night taster | £13,695 |
| Years 9–11 | Weekly / full | £16,035 / £17,700 |
| Years 12–13 | Day | £11,040 |
| Years 12–13 | Three-night taster | £13,695 |
| Years 12–13 | Weekly / full | £16,470 / £17,985 |
These are 2026–27 prices, not a September 2027 quote. Senior three-night boarding is a one-term taster, not a permanent flexi category. Additional Senior nights are £99, while an exeat stay is currently £175 for two nights or £260 for three.
Add the required Year 9–11 Chromebook rental of £55 per term for a new Year 9 pupil, plus music, trips, coaching, exams and any support. EAL is £1,860 per term in Year 9 and £1,455 in Years 10–12. Individual learning support is £565 per term and shared support £385. Boarding fees include laundry other than dry cleaning and most weekend activities or trips.
Support is usually up to a third of fees
The means-tested programme says there is no fixed individual ceiling, but support is typically no more than one-third of annual fees. Clergy and missionary families and special circumstances receive priority. That is a funding policy, not a promise to every qualifying household.
The ordinary 2027 calendar is the first question to ask
Monkton does not currently publish one complete ordinary-entry calendar for September 2027. The offer letter supplies its own acceptance date. Do not turn a scholarship application or assessment date into the deadline for an ordinary place.
Before paying registration, ask for the deadline, assessment or taster dates, offer date and acceptance date for the exact year, campus and day or boarding status. A Year 7 Prep place and a Year 9 Senior day place are not interchangeable products.
For Year 9, timing is especially important. The policy says Assessment Days normally happen in Years 6–7, two or three years before entry. A late Year 8 application may be considered, but a day place is then described as unlikely.
Year 7 is an observed school-day process, not just CAT4
Years 5–8 applicants normally complete remote CAT4, with a current-school report or reference. The school then usually invites the child for two taster days, using classroom observation and informal assessment as part of the decision. Prospective boarders are also invited to an overnight taster.
CAT4 familiarity can reduce avoidable screen anxiety, but the published process gives no pass score or reliable offer formula. A child also has to settle into lessons, follow instructions and take part across the taster visit.
Most Year 7 and 8 offers continue through GCSE, but the policy allows a Prep-only offer where the school wants to see further progress before Senior transfer.
The current admissions journey says successful Prep-route offers are normally sent within two weeks of the taster sessions and assessments. That is a turnaround expectation, not a published 2027 offer date or universal acceptance deadline.