Sedbergh Senior School Commended for Independent Boarding School of the Year
Sedbergh School is proud to have been commended in the Independent Schools of the Year awards in the category of Independent Boarding School of the Year, recognising the strength, depth and distinctiveness of boarding at the Senior School.
The commendation follows Sedbergh’s most recent Independent Schools Inspectorate inspection, in which the quality of boarding provision was identified as a “significant strength” of the School. Together, these recognitions reflect the central role boarding plays in pupils’ lives at Sedbergh.
The award celebrates schools where boarding makes a clear and positive difference to pupils’ lives. Sedbergh is 98% full boarding, and our in-House dining is a joyful feature that helps each House community feel like a family. At Sedbergh, boarding is not an add-on to school life; it is the foundation that makes the whole education possible.
A full boarding school in Cumbria
Sedbergh is one of the few schools where boarding is genuinely full, lived and shared. Pupils live, learn, work, play and grow together in a seven-day boarding community where the Houses are not simply places to sleep, but homes, support networks, social centres and places of identity.
Pupils are not watching the School empty out at weekends. Instead, the rhythm of the week continues through sport, music, drama, outdoor education, Chapel, societies, leadership opportunities, service, House life and busy weekends.
A setting that shapes childhood
The School’s setting plays an important part in the boarding experience. Located in Sedbergh, Cumbria, and surrounded by the Howgills, the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District, pupils benefit from space, challenge, perspective and belonging.
The landscape is not just a backdrop; it helps shape a different kind of childhood: safe, purposeful, outdoors and away from many of the distractions of urban life.
A seven-day education
In 2025–26, Sedbergh’s boarding provision has focused on what boarders need most: belonging, consistency, purposeful challenge and shared experience. Houses remain the anchor of pupils’ lives, with staff supporting them across academic work, friendships, routines, wellbeing and co-curricular commitments.
The School’s 500th anniversary has added further depth to that sense of community. Whole-school events, including the choral evening at York Minster and the major musical celebration at Bridgewater Hall, brought pupils, staff, families and Old Sedberghians together. For pupils living away from home, these moments create pride, memory and a powerful sense of being part of something larger than themselves.
Values lived every day
Sedbergh’s boarding community is shaped by HARK: Humility, Ambition, Resilience and Kindness. These values are lived every day in Houses, classrooms, teams, Chapel, outdoor education and friendships. Full boarding gives pupils the time and space to turn these values into habits: learning to live alongside others, manage busy weeks, communicate well, recover from setbacks and contribute generously.
The impact of this education is seen in the young adults Sedbergh pupils become. Recent leaver Tilly Gilraine, now thriving in a finance degree apprenticeship in London, said Sedbergh prepared her for life “9.5, if not a 10.” She identified communication and resilience as two of the most valuable skills she took with her, adding that “sometimes the hard way is the best way.”
That is the spirit of Sedbergh boarding: a full, purposeful and deeply connected education that helps pupils leave grounded, ambitious, resilient and ready for life beyond school.