Bedales

Overview

Bedales was founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of conventional Victorian schools. Since 1899 the school has been located on an 120-acre (0.49 km²) estate in the village of Steep, near Petersfield, Hampshire. As well as playing fields, orchards, woodland, pasture and a nature reserve, the campus also boasts two Grade 1 listed arts and crafts buildings designed by Ernest Gimson, the Lupton Hall (completed in 1911) and the Memorial Library (1921), and two contemporary award-winning buildings: the Olivier Theatre (1997) and the Orchard Building (2005). Badley took a non-denominational approach to religion and the school has never had a chapel. With the more liberal society of the 1960s, the coeducational liberal arts ethos of the school became extremely fashionable, attracting many literary and artistic parents as well as minor British and European royalty. In September 2006 Bedales introduced 'Bedales Assessed Courses' (abbreviated to BACs), devised 'to move away from the constraints of too many externally examined courses, and to win back the freedom necessary to reflect the school's creative ethos, and its emphasis on the individual, in our teaching and learning'.

Unique Points

Outdoor Work is a unique aspect of the Bedales curriculum and can be taken as an alternative to games. It involves a myriad of activities focused on maintaining the school's estate, including 'building barns, making a pond and creating natural sculptures' as well as opportunities to 'make jam or chutney, plant trees and to undertake gardening and livestock management tasks'. There is also a weekly opportunity to bake bread in the traditional wood-fired bread oven. Bedales has educated boys and girls together since 1898 and the school's particular emphasis on arts, crafts and drama can be seen as a direct and deliberate legacy of this early co-education theory.

Entry Requirements

Candidates at 13+ or 14+ must be judged capable of attaining 50 points at GCSE (taking A* as 8, A as 7, and so on). Sixth form applicants at 16+ must be judged capable of attaining three A Level passes at Grade B or above.