Rugby High School

If your child is an able, self-motivated girl who enjoys being stretched but wants room to grow in confidence too, Rugby High School is one to consider. It is a girls' grammar in Warwickshire with a co-educational sixth form, and it has been teaching young people in Rugby for over a century. It started small, opened in 1903 by a local teacher, Olive Hands, in a pair of houses on Elsee Road, and it still carries the motto its founders gave it: "She has set heights in her heart."

The Good Schools Guide calls it a school of high-fliers, but is quick to add that it stretches more than just the mind, with responsibility, individuality, compassion and creativity all part of the picture. At the heart of the music block sits a striking octagonal classroom packed with keyboards, music stands and percussion, with practice rooms for the many girls taking individual lessons, and the sports department runs 17 different sports. What stands out is the tone: the girls describe a calm sort of academic confidence rather than constant pressure, telling visitors that most of the pressure they feel comes from themselves.

Rugby High suits a girl who likes a challenge but also wants to take part widely, make things, play sport and find her feet. It has been led since 2019 by headteacher Mark Grady, who taught English and Drama here earlier in his own career, so he knows the place from the inside. For a daughter who is ready to aim high in her own steady way, this is a school that lets her do it without the heat.