Holyport College are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year after first opening their doors to pupils in 2014.
Eton College’s partnership with Holyport College is an extraordinary source of pride, giving young people from both schools the wide opportunities to meet and engage in numerous aspects of school life. It aspires to be the strongest partnership between an independent school and a state school in the UK.
Holyport College, a maintained boarding school around 6 miles away from Eton, offers an extraordinary education to its cohort of state-educated pupils.
Frank Hardee, Holyport College’s Master in Charge of University Guidance and the Eton Relationship, said, “80% of Holyport students have had at least one interaction with Eton this academic year so far, with many students having multiple interactions—whether this be as part of the HEMP (Holyport-Eton Mentoring Programme), Year 9 BBQ, Sixth Form Quiz, or numerous society events.”
Eton’s partnership with Holyport is intended as a way of sharing pastoral and academic expertise in both directions, building an educational ethos which makes a long-term contribution to our local communities. The partnership enables young people from both schools to collaborate and learn from each other, from Eton’s Design Schools to the Combined Cadet Force—and everywhere in between.
Nick Roberts, Eton College’s Head of Holyport Links, added, “It’s extraordinary how much collaboration now takes place between the schools—involving both staff and pupils. Several of my Year 12 mentoring team have told me their weekly trips to Holyport are their most worthwhile activity of the week!”
As well as regular use of a number of Eton’s facilities, including Eton’s rowing lake at Dorney, Holyport students engage in a range of unique opportunities. For example, groups of students in Key Stage 3 are invited to take part in the Eton Aspirations Project, whereby Senior Eton students teach a series of extension lessons to younger Holyport students to explore learning beyond the curriculum; meanwhile, senior Holyport students are regularly invited to attend society meetings at Eton with some of the country’s most eminent visiting speakers.
