Stephen Perse Senior School

Boardingly Worldly ranking

The Worldly ranking measures a school's external standing from publicly sourced signals — academic results, press coverage, alumni and awards — scored out of 100. Signal coverage: 85%.

About this school

The founder gives us the useful thread. Dr Stephen Perse was a Fellow of Gonville & Caius and a philanthropist, and the school that took his name began in 1881 as The Perse School for Girls, part of the Victorian effort to give women an education worth the name, grown up under the eye of Cambridge University and the town. A school created to widen opportunity, rather than to gild it, carries a useful obligation into its later, comfortable life. Hold on to that origin, because it is the standard against which the modern school should be judged.

Now the thing a family from Lagos or Shanghai must understand before another word: this is a Cambridge senior school with boarding attached, not a traditional full-boarding school, and you should treat it that way until the school proves otherwise. That distinction is the whole game. The foundation records 1,564 pupils across an 11 to 18 range, and it advertises full boarding, and a day school of this kind in Cambridge is typically day-based, so the residential community may be smaller than a traditional boarding school's — a point to verify directly. Do not read the headline roll as the size of the boarding house. What matters for a boarder is not the crowded, warm building at half past three but the same building at half past three on a Saturday, when the day pupils have gone home to their own suppers.

So the questions come first, not last. How many pupils actually board, in which year groups, and how many of those are full boarders rather than weekly or flexi? What is the weekend stay-in figure? What is the nationality mix, the overnight staffing ratio, the exeat arrangement, the guardianship requirement, the airport-transfer and EAL support? What does a boarder's Saturday and Sunday actually contain, hour by hour, and is it a full programme or merely supervision? These are not nuances to settle later. If the answers are thin, a boarder in a small residential cohort can feel isolated at weekends in a way a day child never experiences — which is precisely why these questions matter. Should the school show a boarding house that is sizeable, age-balanced and genuinely full-time, the rest of this profile becomes relevant. If it cannot, an international family wanting a classic seven-day boarding culture should compare it carefully against more residentially dominated schools.

With that established, what the school does well, on the evidence, is community, at least by day. The 2025 ISI inspection reached for the word "united", which inspectors tend to use when the pastoral machinery is actually working and children of different backgrounds are folded in rather than merely tolerated. Our own Parent Views figure sits at 96 out of 100, one of the strongest we record, on review sentiment of 85. I would not oversell this. Parent reviews are self-selecting, and a satisfied cohort is not a neutral witness, so ask specifically whether the parents praising the place are boarding parents or day parents. The warmth is real, but it is a whole-school warmth. Whether it survives the residential experience is exactly the thing you must verify.

The school also engages seriously with artificial intelligence, curriculum design and sustainability, and our Forward Thinking pillar reaches 66 on that basis. For a child who will graduate into a working world reshaped by these things, a school that treats them as subjects to understand rather than fear is doing honest preparation. Confirm it is observed practice and not a prospectus flourish. Academically the record is solid without being showy. A-levels reach 86 per cent at A* to B, which is strong, and the Brains Trust pillar sits at 55. This is a school that gets clever children to good universities without becoming a results factory, which I count to its credit. If your calculation depends on a visible pipeline to Oxbridge, the Russell Group or American universities, then ask for the destinations data, and in particular the destinations of international pupils specifically, because that is the number that will actually govern your return on some very large fees.

The Alumni Power figure of 71 is respectable, drawn from a good number of accomplished former pupils, though the prominence index of 28 tells you they are capable people doing useful work rather than household names, and you should check whether that count leans on the wider historical foundation rather than the present school. On our data, the evidence points more to a Cambridge-rooted profile than to a visibly global network reaching Singapore or São Paulo. The overall Worldly score is 55 out of 100, which we classify as National. Its strength is domestic and rooted in Cambridge. For a family who wants a school woven into the life of a great university city, that is a genuine asset. For one seeking an international launchpad, it may be a deal-breaker, and I would rather you knew that now.

While pressing on boarding, put the school's better instincts to the same test. A foundation born to widen opportunity should still be doing it. What proportion of pupils hold bursaries, and how deep do they go? And the Cambridge setting: proximity is geography, not advantage, until it produces something a pupil can touch. Ask for the formal partnerships, the lectures, the mentoring, the outreach that reaches children who could never pay the fees. A school that turns its advantages outward is the kind worth admiring. Ask them to show you, not tell you.

What sort of adult does this place tend to produce? On the evidence, a grounded, well-taught, socially easy young person, comfortable in an intellectual city and equipped to do good work and belong somewhere. That is a far healthier ambition than manufacturing celebrity, and for the right child it is the point. The right child here is academically self-directed, probably older rather than a very young boarder, drawn to Cambridge itself, and content in a day-dominant world. The child who needs a large residential peer group, or who may drift toward loneliness, is the child for whom the boarding questions above are not optional. Get clear answers, and you will know whether the warmth the parents describe is warmth your own child will actually feel.

Sources: School website · Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) report · DfE Compare School Performance · Boardingly Worldly Ranking (our scorecard + underlying signals)

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Academics

Exam results

Not yet verified against an approved source. Contact school.

Life & activities

Boarding & pastoral

Boarding type: Full

Dining: School lunches optional for Senior School (£357 per term); mandatory for Sixth Form boarders (£357 per term).

Pastoral care: Pastoral Care Policy in place. ISI 2025 noted "an inclusive and united school community in which pupils thrive".

Latest inspection

Common questions

How much are the fees at Stephen Perse Senior School?

At Stephen Perse Senior School, full boarding is £19,865 per term and day fees are £9,145 per term. These are indicative figures from public data — always confirm the current year's fees directly with the school.

Where is Stephen Perse Senior School?

Stephen Perse Senior School is in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom (CB2 1HF).

Is Stephen Perse Senior School a boys', girls' or co-educational school?

Stephen Perse Senior School is a co-educational school, taking both boys and girls.

What ages does Stephen Perse Senior School take?

Stephen Perse Senior School educates pupils aged 11-18.

Does Stephen Perse Senior School offer boarding?

Yes — Stephen Perse Senior School offers full boarding.

How many pupils are there at Stephen Perse Senior School?

Stephen Perse Senior School has approximately 1,564 pupils.

What was Stephen Perse Senior School's latest inspection outcome?

Stephen Perse Senior School's most recent ISI inspection outcome was: Outstanding (ISI Report 2025 – "The result is an inclusive and united school community in which pupils thrive").