A day and boarding school for girls
and boys aged 4 to 18 in Shebbear, Devon
We offer a range of Scholarships to talented pupils interested in joining our Form 1 (Year 7), Form 3 (Year 9) or Lower Sixth, awarded for outstanding academic ability, good character or a talent and passion for Art, Music, Sport or Drama & the Performing Arts.
Find out more and apply here.
At Shebbear College, we appreciate that as a parent, choosing the right school for your child is one of the most important decisions you will make, and because of this, we try to make the admissions process as easy and stress free as possible. We welcome new pupils at any time during the academic year, and offer visits, tours and taster days all year round.
Please get in touch with our Registrar, Emily, who would be delighted to answer any questions you may have about Shebbear, and can arrange for you to come and visit us. We are very proud of our friendly school community and would love to share it with you!
Please call 01409 282009 or email [email protected] to find out more.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Book a visit
We are delighted to have been graded ‘EXCELLENT’ - the highest possible grade – in all areas of our ISI Inspection.
The ISI (Independent Schools Inspectorate – the Ofsted equivalent for Independent Schools) rated us as excellent in both the pupils’ academic and other achievements and the pupils’ personal development. We also met every single standard set in the Regulatory Compliance part of the Inspection, with no action points to follow up on and no improvements needed.
This is an extremely impressive achievement for Shebbear College and places us as the top Independent School in the local area based on ISI ratings.
Double Excellent ISI Inspection
Small School...BIG opportunities; BIG Adventures; BIG campus; BIG heart!
We are a small school and proud of it! Our smaller size means that we can offer bigger opportunities for our pupils and this is what our 'Small means BIG' film is all about!
From small class sizes enabling tailored learning; the chance to take part in exciting opportunities that simply wouldn’t be open to everyone at a bigger school; the nurturing family atmosphere and the green, rural campus: These are the things that make us special.
We keep our class sizes small at an average of 14 (5 in Sixth Form), enabling learning to be active and pupil centred. Every pupil can excel here and we help them to identify and develop their strengths, whilst building confidence and resilience so that they can achieve their personal best. For some, this is achieving Grade 9s at GCSE and for others it’s excelling on the sports field or developing confidence in the Performing Arts. For many, it’s the value-added side of school life, the improvements they have made here that they couldn’t have achieved elsewhere.
Small Means Big!
Our 85-acre campus is situated in the beautiful Devon countryside, close to Exmoor and Dartmoor National Parks and the fantastic surfing beaches of the North Cornwall coast.
With five sports fields, a nature trail and an outdoor classroom, we try to take our learning outdoors as much as possible and have recently introduced Environmental Education to our curriculum, a new subject blending the core theories of Science and Geography and linking in to the green economy. We want our pupils to see the world around them, to appreciate nature, blue skies and open fields. We want them to seize opportunities, be positive and never stop learning!
Click on the image opposite to watch our drone film.
play video
Boarding at Shebbear builds confidence, friendships and develops independence – as well as being a lot of fun! We offer full, weekly and flexi boarding to girls and boys from the ages of 8 - 18 and welcome pupils from across the UK and all over the world.
We have two co-educational boarding houses - Ruddle, which houses our full boarders from Form 1 (Year 7) through to Upper 6 and some of our weekly boarders, and Pollard, which houses our older weekly boarders.
Each house has recently been refurbished, offering a modern, yet homely, place for our boarders to live and both houses have the same warm, friendly atmosphere. Pupils feel happy, safe and secure and there is always someone to turn to for help, advice or just a chat.
BoardingLife at Shebbear is busy, filled with academic purpose, co-curricular activity, creative discovery and outdoor adventure. Explore our stories below and experience what we do everyday.
All StoriesWe are extremely lucky to have an extensive 85 acre rural campus with superb facilities. Here are some of our most favourite places - click on the locations to find out more!
Sport is a big part of life at Shebbear College, with our rural location and extensive grounds lending themselves to this focus. We have an all-weather pitch where hockey and football are played, four playing fields for rugby and football in the winter and cricket and athletics in the summer, outdoor tennis and netball courts and cricket nets. Our Sports Hall is fully equipped for all indoor sports and training and also includes a gymnasium, weights room and dance studio.
Our Science Department comprises four laboratories and a teaching room - there is even a resident python! Modern Biology, Chemistry and Physics labs provide inspirational learning spaces for pupils from Year 5 upwards and a number of smaller teaching rooms offer a wealth of opportunities for our pupils to learn. ‘I enjoy all the sciences and my grades have improved massively since joining Shebbear! Along with this, I have attained a scholarship to study Medicine at Cambridge Summer School this coming summer.’ Sienna, Form 4 (Year 10) Science Block
Our Sixth Formers are based in our modern Sixth Form Centre, located in the heart of our rural campus. They are very much part of the school community, whilst enjoying a greater freedom within the school day. The dedicated Sixth Form Centre comprises a number of rooms for quiet individual study and group study, classrooms, meeting rooms, our careers office and a common room with kitchen where they can relax with friends.
Our Pre-Prep (Reception – Year 2) and our Prep School (Years 3 – 6) pupils are situated in their own building on the school site. They have access to the Senior School facilities and are taught by specialist teachers for certain subjects. Pre-Prep and Prep children have their own playing field, playground and a Lighthouse play area to enjoy.
The music centre includes a specialist keyboard suite, teaching classrooms, practice rooms, performance areas, recording studio and a suite of computers with editing software.We also have an excellent selection of instruments including Steinway pianos and keyboards.
Creativity abounds at Shebbear College and our light and inspiring art studios provide the perfect place for our pupils to develop self-expression, build confidence and explore their imagination. The Senior School pupils have lessons in our larger studio, while our Sixth Form artists enjoy their own space in our A-level studio.
Our light and airy Design Technology and Cookery rooms are housed within our Life Skills Centre, which is also home to our Pottery Room and Prep School Art Studio. Prep School pupils enjoy their lessons in a dedicated art room, taught by our specialist teacher. Cookery and woodwork clubs are popular options in our co-curricular activities programme.
We have two boarding houses - Pollard for the boys and Ruddle for the girls. Each house has its own unique identity but both are happy, thriving communities welcoming pupils between the ages of 8 - 18 from the UK and all over the world. Our boarding houses are fully equipped with modern facilities, a common room and kitchen and all our pupils have access to the internet, enabling easy communication with their family and friends. Our boarders all have houseparents and matrons who create a safe, family environment.
