The beauty of choosing a rural school

 It’s true that the big city pressures are less here. Smoking and drinking are not concerns 
Ian Davenport, headmaster of Blundell's

Visiting Blundell's school, near Tiverton, is like stepping into the scene of a beautiful painting. An elegant clocktower reminiscent of an Oxbridge college stands at the heart of a cluster of 19th-century buildings, which seem to glow as the sun hits the red sandstone. Green baize lawns lead on to manicured sports fields and, in the distance, cadent hillsides are a reminder of the excellent hillwalking and outdoor sports that this area offers.

After an hour spent ‘negotiating’ traffic on the M5, what struck me instantly was the sense of calm that comes not only from Blundell's rural location, but from the children, the teachers, the head and the overall atmosphere of this Devon school.

Headmaster Ian Davenport has been at the helm for five years and clearly loves the job and the location: “The West Country is a very beautiful part of the world and the pupils really appreciate the environment and the space. There’s a peacefulness here that really helps them.”

Enjoying country life

There’s so much in the area for pupils and staff to enjoy, as Ian highlights. “We have Exmoor and Dartmoor nearby and pupils from Blundell's take part in the Ten Tors Challenge. Plus we’re only half an hour from the coast, so it’s easy to go sailing or kayaking. Other city schools have to make great road trips to enjoy this kind of scenery.”

Ian believes that being in the heart of the countryside gives the pupils a greater awareness of fitness and wellbeing. “The pupils have a high regard for good health. Almost everyone plays sport and most seem to enjoy it.”

As well as traditional sports, Blundell's offers a range of outdoor activities. “I walk regularly with the Year 9s and we go to beautiful areas, like Withypool Valley in Exmoor,” says Ian. “We also offer falconry, which helps give the children a sense of their unique surroundings.”

The rural location also seems to help diminish some of the challenging problems seen in some schools today. “It’s true that the big city pressures are less here,” says Ian. 

“Smoking and drinking are not concerns at Blundell's and I haven’t had to deal with a drug issue in five years. Our pupils are very comfortable with who they are and there’s not a great aspiration to be two or three years ahead of themselves.”

Cultural stimulus

Blundell's is some way from a major city, so one downside could be that the children miss out on the cultural stimulus that urban life provides. Ian and his team are aware of this, though: “It’s important that we don’t become Devon-centric, so we have lots of trips away every term. The choir goes to Paris or Venice each year, our rugby first XV has just visited Canada and we have regular excursions to the cities of London, Bath and Bristol.

 “Hand on heart, I think we could be a bit more outward looking,” Ian says. “We’ve just started teaching world studies and the pupils are really enjoying it. We have 60 overseas pupils here and they’re invaluable to us in terms of culture. They come from Spain, Germany, France, India, Japan, Australia, Canada and Hong Kong. We learn so much from them. I have a Ukrainian pupil in my politics group and he has told us so much about the situation in Georgia. It’s fantastic to be able to ask ‘So are the Ukrainians really worried about Russia?’ and get a straight answer.”

High achieving pupils

Parents and visitors can be taken on a tour of the school, and my guide was headboy James, a very likeable chap who plans to study Natural Sciences at Cambridge and already has the offer of a place at Sandhurst. I asked him how he could bear to leave such a lovely school and he looked me in the eye and assured me that he really didn’t want to.

As a flexi-boarder, James spends a few nights a week at the school and on other evenings he goes the mile and a half up the road to see his family. Perhaps it’s this flexibility that allows him to fit in so many extra-curricular activities. Not only is he in the first XV, he also plays saxophone and takes part in eventing for Blundell's.

Walking around the school, the children seem happy, calm and very well behaved. Staff and children smile, say hello and exchange banter. There’s a tangible sense of community at Blundell's and a warm welcome in every classroom. 

Despite being full (there are 574 pupils) the school doesn’t feel crowded even at break time. The uniform is smart and distinctive: younger girls look immaculate in crimson blazers and pleated navy skirts; and the younger boys cut a dash in cosy tweed blazers and dark grey trousers. Sixth form students wear navy blazers and white shirts.

A tour of Blundell's leads you through 19th-century buildings to the modern academic centre, where light, bright corridors decorated with modern artworks lead to pristine classrooms. There are blocks for science, languages, design and technology and an arts centre, built with a £2 million donation from writer and explorer Sir Christopher Ondaatje, who attended Blundell's in the 1940s.

Treading the boards

The pièce de rèsistance is the 160-seat Ondaatje Hall theatre. Not only can the children perform in what is akin to a small, professional theatre, they also have the opportunity to learn to operate the sophisticated lighting and sound system. One ex-Blundellian is now working in lighting in the West End and his route was through the backstage crew at the school.
 
Emerging from the darkness of the theatre we walk past tennis courts, an athletics area and the swimming pool to the first XV rugby pitch. The fresh autumn air catches my breath and we look across to the pavilion and the hills beyond. “We’re playing Millfield this weekend,” James comments.
“Do you think you’ll win?” I ask. He mulls this one over and says, “I’m not sure. They’re a lot bigger than us! We’ll do our best, though.”
That seems to capture the spirit of this lovely school. I drive up the M5 feeling a sense of relaxation that I don’t normally experience on the motorway. Maybe it’s all the fresh Devon air.

Find out what life is like at an urban school in our review of prestigious Clifton College, in Bristol