Yarlet School | What do our leavers and their parents say about Yarlet?
"I have enjoyed all the opportunities the 11 to 13 years give you. It has helped me achieve an academic exhibition to my next school. Being smaller gives you more attention and help in lessons, it also allows everyone to have an opportunity for sport, even if it is not the best area for you. The trips are eye openers and performing in grown up plays like Macbeth and Under Milk Wood are things you would never do in a senior school in Years 7 or 8. I would recommend staying on to 13 if you want your child to achieve great things and enjoy Years 7 and 8 to the maximum"
"Being a senior at Yarlet gave me independence and confidence."
"Being at the top of the school made me more mature."
"The teachers focus on all of us individually and strengthen our weaknesses."
"Success has many meanings. My success is where something out of the ordinary happens, just like I thought I would never succeed in Art but went on to achieve an Art Scholarship. Yarlet has taught me things I had thought were out of my capability and has helped me to make a success of them. Yarlet has also taught me that success is only round the corner if you believe it is there."
"You're not just being educated – you're being taught how to live your life."
"Children actually want to come to school."
"You start to know your teachers better and grow to ask them for advice."
"The 11 to 13 years at Yarlet helped me gain more confidence and independence."
"There is a bigger push in education as we do exams that are almost at GCSE level and there is more one-to-one tuition from teachers."
"I found that the last two years at Yarlet are helpful in becoming your own person and finding yourself. You gain confidence and I especially gained confidence from becoming Head Girl, as well as a feeling of achievement."
"The advantages of staying for years 7 and 8 are that you get a chance to be at the top end of the school whereas if you go to your next school earlier you are the bottom end of the school. If you decide to stay until year 8 at Yarlet you have Head Boy, Head Girl and Prefects, so you have a status and get treated with more respect. You also gain confidence being at the top end of the school, which will set you up for your senior school."
"I have enjoyed every minute of my time at Yarlet. There was not a minute that I doubted the teachers or the people around me. I would replay these years if I could."
"Our association with Yarlet commenced in 2002 when our son, aged 5yrs, entered Year 1, and our daughter, aged 2yrs, commenced Nursery at Yarlet. Both our children have thrived in the academic and pastoral environment provided at Yarlet during their time there.
When both our son and daughter were aged 11yrs and about to finish Year 6 we did question the value of leaving them at Yarlet to complete Years 7 and 8, or whether it would be more beneficial to move them onto their next school. We sought advice from a number of different sources, weighing up the 'pros' and 'cons' on both sides of the argument. However, we did eventually decided to leave them both at Yarlet until they were aged 13yrs.
With the benefit of hindsight, this was definitely the correct decision from both our perspective as parents, and that of our son and daughter. They both matured and developed on a personal and academic basis during Years 7 and 8 at Yarlet, to an extent that we do not believe would have been so advanced had we moved them on at the age of 11yrs. The opportunities provided for the children in Years 7 and 8 at Yarlet would not have been possible to repeat, we believe, had we moved them onto their next school, i.e. senior school positions – prefects/ school sports teams, adventure camps, foreign trips, community based 'work experience' placements, etc..
Both our children are now at their next school and are again thriving in their new academic environment, for which Yarlet has to be greatly credited for having prepared them so appropriately whilst they were young 'Yarletians'.
The final day Sports Day in relation to both our children, especially our daughter's Sports Day, which was the 'cutting' of the academic tie to the school, were both a happy occasion, but tinged with a great deal of sadness. However, the sadness was tempered by the thought of all the happy times we had had during our time at Yarlet; far too many to list here! In addition, we did know, as did our children, that the reality was that there would always be a welcome waiting for us at Yarlet as we would always be part of 'The Yarlet Family'."
"It had always been our intention to leave Thomas at Yarlet until age 13 and moving him at an earlier age had never been a serious consideration. We had been advised of the benefits of the last 2 years but I don't think it is fully appreciated until it has been experienced. We have seen Thomas develop in confidence and maturity more quickly in these last 2 years than at any other stage and this has been allowed to develop by natural progression in an environment in which he is and has been familiar.
To have moved him earlier would have meant him not having the benefit of being a senior in the school and the opportunities that brings. I am not sure parents appreciate the benefits of being in the top years of a school bring, in terms of added responsibilities, duties and expectations of maturity that equip a child with essential life skills.
In our view years 7 and 8 have equipped Thomas for the challenges of a bigger school. As much as Thomas will be sad to leave Yarlet I think one of the successes of the school and in particular years 7 and 8 is that he is prepared and ready in a way in which he would not have been at 11."
"We decided to leave Amelia in Yarlet for the 11-13 years to allow her to grow up in her own time and not be pushed into growing up as so often happens in senior schools. This we have seen happen and we now have a delightful young lady who oozes confidence and is happy and excited to be taking the next step to a bigger school instead of facing it with fear and trepidation. The 11-13 years allow them to be a big fish in a little pond and achieve this confidence. We have no doubt that we will leave Amelia's brother at Yarlet to enjoy these years when the time comes."
"We were very passionate that Yarlet was the best option for Olivia. The school has been everything that we were worried that she would miss out on if she had gone elsewhere."
"Years 7 and 8 at Yarlet have really helped maintain our daughter's confidence and support her in preparing for the next step.
Yarlet has enabled her to grow in a safe and fairly sheltered environment that simultaneously promotes independence whilst going through a very delicate and impressionable stage of development."
"I know that Year 8 at Yarlet has fully prepared our daughter for the next step, she has developed strong personal values that I'm sure will stay with her for life.
Years 7 and 8 at Yarlet promotes responsibility. Our daughter has enjoyed being a prefect and supporting the younger children, similar responsibility that wouldn't normally be allocated until sixth form."
"Our son Jonathan re-joined the school for year 8 having spent a number of years at an international school in Portugal. The move was the best thing we ever did for him! He settled in remarkably quickly and thoroughly enjoyed the whole year. With the support of the staff at Yarlet and his hard work, he excelled and achieved a scholarship into his next school. We as parents are absolutely delighted with the school. Well done Yarlet!"