Private school Strathallan School

Welcome to our world

Strathallan School - one of the leading private boarding schools in Scotland, was founded in 1913. Located 40 minutes from Edinburgh and 11 kilometres from Perth.

Strathallan School welcomes students from all over the world. Here everyone will find a huge variety of activities for themselves. The school celebrates the results of children in training and additional classes, thereby instil confidence in their students in their abilities, show how much they can "grow" by studying hard.

There are approximately 580 students enrolled at Strathallan School.

DIRECTOR (stand 2026)

Mark Lauder, Education - Hermitage Academy; University of Aberdeen; Oxford University, where he became Junior Dean of St. College Edmund Hall.

FAMOUS SCHOOL GRADUATES:

• David Anderson, businessman, former vice chairman of the London Stock Exchange
• Sir George Baker, former judge of the High Court of Great Britain
• Hamish Dawson, athlete
• Dominic Diamond, radio and television announcer
• Ronald Duncan, skier, Olympic winner
• John Forrest, athlete
• Tessa Dunlop, television announcer, historian
• Bill Fraser, actor, winner of the Lawrence Olvier Award (TV series "Wagner")
• Peter Grant, engineer, professor emeritus, holder of the 82nd Faraday Medal
• Richard Henderson, Lawyer, President of the Law Society of Scotland
• Nicholas Lydon, scientist, winner of the Lasker Prize for cancer research
• Ian MacNaughton, director (film "Monty Python", "Lawrence of Arabia")
• Hugh Miller, Professor, Winner of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations
• Colin Montgomery, golfer
• Robert Reid, world rally champion
• Struan Stevenson, politician, member of the European Parliament
• Sir John Shaw, businessman, former chairman of the board of directors and manager of the Bank of Scotland

KEY FACTORS

• The school is preparing for a conscious choice of profession and further studies at universities.
• More than 95% of students continue their studies at universities, including Oxford and Cambridge.
• Strathallan has been named Scotland's best school based on A-level final exams.
• The school is in the top 50 co-educational schools across England based on A-level results.
• Much attention is paid to music, art and theatre, learning to play musical instruments.
• The main tasks of the school are to support students in achieving high results in scientific work, developing strength of mind and interest in learning.
• A school graduate won a silver medal in swimming at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
• We can provide the phones of parents whose children study or studied at this school.

What TATLER has to say about STRATHALLAN

Parents are spoiled for choice by private schools. But Strathallan is the trump card: the best results on A-level exams. 48% of students receive the highest grades - AA *.

Take sports, for example. Most schools succeed in one, sometimes two sports. Last year, Strathallan School collected 52 sports awards in 11 different sports, and 5 more represent the country. A huge sports hall the size of three tennis courts - the school can easily hold competitions on its territory.

To say that the school has outstanding equipment is to say nothing. Golf course, lake for fishing, canoe slalom, shooting range. Recent updates - a completely new chemical laboratory, specialized dance and theatre studios. Students can go to the Glenshee ski resort to ski.

But what really strikes parents, as the mother of one of the students said, is "caring staff that allows children to develop their abilities as much as possible."

Teachers unanimously argue that the type of student who clearly excels at school is one who feels involved in the learning process and wants to do something in life. Doing nothing here will be impossible.

EQUIPMENT

The school is located outside the city and has well-equipped areas for learning and leisure. The main buildings were built in the 19th century.

On the school territory there are: modern classes and laboratories, a library, a theatre, a music department and an art department, a medical centre, a chapel, a computer centre, a design and technology studio.

Sports facilities: swimming pool, recreation facilities, sports hall, gym, rugby and cricket fields, tennis courts.

The laboratories, computer labs, design centre and school sports centre are equipped in accordance with the most modern requirements.

The school has an excellent department of design and technology. It is located in a purpose-built building. Here are the most modern computers with software, 3D printers, workshops for working on wood and metal.

PROGRAM

GCSE

The program for obtaining a certificate of general secondary education. The program for obtaining a certificate of general secondary education. Required to study 7 subjects and 2 or 3 subjects of choice.
What is the difference between IGCSE and GCSE programmes?

A-level

A two-year university preparatory program. Pupils choose those items that are needed to enter their chosen university. 4 or 5 subjects are studied in the first year of study (AS) and 3 subjects in the second year (A2).
Find out more about A-level program

ACCOMMODATION

Accommodation in a residence in one of 9 houses, in single rooms. Boys and girls live separately. Each floor has a small living room, and each house has a common room and equipped kitchen. On the territory of the houses there is WI-FI.

SPORT

Sports activities are present in the schedule at least 3 times a week.

Key sports:

• for girls: hockey, netball, tennis, athletics,
• for boys: rugby, hockey, cricket, athletics.

And:

• Badminton
• Basketball
• Football
• Swimming
• Canoeing
• Cricket
• Fencing
• Fitness
• Judo
• Karate
• Squash
• Dancing
• Golf
• Horseback riding
• Sailing
• And others

The school holds the first place in hockey in Scotland. A strong judo section, it is possible to attend classes 2-3 times a week. Over the past few years, children are increasingly taking prizes in the UK judo championships.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

• Fishing
• Art workshops as part of the A Level program
• Ballet
• Chess
• Classes for studying church traditions
• Skeet
• Design Club
• Debate Club
• Design and technology
• Design and technology with Lego
• Duke of Edinburgh Cup
• Club of Political Science and Economics
• Christian values course
• Graphic novels club
• Green Society
• Folk dances
• Literary circle
• Math Club
• Medical Ethics Course
• Online research
• Meetings at Oxbridge
• Cadet Club
• Saving life on the water / safety on the water
• Course "Strength and Stamina"
• School theatre

From the 5th grade, students have the opportunity to enter the cadet corps.

Creativity is recognized as an essential part of the curriculum. Pupils can show their work both at local exhibitions and far beyond the school.

For art classes, an art school has been specially built, in which there are all the necessary tools and equipment for painting, drawing, sculpture. There is a ceramics studio with an oven for firing and drying products, a laboratory for printing photographs. The school has modern computer equipment and spacious rooms in which you can engage in all types of creativity.

The music department allows students to develop their talents and participate in concerts held at the school more than 60 times a year. Pupils can take part in more than 20 ensembles of different directions: musical theatre, traditional Scottish music, classical music, jazz, rock, pop. More than half of the students take individual music lessons.

Some of the activities:

• Brass band
• String Quartet
• String ensemble
• Trumpet rehearsals
• Practice on music
• Music Club
• Musical rehearsals
• LAMDA (theatre and singing)
• Folk group
• Choral singing classes
• Trumpet game for beginners
• Musical group
• Chamber choir
• Chamber music
• Chorus
• Bagpipes lessons

Students perform at concerts far beyond the school, even at the national level, which is a special pride of the school! For example, in the Youth Jazz Ensemble, the National Children's Orchestra of Scotland, the National Children's Choir, the National Youth Musical Theatre.

Schoolchildren also participate in theatrical productions. The school theatre meets the latest technical requirements thanks to the newly installed sound and light system. Students participate in the production from beginning to end, from concept to implementation, which ensures the full involvement of students in the creative process.

The school has a very strong department of design and technology with the most modern equipment. In recent years, school students have received scholarships at the prestigious competition of future engineers Arkwright Engineering Scholarships. The competition aims to inspire children to become future leaders in the engineering profession. Students also had the opportunity to exhibit their work at exhibitions outside the school.

COST, 2026-2027

£11,386 - £18,089 per semester (depending on age).
There are 3 semesters in the school year.

Included in cost

• Teaching
• Accommodation and meals
• laundry

Extra paid

• Flights
• Transfers to / from the airport
• Visa
• Services of the company "Paradise"
• Guardianship (as required by British law)

Our services and fees

Impressions from a school visit

Olga Karpova
Paradise Boarding School Expert

Strathallan School is a very warm school, without a "nose" (and sometimes snobbish ones). A sense of family, community, support. Very English. The children are happy and satisfied. The teachers are passionate about their subjects, with fire in their eyes they talk about what they do in class, about projects, about the successes of the students. Many have been working at the school for 20 years.

I really liked that each child has their own mentor from the students of the 6th form, 16-17 years old (in every boarding school). This is good for the adaptation of the primary school + it is important that children do not immediately go to adults with their problem, but can share it with someone close in age.

A lot of attention is paid to sports: rugby, hockey, rugby for girls, fencing, gymnastics, swimming - the team is one of the strongest in the country; the strongest tennis, its own shooting range, golf course, basketball, judo, fencing... 32 sports! The school's territory is 61 hectares! In addition to the indoor sports center with stands, there are many fields with all-weather surfaces. Each sport has several teams for different ages and levels. 6 in football, 18 in rugby.

Strathalan has produced more than 50 champions - Olympic, British and world. The same number are members of national teams. Moreover, scholarships are given for sports.

James from the graduating class entered here with a scholarship for success in rugby. He chose Strathallan because of the atmosphere. A lot of children study here from the moment of admission until graduation, they do not want to transfer to other schools. I talked about this with a girl from Malaysia, a boy from Russia. They have been here for 5 years. The children are calm and well-mannered, there is no showing off. They greet, smile, talk about their successes, get embarrassed. I just watched and admired.

True, the senior students complained that they get tired of getting up on Sunday mornings for work. And parents sometimes would like to know more, but the school believes that children themselves should learn responsibility.

We currently have three students studying at this school. One girl is 10 years old, already in her 4th year, she draws masterfully and demonstrates victories in tennis. The boy began studying at 12, in his 2nd year at school, has already won first place for a history report and received a prize on Speech Day - given at the end of the year to the best students. Another boy entered this year, also at 12. He is mastering the game of rugby, shoots, practices judo and has already been nominated for the highest set in mathematics (here children study exact and natural sciences in classes according to their abilities).

Strong music, most of them play musical instruments, and the school choir is so good that the local cathedral pays for its performances. A huge, separate, 2-story, bright art studio. A large technological design block with a 3D printer, old-fashioned jigsaws, and a lot of tricky machines and tools. Like a real workshop. There is a lot here for training engineers, because the head of the department is very passionate about this.
The children themselves bragged about the excellent laboratories, saying that we are very strong in the natural and exact sciences (physics, chemistry, and mathematics were constantly heard in the subjects studied). The canteen is large, bright, delicious. The chef has been here for many years. Every younger child notes that he has been to the canteen (they monitor their health).

They study on Saturdays. Every Sunday they go somewhere (the little ones are required, the adults if they want). Adult children can also get to Perth by taxi and spend about four hours there (Perth is a beautiful historical town, completely safe).

The headmaster's children also study at this school. He is new here. Charismatic, smart, and already respected by children and teachers. An Oxford graduate, a historian. It is very important to him that his students are open-minded: with a flexible mind, able to analyze and question everything, and not get hung up on dogmas. Every Monday afternoon, any student can come to the headmaster's office for an hour and talk about their problems.

The school assembly is a purely British phenomenon, it takes place in the chapel. On Fridays it lasts a little longer than on other days. Something like an assembly, only everyone sits. Usually it is led by the director, they talk about philosophical and educational topics (about choice, about motivation, about goals, about how not to give up, gives examples of winners who have risen from the bottom for a long time, going towards their cherished dream despite failures).

Afterwards, there is an award ceremony for the children based on the results of the week. Music, sports, studies, extracurricular achievements. No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten! Moreover, the certificates are presented by the students of the final classes - they are almost adults, they are entrusted with serious tasks. First, they talk about the achievements of the week, and then the award ceremony. Everyone applauds. The whole school sits and listens ATTENTIVELY. No one picks their nose, bites their nails, looks at their phones. They are attentive to others, they are happy. As a former secondary school teacher, this really amazed me, because if our children were gathered in such numbers for just a conversation, everyone would be doing their own thing.

Then we were taken to lessons. Attended three lessons at Upper Six (graduating 13th grade). Design, mathematics, geography.

Design lesson. 9 students. We figured out the purpose of devices for storing information + music. We repeated the previous lesson, gave homework in groups. The teacher constantly comes up, asks, helps to discuss, pushes.

The students' motivation is a real project. They are trying to make the same thing themselves in order to take into account the wishes of buyers. Perhaps, next year they will present it. The head teacher who accompanied us said that this is how creativity develops. In such lessons they teach to think, fantasize, but this is not divorced from reality, since the project needs to be brought to life. The children do not react at all to strangers in the class, they are busy with their own business. But when we came up and listened to the discussion in groups, they answered our questions in detail.

Mini-groups, 3 people each. Division into groups at the teacher's discretion: the level of knowledge, integration of foreigners is taken into account. More boys.

Mathematics lesson 12th grade. We learn math to be useful in life. A special calculator that simplifies calculation processes. They learn to be useful in life. And not just formulas. The pace of the lesson is quite fast. The teacher is lively, encourages, reacts when something is wrong. The children get involved. Smart board, everyone has sheets of paper + notebooks. 6 boys, 3 girls. Solved equations with parabolas. The structure of the lesson is traced: review, independent work, discussion, new material, homework. Geography, graduating class. 6 people in the class. The topic is “the negative impact of an economy concentrated on one product”. Explained the task (2 diagrams), they sit and analyze. 5 minutes. Discussion. The teacher approaches each group, listens to the conclusions, then the groups mix, share impressions. + board again, then watch a video on the topic of the lesson, to consolidate. Everything is fast. The children talk a lot. 40 minutes fly by very quickly, there is no routine at all. And everything is built logically.

I was melting at lunch with the house mums and house dads: they all talk enthusiastically about their pupils. They know everyone by name, understand their problems. They try to create a cloud of care around them. I wanted to snuggle up to their warm wing myself.

We walked around the school - the children are not running around, they are smiling, focused. One girl offered to help take a photo. And most importantly - they look you in the eyes! In Britain, avoiding eye contact is generally considered very rude.

I spoke with the sports director. Everything is very serious here, there are many champions at the national level. At the Olympics in Rio last year, a Strathallan graduate became a swimming champion! You can get a scholarship for sports. Tennis all year round + Tennis Academy (if you are talented, they take you here, and you do not need to pay extra for lessons, they study during the day). At the same time, studies are never sacrificed, competitions are strictly during the holidays. 2 years ago, Strathallan won the Scottish School Championship in all categories, this has never happened in history! There is something to brag about.

They are also strong in rugby. Football - only in the spring; they play simply as part of sports activities. Golf - in the summer (their own golf course). A swimming pool, of course. A very strong coach. Brazil confirmed this. They try to give the opportunity to choose. If you do not like a certain sport, then you can choose another. It is very important for them that the child loves sports.

The sports fields are simply huge around the school. And they all use it! The children are constantly outdoors! Perhaps this is a racist remark, but there are very few Asians in the school, almost none. Perhaps this is important to someone. Is there something that I did not like? The boys' rooms are a mess, but this is the school's policy: "they did not come to a museum, let them feel free, like at home." And the sock-cheese smell. What can you do? That's life! And Strathallan keeps saying that they are preparing children for real life, with all its dangers and possibilities.

HISTORY OF SUCCESS BY POLINA KRASITSKAYA, STUDENT OF SCHOOL STRATHALLAN

Polina Krasitskaya is the daughter of Paradise clients from Krasnoyarsk, now Muscovites. In March 2019, Polina took first place in the UK tennis championship at Bolton arena, and we applaud her success!

Over the years at Strathallan, Polina learned to play chess, mastered canoeing. In these sports she participated more than once in competitions. Like Kate Middleton, she played field hockey in the school’s leading team. And netball too!

The athlete Polina also draws beautifully: her talent opened in the three-story Strathallan art studio.
Read more