Sixth Form at Leweston works differently depending on how you live it. Most of our Sixth Formers are day students, arriving each morning into a community that is genuinely alive and they leave at the end of a full day having been part of something larger than the classroom. Others choose to board, either occasionally on a flexible basis full time (with flexible weekends), and find that living at school adds a particular dimension to the experience. Neither is the default. Both are deliberate choices.
Day Sixth Formers at Leweston have real ownership of their time here. Free periods, the common room, the social life of the school, these are not things that belong to boarders and are borrowed by day students. They belong equally to anyone who is part of the Sixth Form community. Many of our day students are among the most present and engaged members of the year group.
For boarding Sixth Formers, the school day extends into the evening. Supervised study time, communal meals, and informal time in the boarding house become part of the rhythm. Some students find this particularly productive, study is the norm in the evenings, and asking a teacher or peer for help is easy when they are nearby.
What Leweston offers all its Sixth Formers is a community small enough that people know each other. At a school of this size, a new student, whether a day student joining in September or a boarder arriving mid-year, is known by name quickly. Friendships form across both groups because the common room, the calendar, and the culture are shared.
For boarders, the social environment is more concentrated. For day students, it extends beyond the school gates. Both have their own texture, and students tend to know which suits them.
The Sixth Form years are when young people begin practising real independence, managing their own time, making decisions about how they work and rest, and developing the self-awareness that university will require.
Sixth Former day students are already doing this in part: navigating their own morning, managing the boundary between home and school, taking responsibility for how they use their time here. Boarding Sixth Formers practise a different version of the same skill, in a communal environment where that practice is supported by houseparents who know them well.
Leweston's houseparents know their Sixth Form boarders. They notice when something has shifted, and they respond early. That layer of support is not available to day students in the same form but the pastoral team across the whole Sixth Form maintains the same commitment to knowing each student individually.
University readiness is not the exclusive property of boarding. Sixth Formers day students who manage their own time, maintain their own commitments, and remain an active part of the school community are building exactly the same foundations. Boarding adds a particular dimension, communal living, self-catering independence, navigating shared space, but it is one route among several.
Our Sixth Form common room, social norms, and daily structure are designed for seventeen and eighteen-year-olds approaching adulthood. That applies whether a student is here until five o'clock or until ten. Flexible boarding is available for families who want the boarding experience alongside regular time at home.
Come and see the Sixth Form for yourself. Talk to the students, day and boarding — about how it works for them. →
Ready to find out more?
Call 01963 211015 or visit leweston.co.uk to book a visit or speak to the team.
Leweston School is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in Sherborne, Dorset, offering Nursery, Pre-Prep, Prep, Senior and Sixth Form on a single campus.