Duke of York’s Royal Military School, Dover

The country’s only state full boarding school, based on the independent school model, with the facilities and extracurricular activities to match. With the threat of VAT being added to private school fees, there is no better time to discover more about this co-ed school, welcoming students from 11-18 years, located just outside Dover.

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WHAT/WHERE?

In 1801, His Royal Highness Frederick Duke of York laid the foundation stone in Chelsea of what was to become The Duke of York’s Royal Military School (also affectionately known as DOYRMS) which was a school for the children of military personnel which opened in 1803 before relocating in 1909 to Dover.

In 2010, it became the first full state boarding academy, open to everyone, so any pre-conceptions about only being accepted if you have links to the military, should be left behind. It is a non-selective school with a focus on an all-round education, so everyone is made to feel welcome. There are currently approximately 500 students with a capacity for 600 in total and as the school is set within a staggering 150 acres, I think they might just find the space to accommodate them.

The campus is so vast that they give you a map on arrival which is essential to your trip until you find your bearings. Dover proves to be a popular spot for students to enjoy free time, thanks to good local transport links, so you don’t feel that your children are cooped up at school and not experiencing real-life once they reach the teenage years.

Military ethos and heritage play a substantial part at the school (more of that later) and students (past and present) are known as “Dukies” from the day they start at the school with “once a Dukie, always a Dukie” emotionally carved into their hearts forever more.

From the students I met, there is a real sense of belonging and community from being part of the Dukie family as one tells me, “You feel like the people you meet at school will be in your life forever.”

Former students regularly come back to the school for key days throughout the school calendar and many past alumni have helped to fund new facilities and programmes, such as the elite Hockey Academy, as they want to pay back to the school following their own experience there.

On a practical note, DOYRMS is close to major road links, Dover ferry port offering crossings to Calais and Dunkirk, Eurotunnel and Eurostar offering trains to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam as well as a high-speed rail route to London.

FACILITIES

The school was originally built in 1909 around a village model with a chapel at the heart of proceedings so there is a genuine feeling of community about the place. You could be forgiven for thinking that you have entered a film set as the buildings have all been built in the same distinctive Edwardian style and it does feel like a mini town with its own medical centre, plus the school had its very own post office back in the day.

There has been a huge amount of investment in the school over the years with a £24.9 million refurbishment project in 2014 delivering a new Sports Centre (named after notable alumnus Maurice Colclough, England international Rugby Union player), boarding accommodation, and teaching blocks, as well as a Performing Arts Centre. With my own children at a nearby private school, I found myself questioning why I was paying the extra cost when The Duke of York’s has the facilities to equal any of its local peers.

If your children are after the Hogwarts experience, their prayers will be answered within the school’s regal dining room with its dark panelled walls where we enjoyed lunch on the High Table which is a tradition they uphold on special occasions. Students are invited to join, and we had the luxury of table service with a starter, main course, pudding and cheese course plus one of the students said Grace before the meal. This is not just for visitors we’re told – High Table takes place regularly as a reward for students and as a way of relaxed interaction with senior staff to gain insights into school life from a student perspective for visitors, so you get a real sense of the traditional aspect of the school.

On a foodie note, DOYRMS has just enlisted a new catering company, in response to the student voice who wanted a more diverse and healthy option, and it has been a big success. There are homely touches too with pretty bowls of seeds laid out by the salad and soup options so you can customize your dish and there are still staple dishes like baked potatoes for those who aren’t enticed by the daily specials which was a very good tagine on our visit in case you were wondering.

The Royal Military Chapel of Saint Michael and Saint George, shaped like a cross, also plays a significant part in school life and is not only a place to congregate as a school but serves other purposes as one student tells me, “I am not especially religious, but I do like to come here to think and reflect as it is a very calming environment plus I can light candles here for family members.”

The School is incredibly well-equipped when it comes to Sport and surpasses a few of the local private schools in the area as you will find (big breath) an Olympic-standard floodlit athletics track, a full-size floodlit artificial hockey pitch, a purpose-built sports hall with four badminton courts, a state-of-the-art strength and conditioning suite, a dance studio with a Harlequin floor, a six-lane indoor swimming pool, four floodlit all-weather netball/tennis courts, six lawn and two hard tennis courts, six rugby pitches, three cricket squares, a sports pavilion, one full-size and one 5-a-side football pitch, squash courts, a floodlit Multi-Use Games Area, an outdoor climbing wall and indoor bouldering wall, a cross-country course previously used for the Kent Schools Championship, plus indoor and outdoor shooting ranges, alongside an outdoor fitness trail.

Four boarding houses were added in 2014 as well as the Centenary House for Sixth Form students which has the capacity for 200 students.  It has been designed to help to prepare students for post-school life as they can use the mini kitchens and all of the rooms are en-suite so the house is aimed at preparing for independent living.

We also liked the homely library, with 8000 books, where students can chill, take part in library lessons and are greatly encouraged to read for pleasure and read around their subjects. The Head does have a new AstroTurf on his wish list as well as a desire to refurbish the indoor swimming pool as whilst it is set in an iconically retro building, it does need a revamp so watch this space.

SPORT

Like most schools within the area, the primary sports are Rugby, Hockey, Cricket and Athletics for the boys and Hockey, Netball, Tennis, Athletics and Cricket for the girls. But in addition to these, the school also offers competitive fixtures in other sports such as basketball, football, rounders, rugby 7s, and boys’ tennis so all options are covered. Proof is in the pudding that the fancy facilities pay off as the First Rugby team is currently unbeaten against their fellow local schools including King’s School Canterbury and Dover College. In fact, the high-level sporting facilities has been quoted by parents as one of the major contributing factors for choosing the school for their child.

If your children are less interested in traditional team sports, they might like the idea of trying out air rifle shooting, badminton, body conditioning, trampolining, climbing, dance, functional fitness, gymnastics, health-related exercise, horse-riding, Latin infusion dance aerobics, swimming, squash, and mixed touch rugby so something to suit everyone.

The Duke Box gym, which is a fully equipped space for weights and floor work, is a very popular destination for not only working out but also Yoga, Pilates and Zumba. One student tells me, “It is better than the gym I use at home and is a big part of my day as it is how I like to let off steam.” Plus, many students take advantage of all those acres for evening runs around the campus.

If you have a really sporty kid on your hands, it is worth talking to the school about their collaborations with Ealing Trailfinders (Rugby) and the White Rose Academy (Hockey), where students can benefit from additional avenues for skill enhancement and personal development.

MUSIC & DRAMA

Music and Performing Arts play a big part at the school too. The Music Department comprises a suite of purpose-built teaching and practice rooms, with six full-time members of staff and two visiting instrumental teachers. From Year 7, there is the opportunity to learn an instrument free of charge and from Year 8, students can apply for Scholarship for a year’s free tuition, so they want to nurture musical talent as much as possible.

There are plenty of opportunities to perform along the way including the school’s own military marching band, which currently consists of 70 students, as well as variety of choirs, the concert band, big band and a rock and pop band. Due to the school’s unique status as a military academy, their musical ensembles have featured in a variety of television broadcasts as well as public performances of national and international significance.

For all things drama, the Nye Hall is a purpose-built theatre that seats 490 people on retractable seating plus they have a professional backstage ‘Green Room’ area with four changing rooms so big-scale productions often happen here with High School Musical proving to be a big recent hit with students and parents alike. Past productions have also included West Side Story, Cabaret, The Phantom of the Opera, Guys and Dolls and Hairspray so they aim big here to match the ambition and talent of the students.

The Drama Department are keen to inspire talent as much as they can so free LAMDA acting tuition is offered to all students as part of their extensive extracurricular programme and students can work towards an Arts Award offered in Dance, Drama, Art and Music. There is a drive to encourage student led performance where students take the leads as stage and script managers plus, they also create the costumes too so independent thinking is encouraged in all aspects of the learning process.

The dance studio, with its Harlequin sprung floor, also got the big thumbs up from Muddy as the emphasis is on learning as many disciplines as possible ranging from African contemporary and Bollywood through to the more traditional Ballet and Jazz plus students can choose Dance as an A-Level or BTEC choice.

As one teacher from the department tells us, “We want to incorporate as much cultural diversity into our performances as possible, so we encourage our students to influence the programme alongside us teaching the core dance disciplines too.”

ART, ICT & DT

Students have benefited from the Alumni who have contributed to the school by buying computers for the IT department and there is also a 3-D printer on site which the students have built so every step of the way is hands-on. Computer Games Development and Mobile Apps Development are an option for those students wanting to enhance their IT skills as can study the Python, Java, and C programming languages.

Animation is a big trend at the school, and they are starting to see many students apply for courses at Portsmouth University where students can learn the artistic insight, technical skills, and creative vision needed for animation helping them step into a creative industry, so the non-academic subjects are encouraged here too.

The Art department has their own kiln, and their own dark room and students often take part in local art exhibitions such as the Folkestone Art Trail. Fine Art A-Level is a popular choice for students as they can experience of a wide range of arts media including painting, drawing, sculpture, video, photography, digital applications and textiles.

ACADEMICS

It is a non-selective school, so all students are welcome but boarding suitability is a fundamental part of the application process, as the school wants to make sure that each student will make the most of boarding life and their behaviour will not have an adverse effect on others, so the interview is a key part of getting a place at DOYRMS.

The focus is to provide an all-round education and as the Dukies motto is ‘looking forward with confidence, looking back with pride’, students are encouraged to embrace all areas of school life and have a go at everything.

Kent has a good reputation for grammars, but you will find that DOYRMS gets the same kind of UCAS offers as these schools with many students choosing to enrol on higher education degree courses, with Durham, Sheffield, Leeds, Lancaster, Nottingham and Newcastle as their destinations, to read subjects which range from Law to Medicine, Sports Science, Economics and Theology and Religion.

In 2023, 83% of students went onto university, many of which were Russell Group with many students gaining lower offers from some of the top universities in recognition of the rounded, holistic education students gain. While others joined professional apprenticeships and employment; 6% of students went on to join the Armed Forces.

The school operates to the independent school model and Saturday morning school is part of their routine sport, performance and activities in the afternoon. There are plenty of add-on academic clubs where A-Level students can excel beyond the A-Level Curriculum. The Olympiads club is one example as it has been designed to challenge and inspire scientists through a set of local, regional and national rounds of competition allowing students to test critical problem-solving skills, promote creative thinking, and test their knowledge in new and real-world situations.

If there is an appetite for learning here, they will help your child feed it.

For those looking for the juicy data, A Level results for 2023 showed that 12% achieved A*/A, 39% A*-B and 71% of students obtained A*-C.

And if you like a story with a happy ending, one parent shared their story with us when their child first joined the school. “With target grades of 6 in year 7 and finding some subjects quite difficult as she is dyslexic,  our daughter worked hard and was supported all the way by her staff who believed and encouraged her at all times even when she thought she wasn’t capable. The GCSE grades she gained surpassed her targets Distinction*, 9, 8’s and a 7 – totally unbelievable. She is now about to take her A levels with a predicted 3xA* and has been offered a place at Cambridge.” 

SIXTH FORM

Centenary House is a great gateway to ‘real life’ as it is a mixed-sex boarding house (boys on the ground floor, girls on the first floor) and the students are given more independence in their day-to-day life plus more perks. The House has four dayrooms (Common Rooms), each with SKY television, sofas and cooking facilities. Students can visit the town daily, outside of School commitments, and at weekends they can also travel slightly further afield to Canterbury.

The House holds regular activities at weekends including barbecues, karaoke, the Centenary Olympics and much more. Half-termly offsite trips are also arranged, in consultation with the students, with recent trips visiting trampoline parks, the cinema, Bluewater and Thorpe Park.

Most Sixth Formers will take three core A Level or BTEC subjects and in addition to their core subjects, they will also pick one enrichment subject, such as Accreditation in Languages in Business, Further Maths, Chemistry, Biology & Physics Olympiads, Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), Gold Arts Award, Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Higher Sports Leader and TEFL. to enable students to possess more worldly skills.

PASTORAL CARE

The School Medical Centre plays a pivotal role in the school with two consulting rooms, a wellbeing room, therapy room plus there are plans for a sensory and communal garden as the school prides itself on its holistic and forward-thinking approach to health.

As the Head, Alex Foreman, tells us, “We pride ourselves on getting to know our students very well so we can identify any issues before they become a problem. We have a zero tolerance to bullying, our staff are trained in mental health, we have specialist nurses on site, and we have rigid safeguarding procedures in place so we do have the right framework in place to support our students should they need us.”

BOARDING

It is full boarding at present with the school even staying open during exeats for those students who can’t go home plus those who would prefer to stay as the FOMO is too great.

We are told that only a third do home for the exeats as there is always a packed calendar of activities to delve into – there are 70 different clubs to choose from including sports, music and drama and enriching experiences such as Combined Cadet Force, Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme, ceremonial parades and military band. However, the ‘Headman’, as he is known by Dukies, is looking at how a flexi-boarding model could work at the school so keep your eye peeled.

The school is currently divided into twelve single-sex houses, nine of which are named after famous British generals, one after a famous admiral of the Royal Navy, and another after a famous marshal of the Royal Air Force so playing into the military theme.

It ticks the parents’ boxes too while one parent telling us that “the Boarding Houses are like a second homes and are very welcoming and become very important to the children as they move up the school.”

THE HEAD

Alex Foreman joined The Duke of York’s Royal Military School in 2017 and is a great fit as his experience covers both the independent public-school sector as well as an inner-city all boys comprehensive in Leicester. Prior to Duke of York’s, Foreman had completed ten years in Germany leading a Ministry of Defence school for the British Forces so he is very familiar with the values and ethos that the armed forces can instil but is also keen to stress during our interview that the school is also “for families who have absolutely nothing to do with the military at all, but buy into our ethos, values, and want what this magnificent School has to offer.”

He is refreshingly upfront about the fact that the school needed a big change when he took over the reins as it did not have the well-rounded appeal that he has now instilled nor the sense of homeliness and nurturing that is also now evident across the school.  

As he says, “We want our students to have the best start in life and try a wide range of academic subjects and activities so they can discover what excites and motivates them from an early age. By developing a passion for their chosen field and learning key values at the same time, this will give them all the necessary ingredients to tackle their next steps in life and allow them to leave well-equipped with the skills they will need to be successful. We will do everything we can to support them on this journey.”

The Headman is also a keen sportsman and he has represented the county at Rugby, Cricket and Hockey and still coaches all three sports when he can, so he plays a key role within the sporting side of the school as well as the educational and pastoral side.

QUIRKS & USPS

The school has a unique 209-year-old ceremonial tradition and regularly welcomes both Royal guests and senior officers to act as Inspecting Officers at its parades. Their ceremonial Parades with the Marching Band are a unique aspect part of the school and a way for students to celebrate military tradition, culminating in a full Trooping the Colour ceremony on the school’s annual Grand Day. 

Students also take part in external events like the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall and the King’s Coronation celebrations in London as well as guarding the Torch of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey and laying a wreath at Dover Marine Station for Remembrance.

It’s a big moment when the Year 7 students take part in their very first parade and receive a presentation of their school cap badge and beret to mark the completion of their basic parade training and parents are invited to join these ceremonies too.  

One student tells me on our tour, “I found the military aspect of the school quite unfamiliar when I joined as the drills push out of your comfort zone, but everybody is so welcoming, so I now actually enjoy putting on the uniform and taking part in the parades.”

The school has an extensive storeroom with the clothing and kit required for the Parades so parents should not balk at the additional cost that this could potentially incur as it is all provided by the school.

WHAT ELSE?

DOYRMS are also known for their trips abroad to support academic studies and in recent years, the school has run a Physics trip to CERN, an Auschwitz History trip, various Photography trips, Biology, Chemistry and Geography field trips, language exchanges, theatre trips, and Sports Science lab-based testing.

In addition, the school runs an annual adventurous training camp and regular ski trips plus an expedition during the summer holidays. Recent destinations have included the Himalayas, Nicaragua and Costa Rica and the money is raised by the students and parents by fund-raising.

If you like all the gear for the great outdoors, you will fall in love with their very orderly kit storeroom where everything is impeccably labelled with all eventualities are covered. From water bottles to waterproofs, thermal socks to sleeping bag liners and everything else in between, including tents and rucksacks, they have got you covered. Quite literally.  

All Year 9 students participate in the D of E Bronze award scheme, so you encouraged to have a go even if your child thinks it is not for them and then Silver is offered to Year 10 and Gold in Year 12 for those who want to pursue it. As everyone has access to the kit on site, the whole process feels very inclusive.

MOBILE PHONE POLICY

Mobile phones are not permitted during the day until you reach Sixth Form when those students are given that privilege. For the other years, students can access their phones in the evening at their boarding house with some Apps blocked to ensure there is a level of control over the content being accessed by the students.

FEES

You will only be responsible for covering the boarding provision, as the state covers your child’s education costs.

Boarding fees for the academic year 2024-25: £7,110 per term 

If you are a member of the British Armed Forces and are eligible for Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA), you will only pay 8% of the boarding fee. CEA assists service personnel in ensuring continuity of education for their children, particularly during frequent assignments both domestically and overseas.

Boarding fees for the academic year 2024-25, for those eligible for CEA: £569 per term

Academic, Sport and Rugby Scholarships are available and can offer a reduction in fees or assistance with the cost of sports kit and equipment or travel.

WORD ON THE GROUND

We met a good cross-section of students during our visit who were all relishing different aspects of the school. One student, having taken on a leading role in High School Musical, is hoping to join stage school in London following DOYRMS whilst another quizzed me about how they could get into journalism, so they are an ambitious and opportunist lot and have obviously been schooled that the world is their oyster – and rightly so.

One student who is finishing Sixth Form told me that ‘the best years of my life have been at this school’ so there is an emotional attachment to the place as well as admiration of the physical facilities. Another told me, “I love the school in the Summer as the scenery is so beautiful” whilst another told me “I find the buildings very inspiring especially the Chapel.”

Parents when quizzed by Muddy have told us that “DOYRMS is a fantastic school as not only do the children thrive academically, it also helps them to aspire to be a better version of themselves” and another told us that “Once we walked through the gates, we all knew it was the right place” so that emotional connection exists for the parents too.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

GOOD FOR: Those who want a well-rounded education and are happy to board full-time life. The military aspect is a fundamental part of the school’s history and ethos so students will need to embrace that side of school life too.

NOT FOR:  In the past, DOYRMS was known for its tougher approach, but the school is keen to stress that it is not a solution for children with behavioural issues and the admission process is very comprehensive to protect the school community.

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