Bedales was founded by John Haden Badley in 1893 to be a humane alternative to the authoritarian regimes typical of late-Victorian public schools.
The school became fully co-educational in 1898 students were given a formal voice by 1916, when the School Council was formed. Located on 120 acres of farmland, woods, orchards, and playing fields, students still follow John Badley’s ideal of educating ‘head, hand and heart’.
Bedales was founded to be different from the schools of its time.
Where others imposed conformity, Bedales nurtured individuality, initiative, and an enquiring mind.
True to its roots and founding principles the school places emphasis on collaboration and care for others. Our students are naturally ambitious and competitive and build strong relationships with each other and their teachers based on mutual respect everyone, staff, and students, are on first-name terms. This approach enables students to concentrate on the complex business of learning, developing, and becoming their person.
Bedales continues to be an innovative school we led the country in replacing many GCSEs with our own more interesting and more demanding Bedales Assessed Courses. Our students move on comfortably to university and beyond because they are self-disciplined, are already used to organizing their own time, studying in-depth, and to mixing and debating with their elders.
Our students are naturally ambitious and competitive and build strong relationships with each other and their teachers based on mutual respect everyone, staff, and students, are on first-name terms. This approach enables students to concentrate on the complex business of learning, developing, and becoming their person.
A glance at our online calendar of events gives a sense of the breadth and depth of the opportunities at Bedales. Here we encourage students to develop their interests and passions across a wide range of subjects and activities.
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