George's Story

George (6.2) joined Radley in September 2021 having been awarded a Sixth Form Scholarship. Prior to Radley, George was educated in the state sector, attending Desborough College in Maidenhead, one of Radley’s partner schools.

George arrived having received a strong set of GCSE results and was a promising sportsman. He has since excelled at the College and, at the time of writing, is predicted A*, A, A in his A levels, as well as bringing his outstanding rugby talent to the Bigside team. As he reached the end of his two-year Radley journey, we sat down with George to ask him about his experience and his plans for the future.

How did you hear about Radley College?

I was previously at Desborough College in Maidenhead, and first heard about Radley through the partnership work between the two schools. When I was in Year 10, Radley dons came to Desborough to give talks. I remember Mr Noone bringing snakes and one of them slithered over the top of my headmaster's foot … he was terrified of snakes!

What were your first impressions of Radley?

When I first applied, I thought it'd be unlikely I’d be successful because of how different the schools were. When I visited Radley, it felt like a different world.

I’m a bit ashamed to say that my biggest concern was that I thought Radleians would feel “I'm better than you”. But that just wasn’t true, it was the nicest surprise to realise that no one at Radley really cares where you've come from. After just a couple of months, I felt like I'd known the other boys for years, because, unlike day school, you're with your friends 24/7.

My friends from home were quite sceptical to start with about whether or not I’d change, but they’ve openly told me since that I fundamentally haven’t, which is nice to hear! Although, they do like to tease me that I sound a bit posh now! I don’t think it’s true, but they have to find something. It’s great to now have friends both at Radley and at home that I’m still close to.

What appealed to you most about joining Radley?

The quality of Bigside was definitely one of my strong motivations for applying to Radley. At Desborough, there were some rugby sessions after school, but the main focus was on football. Before Radley, I had played rugby for 13 years for my local Rugby Club – I still go back and play for them and see my friends when I can.