About us


Downe House is a globally renowned independent girls' boarding school based in the UK that has been offering outstanding education to generations of Downe House girls for over 100 years.

 

Innovative yet traditional, academic but with exceptional enrichment and co-curricular opportunities, Downe House values, challenges, supports and educates every girl as an individual. We aim to help every girl to discover and exploit her individual strengths to the full, wherever that journey may take her. With only girls in the classroom, in the science labs, on stage and in the sports field, both intellectual and physical confidence can grow without any stereotyping or gender-weighted expectations.

Whoever you are… Whoever you want to be… Be a Downe House girl

So what is it that makes a Downe House girl? The answer is rooted deep in the Downe House DNA and its seven key characteristics which are the hope and challenge for every girl – Collaboration, Resilience, Creativity, Aspiration, Compassion, Communication and being Outward Looking. No matter what girls go on to do beyond Downe, and the sheer variety of the career paths of our alumnae is testament to our ethos, they all carry the enduring imprint of the Downe House DNA throughout their lives. 

Being a Downe House girl means much more than a set of outstanding academic results but of course they matter, and we are immensely proud of our consistently impressive exam results. In 2020, 95% of the grades achieved were A* to B (or equivalent) at A Level and at GCSE, 90% of grades were at 9-7 and over 71% were graded 9-8. However, we place equal importance on equipping every girl with a well-established work ethic and a core set of traditional values, skill and beliefs that will allow her to flourish in today’s rapidly changing world.