After an exciting summer of sport, the role independent schools play in the success of British athletes has been in the headlines, with much of the silverware earned by their former pupils.
A study by Good Schools Guide of the Paris Olympics showed that one in three of the 2024 Team GB squad went to a private secondary school. That is up from 24 per cent at the Rio Games eight years ago.
The Guide’s analysis also showed that among the 330 British athletes competing at this summer’s Games, 52 per cent of the rowing squad and 47 per cent of the hockey squad attended private schools.
Among the winners was Duncan Scott (Strathallan School) who in the pool claimed a relay gold and silver for the 200m individual medley to bring his total Olympic medal haul to eight since 2016.
Josh Kerr (George Watson’s College) took silver in the men’s 1,500m at the Stade de France with a personal best quicker than the previous Olympic record and leaving his great rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen in third place. This was the high profile race where Cole Hocker of the United States ‘stole’ gold while the other two were locked in their intense personal battle.
Scotland’s independent schools leave their mark across a range of sports – and nowhere more than in rugby. Rugby clubs certainly have more than their fair share of independent school FPs as members, and in Scotland’s 15-strong starting line up for the 2024 Calcutta Cup, six of the ten players educated in the UK were former pupils of independent schools.
Another summer 2024 success was Jacob Fearnley (Merchiston) who, having won the Nottingham Open singles title, went on to take a set off Novak Djokovic in the second round at Wimbledon.
Since the start of this century, Scottish schools have invested heavily in specialist sporting facilities, combining elite training with bespoke academic programmes and in some cases scholarships for pupils with outstanding potential.
Several schools now have dedicated sports academies; for instance Loretto in Musselburgh and St Leonards in St Andrews major in golf, Edinburgh’s Merchiston Castle in tennis and golf.
This term, Strathallan adds tennis and swimming academies to its existing rugby and shooting programmes. Alongside specialist coaching and professional-standard playing facilities, the Perthshire school has ice baths and infrared healing pods.