Oundle School Fees: Complete Cost Breakdown for 2026

Oundle School's boarding fee places it among the leading co-educational boarding schools, and the headline figure is the main cost. Alongside it sit a registration fee, an acceptance fee and an advance deposit, and a clear distinction between what the fee includes and what is charged extra. This guide breaks down the published costs for 2026, explains the one-off charges, sets out what is and is not covered, and describes the means-tested bursary route for families who need help.

The Oundle boarding fee

Oundle's published boarding fee is around £20,385 per term, inclusive of VAT, which comes to roughly £61,155 across the three terms of the year for the senior boarding year groups. Because school fees are reviewed and published year by year, you should confirm the current figure directly with Oundle for your child's year of entry, but this gives a clear sense of the level. It places Oundle among the leading co-educational boarding schools on cost. Oundle is both a boarding and a day school, with most pupils boarding, so a day place comes at a lower fee than the full boarding figure. If you are considering the day option, confirm that fee separately, as the gap between day and boarding is significant.

Registration, acceptance and deposit

Three charges sit outside the termly fee and fall early in the process, and Oundle sets them out clearly. The first is the registration fee of £300, including VAT, non-refundable, payable when you register your child. The second is the acceptance fee of £1,200, including VAT, payable when you accept a place, of which £720 is credited against your child's final bill when they leave the school. The third is an advance deposit of £3,000, including VAT, payable on acceptance for pupils resident in the UK, with a reduced deposit available to pupils receiving a bursary. None of these is large set against the annual boarding fee, but together they form a meaningful sum that falls before your child has started, so it helps to plan for them from the outset.

What the fee includes

One of the helpful things about Oundle's fee structure is that the boarding fee covers a great deal. Beyond tuition and boarding, the published fee includes laundry, games, access to the Health Centre, and use of the Sports Centre throughout the year, including the school holidays, along with the library, lectures and some entertainment. This is worth bearing in mind when you compare Oundle with other schools, since a fee that bundles in more leaves fewer surprises on the termly bill. It is always worth checking exactly what is included for your year of entry, but Oundle's approach of folding many everyday costs into the headline fee makes budgeting more predictable than at schools that charge widely for extras.

What is charged extra

Some costs sit outside the headline fee and vary from family to family. The main ones at Oundle are public examination fees in the GCSE and A-level years, individual music lessons, theatre and certain entertainment, and the usual personal spending and some trips. None is large on its own, but across a year they add up, particularly for a committed young musician taking individual lessons, so it is sensible to leave headroom in your budget rather than planning to the exact figure of the boarding fee. For a sense of how Oundle's costs compare with other leading co-educational schools, our ranking of the best co-educational boarding schools in the UK puts the fees in context.

Bursaries and scholarships

Oundle runs a means-tested bursary programme, and this is the route that matters most if affordability is your central concern. Bursaries are assessed on financial circumstances rather than talent, and they can reduce fees substantially for families who would not otherwise be able to consider Oundle, with bursary holders also paying a reduced advance deposit. A strong candidate from a family that cannot meet the full fee should still apply. It is important to understand how Oundle handles scholarships, because the school states plainly that no fee remission is attached to a scholarship: its awards, including the 11+ Entrance Exhibition and music awards, are honorary recognitions of talent rather than fee reductions. The financial help comes through the bursary, not the scholarship. Our guide to Oundle scholarships explains this in full, and our overview of school bursaries and scholarships covers the wider funding picture.

Is it worth it?

Whether around £61,155 a year represents value is a judgment only your family can make, but it helps to know what the fee buys. Oundle offers a strong academic record, a co-educational boarding community in a historic Northamptonshire market town, distinctive strengths in areas such as science and the arts, and a fee that bundles in many everyday costs. Set against that, the fee is high, as it is at all the leading boarding schools. The honest position is that Oundle is an expensive school and a strong one, and the decision turns on how those two facts weigh against each other for your family, and on whether the bursary route brings the cost within reach.