Best Sixth Form in the UK - The Week
In September 2026, The Week Magazine named Ardingly as the Best Sixth Form in the UK!
This national recognition is not only about the impressive A-Level and IB Diploma our students achieve each year, but also a testament to the wide choice of subjects and Sixth Form pathways available, the small class sizes, award-winning Enterprise & Employability programme and the excellent facilities – including Godwin, our Upper Sixth House, which brings together the whole year group in an ideal preparation for university life.
Tatler Unsung Hero Award!
We are thrilled to report that our very own Nick Marchant has won the prestigious Tatler Unsung Hero Award!
Nick is about to celebrate his 40th anniversary of working as a carpenter at Ardingly College and richly deserves this national recognition. His dedication and craftsmanship have enhanced our beautiful campus immeasurably over the years, as well as improving the quality of our students’ experience here in so many ways.
Since joining Ardingly at the age of 16 as an apprentice carpenter, Nick has made an enormous contribution to College life, including designing and building the scenery for over 100 College and Prep School productions (at a conservative estimate!); designing and building The Observatory for stargazing, including creating its solar-powered sliding roof; building an outdoor Science classroom; creating many other outdoor structures, including everything from the rose arbour in the Headmaster’s garden to the rabbit hutches in the Biology Garden; building the bell wheel for our Chapel; and creating countless wooden screens, doors, archways, bookshelves and panelling. Not to mention crafting the fabulous family of wooden reindeer that delight our youngest pupils when they are used to decorate our Farmhouse site every Christmas!
The Week – ‘Best Preparation for Life’ Award
The Week awarded Ardingly its prestigious ‘Best of the Best’ award in the category of ‘Best Preparation for Life’ in 2024:
“Last year, the school shifted away from traditional careers guidance to introducing Enterprise & Employability as part of its mission to equip students to be World Ready… Key life skills are on the curriculum for all students, including financial planning, and every year group takes part in an enterprise initiative.”Ardingly Wins The Week’s ‘Best Preparation for Life’ Award
Ardingly Prep Named Most Innovative Prep School in the UK
We are delighted to announce that The Week magazine has named Ardingly Prep as the most Innovative Prep School in the UK!
This prestigious award is in recognition of our ambitious Enterprise & Employability programme, which aims to develop the skills our children will need to succeed in their future lives, at senior school and beyond, in what is clearly a rapidly changing world. We are delighted that The Week has recognised that our World Ready ethos so effectively encompasses our Prep School, as well as our Senior School.
If this wasn’t enough good news, we are also thrilled that the editor chose this powerful image from Ardingly Prep for the front cover of the magazine, underlining the strong, resilient spirit we strive to foster in our children.
What a fantastic way to celebrate our innovative and forward-looking Prep School!
Tatler - Lifetime Achievement Award
We’re so proud of Dr Andrew Spiers MBE, who won the Tatler Schools’ Awards in the ‘Lifetime Achievement’ category. This is in recognition of his inspirational leadership of our Solar Car Project, which has inspired a generation of Ardingly students to design, build and even race solar-powered vehicles!
Independent Schools of the Year Awards – ‘Best for Student Careers’
We were delighted to win The Independent Schools of the Year award for ‘Best for Student Careers’ in recognition of our innovative Enterprise & Employability programme, which seeks to equip students with the skills and experiences they will need to thrive in a rapidly changing world of work.
Carnegie Centre of Excellence, 2024 - Mental Health Award
We were thrilled to be awarded the Carnegie Centre of Excellence’s Boarding School Mental Health Award. There is a very rigorous application process for this award, with Ardingly’s Pastoral Care & Wellbeing team submitting a detailed portfolio of evidence against multiple key metrics and being assessed against eight wide-ranging competencies. Here are some of the team pictured outside in our lovely new Wellbeing garden, adjoining our Health & Wellbeing Centre, but really this is an award for every single person across the College who helps provide outstanding pastoral care to all our students, every day.
Talk Education - Environmental Achievement Award
We were delighted to have won Talk Education’s Environmental Achievement Award! This is in recognition of our innovative Solar Car Project, the brainchild of Dr Andrew Spiers MBE, who has inspired a generation of students about the power of sustainable energy and enabled them to design, build and even race solar-powered vehicles.
Secondary Geography Quality Mark
We’re thrilled to announce that our Geography department has been awarded the prestigious SGQM (Secondary Geography Quality Mark)! This award recognises excellence in Geographical teaching and co-curricular activity, and we are very proud to be 1 of just 57 schools in the world to hold this honour.
Only 14 schools globally have been awarded the SGQM this year, making this a fantastic achievement. A huge congratulations to everyone involved in making this possible!
