Got £64k lying around? These are officially the UK’s best private schools in 2023

High Society magazine (or the posho Bible) Tatler has named the UK’s best private schools in 2023 and oh my god they’re ridiculous. Like genuinely, one of them has an open-air Greek theatre where they put on ancient Greek plays and others have their own art galleries.

We recently spoke to ex-students to find out what it is actually like at the UK’s most expensive private school, Brighton College, and it’s as crazy as you’d expect with people rocking up to own clothes day in Balenciaga and Prada.

But, Radley College in Oxfordshire was named as the best private school in the UK by Tatler. So, for £48,075 a year, your Tory junior can enjoy wine-tasting and opera appreciation as part of their extra-curricular activities.

These are officially the UK’s best private schools, in 2023:

Radley College, Oxfordshire

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Radley College won Tatler’s award for the best private school in the UK, 2023. Based in Oxfordshire, it is an all-boys school that costs up to £48,075 a year. It has an on-campus art gallery, a huge chapel, rowing tank and some of its extra-curricular activities include wine-tasting, opera appreciation and flight simulation.

One parent who had a look round the school said: “It’s always been referred to as ‘Rah Rah Radley’ — turning out the sort of chaps who feel comfortable in mustard cords and loafers.” One of Radley’s alumni includes Princess Beatrice’s husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

Brighton College, Sussex

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Brighton College is officially the most expensive private school in the UK. Fees cost up to £64,920 a year and facilioties include a £55 million sports and science building with a sea-view running track, 18 university-standard laboratories, a cinema-esque auditorium, a strength and conditioning suite with parquet floor, a 25-metre heated indoor pool, and a double-height sports hall with a basketball court and dance studio. Top London designers were also hired to do the bedrooms to make sure the “boarding facilities are a real home away from home”.

Last year, 89 per cent of all students got an A* or A at A-Level. You can read more about what it’s actually like at Brighton College here.

Uppingham School, East Midlands

Uppingham School in the Midlands costs £45,522 per year and has a load of weird traditions including the head boy and girls being allowed to have a pet goat on the headteacher’s lawn. Um, okay?

It also has the biggest playing field of any school in England and in 2019, 45 per cent of pupils got A* grades in their A-Levels.

Bradfield College, Berkshire

Via YouTube

Bradfield College in Berkshire is a mixed boarding school that costs up to £45,300 a year. Tatler also picked Bradfield as having the best school dinners in the UK with a dedicated catering team responsible for providing “diverse and interesting menus across breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week.”

It literally has its own open air Greek theatre and the school puts on an Ancient Greek play every three years. Made in Chelsea’s Sam Thompson is one of Bradfield’s alumni.

Shrewsbury School, Shropshire

Shrewsbury school in Shropshire was founded in 1552 and costs up to £16,004 a year for students boarding. The actual Charles Darwin went there and the school has a statue dedicated to him outside the building. Shrewsbury also has its own coat of arms, art gallery and ancient library as well as 15 different orchestras for its 807 pupils.

Featured images via Instagram and YouTube. 

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Student banquets and Balenciaga: Inside life at Britain’s most expensive private school

• Revealed: This is what percentage of Oxbridge students actually went to private school in 2023

• Posho ranking: These are the universities with the most private school students in 2023