For the next academic year, SWPS is looking to recruit promising athletes to join the existing pool of exceptional SWPS talent and form crews which can excel at the very highest level. Rowing scholarships are available for Year 12, with successful applicants receiving a discount of up to 20% of fees. These awards are highly competitive, however, so if your child would be unable to attend SWPS without such a substantial discount, we would strongly advise you to simultaneously apply for a means-tested Bursary.
Sir William Perkins’s School occupies a convenient site in Chertsey, Surrey. With its own stretch of water just ten minutes from the School campus it is no surprise that SWPS has a thriving and successful Boat Club. The School is nationally renowned for rowing with current and former pupils representing Great Britain, including Paris 2024 Olympic medallist Hattie Taylor. With numerous athletes representing Great Britain’s U19 and U16 teams each summer, Sir William Perkins’s is taking strides to further develop a world-class rowing reputation.
The club competes throughout the season, with highlights including the National Schools’ Regatta in late May, Henley Women’s Regatta in June and the Henley Royal Regatta in July which our top boats enter every year. The Club has extensive facilities including numerous ergometers, a weights room and Boat House containing an excellent fleet of boats. Further information can be found on the SWPS Boat Club website.
Students at SWPS receive top class coaching and support in order to develop their own talents and help them progress as elite athletes. If you have the potential to thrive in SWPS’s aspirational learning and sporting environment, and seek to reach an elite level of rowing in the future, you are warmly encouraged to apply now.
The ideal candidate will have rowed competitively for at least one year and gained considerable competitive experience. Candidates will be expected to adopt a professional attitude towards their sport, to make the most of the opportunities which they are offered. In doing so, scholars will also become great role models for younger pupils at SWPS, and inspire their peers to reach similarly high standards in years to come.
A successful candidate would be expected to have featured in finals of National Schools’ Regatta or British Rowing Junior Championships, with medals being desirable. Candidates should currently be in the GB trials system or have their sights firmly set on gaining international representation – either at the 2025 GB vs France J16 Match, or during their time in Sixth Form.
A desirable ergometer score for a successful female candidate would be 2000m Rate 24, completed in under 7 minutes 55 seconds in the winter of J16.
Candidates should complete the Scholarship Application Form, which will be reviewed by the Director of Rowing and successful candidates will then be invited for scholarship assessment.
Selected applicants for Year 12 will be invited to an assessment in addition to their general Sixth Form assessment morning. Candidates will be welcomed by the Director of Rowing and then begin their assessments which include a 1,000m ergometer test and interviews.
The process for Year 12 application to Sir William Perkins’s School is set out here: Sixth Form Admissions. Please contact the Head of Admissions, Jackie Williams, for further information about the admissions process, or the Director of Rowing, Chris Boddy, for further information about rowing at SWPS.
