This guide is written for international families considering Millfield School, a co-educational boarding and day school in Somerset, England. The school’s website says it serves boys and girls aged 2 to 18 across four stages: Pre-Prep (2-7), Prep (7-13), Senior (13-16) and Sixth Form (16-18). Every fact below is drawn from the official website as accessed on August 4, 2026, and the fees quoted are the published 2026-27 termly rates.
Who Millfield Is and Where It Sits
Millfield School was founded in 1935 by RJO (Jack) Meyer, who returned from India with seven Indian boys, six of them princes, and based the school in a house rented from the Clark family of Clarks shoes. The school’s own FAQ describes it today as one of the largest co-educational 13-18 boarding schools in the UK, with 1270 students, of whom 960 are full boarders; roughly 20 percent of students come from more than 70 countries and a further 20 percent are British families living overseas.
The senior campus is at Butleigh Road, Street, Somerset BA16 0YD, and the Prep and Pre-Prep campuses are in Glastonbury, about a seven-minute drive away. The school describes itself as set in the Somerset countryside, 45 minutes from Bristol airport and two hours from London, with Castle Cary station a short drive away. Figures differ slightly across the school’s own pages - the admissions page cites 1280 students and 970 full boarders, the overseas page 1270 students, and the senior page 1330 - which is worth knowing when reading them.
Programs from Prep to Sixth Form
In the Senior School, Year 9 students follow a broad curriculum, and in Years 10 and 11 the core is English Language and Literature, Mathematics, Science and PSHEE, with a modern foreign language for most students and a wide range of options beyond it. Millfield School also offers project qualifications: the PQ Baccalaureate at GCSE level through a Pearson Edexcel pilot involving around 20 schools, the Higher Project Qualification on the 11@Millfield course, and the Extended Project Qualification in the Sixth Form.
For students aged 15 to 16, 11@Millfield is a one-year preparation for A levels, open to international and UK students. It leads to IGCSEs in English Language and Mathematics within a year, alongside world languages, science, humanities, computing, the HPQ and a character education programme. The school states that moving from 11@Millfield into the Sixth Form requires 22 points from the top five subjects, or 30 points from the top six for an A level programme, with English at B2 on the CEFR scale (equivalent to level 8 on the Edexcel IGCSE English as a Second Language).
The Sixth Form runs A levels, BTECs and GCSEs, with 24 subject areas listed on the curriculum page, including Art and Design, Biology, Business, Chemistry, Classical Civilisation, Computer Science and ICT, Drama and Theatre Studies, Economics, English, EAL, Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, Food Studies, Geography, History, Languages, Mathematics, Media Studies, Music, Philosophy, Physical Education and Sport, Physics, Politics, Product Design and Psychology. Each course has its own entry requirements, and the school notes that all courses are subject to change and demand.
International Entry Requirements and Process
Millfield School describes itself as academically selective, choosing on academic merit through entry tests, an interview and references from the current school. The application process runs in seven steps: contact the school, book an open day or individual visit, register with the registration form and fee (after which the school writes for a reference), attend an interview and assessment, receive an offer, receive joining information and house placement, and arrive on the Sunday before term starts.
For 13+ and 14+ entry, candidates have an interview of around 30 minutes with a senior member of staff and sit a computer-based verbal and non-verbal reasoning assessment that takes just under an hour and cannot be prepared for. For 16+ entry, candidates need a satisfactory reference with GCSE or IGCSE predicted grades, sit the same reasoning assessment, and may be asked to take the UKiset test before interview if they are applying from outside the UK. Offers for a full A level programme at 16+ are subject to achieving four Bs and two Cs at GCSE or the international equivalent. Decisions are usually sent a week after interview and assessment, or two to three weeks for scholarship candidates.
International students typically need a Child Student Visa, which applies to under-18s studying in the UK for longer than six months. The school says it provides sponsorship around four to five months before entry, once a place has been accepted and the necessary fees and paperwork are in order.
Costs for 2026-27
Millfield School publishes termly fees for 2026-27 that are applicable from September 2026 and inclusive of VAT, and the FAQ confirms boarding fees are the same for UK and international students. In the Pre-School, full-time attendance is 2,910 pounds per term. Pre-Prep (Reception to Year 2) is 4,380 pounds per term. Prep day fees rise by year from 5,550 pounds (Year 3) to 9,605 pounds (Years 7 and 8), while Prep boarding for Years 3 to 8 is 14,780 pounds per term; flexi-boarding is priced from 1,715 pounds for two nights per term up to 3,430 pounds for four nights, with occasional boarding at 90 pounds per night. In the Senior School, day places for Years 9 to Upper Sixth are 13,155 pounds per term and boarding places 20,205 pounds per term.
The day fee includes tuition, most school activities, a three-course lunch, games and prep, textbook loan, personal accident insurance, a contribution to travel and accommodation when representing the school, and internet access. The boarding fee adds breakfast, a three-course supper and laundry. International payments can be made through Flywire. Scholarships for Year 9 or Lower Sixth entry - in academic, art, chess, computer programming, dance, drama, music, product design and sport - reduce fees by up to 10 percent, and means-tested bursaries can cover up to 100 percent of fees in exceptional circumstances.
Boarding, Deadlines and Application Support
Around 990 students board seven days a week across Millfield School’s 19 boarding houses, and the school says at least 750 students are typically on site each weekend. Senior boarders have one compulsory exeat a year; Prep boarders have three. Open days are held in February/March, May and October - the next open mornings are 3 October 2026 and 27 February 2027 - and individual tours of around two hours can be booked during term time and holidays. For September 2027 entry, the Sixth Form scholarship deadline is 7 October 2026 and the Year 9 scholarship deadline is 1 December 2026. The 2026-27 autumn term begins 7 September 2026, with international boarders invited from 5 September.
For international families, the practical checklist is: align a visit or open day with the application year, register before the relevant deadline, prepare the reasoning assessment and interview, line up predicted grades for 16+ entry, and start the visa and guardian arrangements once an offer is accepted. The school notes that new students arrive on the Sunday before term for welcome events, so travel plans should account for an early arrival, and that an unaccompanied minor service is not available. Because fees, dates and course availability can move, treat the school’s official pages as the reference point for anything you act on. If you would like someone to walk through how these steps apply to your child’s age, English level and subject choices, our consultants at UniLink can review your specific situation with you.