Mumsnet Talk

Hi mumindoha - we too are living in Doha and are considering Windlesham for our child. It would be interesting to know whether you have decided to send your son there....many thanks

Please be careful if you are deciding on any of the schools under the Cothill Trust umbrella.
We are a small independent school in Brighton that was aquired by the Cothill Trust, which took over the running of the school in Sept 2012.

They have now decided to close the school and sell off the assets, leaving 150 children to find alternative arrangements and they are not helping in the search for new schools. The reason for this is that the cothill trust is not viable anymore and the schools under the Cothill Trust banner are hanging on by a thread - it looks as though other schools within the trust could be up for closure in the not to distant future.

Hi Buttercup38,

My two DS joined Windlesham in September( After a lot of research). I also spent time looking through Mumsnet. The advice was good and honest!

My DS never boarded before but they just love it. You are right...Windlesham has really lovely staff. Even though they have over 200 full boarders, they still seem to have time for everyone and really know your child.

We are very happy there. Please feel free to message me.

I toured Windlesham and was very impressed - with staff and students. It's a serious contender in our search for a Prep School

I can heartily recommend The Elms near Malvern as excellent prep for co-ed, strong pastorally, excellent preparation for CE in the big schools.

Lovely to see lots of positive comments about Windlesham House.

My DH used to work there - it was a lovely place.

anabellee, can I suggest you start a new thread with both schools in the title thread? You'll get more traction.

Please does anyone have thoughts on Wellesley house school and on Sandroyd school. Trying to find a very good co-ed prep for my DS and DD. Must have is fantastic pastoral care, good CE and schilarship record. Sports and Music must be big. Wellesley is logistically better but I wonder wehre children go on to after.

What happened, Bunnyhop?

Thank you so much to everyone who has posted really useful advice. It's so hard to get objective opinions on the net - this is the place though!

Hello Mumindoha. I am also Middle East expat mother with DS who started at Windlesham House in Year 7. Here is link to an earlier trail from when I was looking for a suitable boarding prep which you may find of interest: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/1224493-Port-Regis-Windlesham-House/AllOnOnePage I cannot rate Windlesham and its employees highly enough; academic and support staff are fantastic across the board. This is an extremely professional outfit with a lovely atmosphere, lovely pupils and parents, and a really kind and friendly feel. A big appeal for us was having decent numbers of pupils in school at the weekend. My DS, who had not previously full-boarded, has been very happy there. Do PM me if you would like any other details.

Eagle House is a feeder for Wellington (it is in their grounds) and attracts those who are keen for their dcs to go on to Wellington.

Sorry, should also have said that there are many more full boarders than the 38 official tally, as most of us like to register our DC as weekly boarders so that we have the option if we want to, but in practice, most of them stay in on the weekends! .

goinggetstough full boarders are spread from years 5-8 but with greater concentration in the last two (CE) years as some children prefer the flexible approach and are allowed to build up at their own pace, For example one of mine wanted to fb from the beginning and did, another took a couple of terms to build up the confidence. We loved the fact that the school supported her to go at her own pace. It was a great build up to full boarding at her senior school and she has never looked back. She wrote to the school after she left (unknown to us) to say that they had been the best days of her life! no comment on me as a parent .

Have also heard great things about Windlesham.

In the home counties area you might also want to look at
Winchester House,
Swanbourne House
Eagle House.
I have friends with children who board at all three of these schools and love them.

BCBG congratulations on your DC's academic scholarship. As you have DC at Wellesley can I ask about the full boarders. In the inspection report 2011 it says there are 38 full boarders. Do you know if they are evenly spread across the years from 7 - 13 years or do they tend to be concentrated in the last 2 years? Thank you.

Well each to his own, but four of ours have gone through Wellesley (one still there, full boarding very happily) and one with excellent Academic Scholarship to senior school.

Enjoy your tour of Windlesham House. The Headmaster started the tour and then just walked into a classroom and asked two children to continue it. He then encouraged us to ask them any questions we wanted on the tour. The children were delightful and told us everything we wanted to know. It was so funny!

We were going to look at Ashdown House, but we found out that the Head is leaving at Christmas. his deputy is taking over and then leaving in the summer. Not a happy ship!

TinTin you are confirming all I have heard about Windlesham it sounds ideal for us. We will definitely be contacting them and visiting.
Thanks everyone

Hi there,

First post, but hopefully something that may help. We are also in your situation We attended the Independent Schools show in London last weekend. A friend of mine told me to go, and all the schools you mentioned were there.

From the outset I had a clear criteria in mind. 1. Must have lots of boarders at the weekends- none of this everyone goes home on Saturday! 2. Good scholarship results and varied selection of feeder schools. 3. Caring staff and strong pastoral care.

What was really interesting was some school stands were extremely 'quiet', but the one which had the most interest was Windlesham House. By chance, my hb met some of his work colleagues at the stand and they were raving about the school in particular the friendly atmosphere.

We narrowed down our choice to 4 schools and visited them this week. Ludgrove was not for us..just not the right feel.
Dragon..lovely school..but stuck in the middle of the city.
Port Regis...amazing facilities, but few weekend boarders.
Windlesham House...loved it! All the reviews on here were very accurate. Lovely feel, lots of boarders at weekends, friendly staff and only 20 minutes from Gatwick Airport!

Booked both my sons in for two nights of trial boarding and they loved it and wanted to stay and not go back to their school in HK!

So there you have it, Windlesham House it is for us!

Wellesley House in Broadstairs. fabulous small prep punching far above its weight (see Tatler Guide) and pastoral support is second to none. Expat and services children there too. Strong feeder to Eton, Harrow etc plus all the usual senior schools