Current feedback on Hanford school

[Imabear]

Anyone have any current feedback on the above school? We’ve been to look around a few times but held back due to the changes in leadership and wanted to see how it pans out after the trust merge with Sherbourne Girls. Y4 dd is very keen but is such a risk. Would only be flexi boarding 1/2 nights as fairly local. Thanks

No personal experience I'm afraid but a boy at DS's prep has two sisters there (Y5 and Y4) and the family is super happy. So positive vibes, but no useful comments I'm afraid!

I also have three friends in their 30s/40s who went there and loved it but things may have changed a tad since then! 😂

Thankyou - that is really good to hear. I really hope it doesn’t change too much as we’ve loved our visits previously and it seems a very happy environment. Think we’ll need to go and have another look!

It's funny as also not too far from us but I don't really know much about it. Popular choices were Dumpton and Sherborne for prep that provided boarding.

I had a conversation this weekend with a friend whose DD is in Y2 at another leading SW prep but is planning to move her to Hanford as it is such a great school. Can't really say any more, but more positive feedback!

I didn't realise Hanford was merging with Sherborne Girls. Given Sherborne Prep recently merged with Sherborne School, will that mean that in effect one is seen as a feeder to one and the other a feeder to the other? Sherborne Prep is currently co-ed, but will that last in practice? Just speculating and not relevant to OP's post. 😁

I know the school well and it is a wonderful place, full of happy girls who are certainly academically stretched, but also nurtured. The merger with SG school was for shared support and the girls are not expected to naturally flow there - girls in Y8 this year are heading off to places like Benenden.

The numbers at Hanford have been dire for a while now. With Sherborne girls starting at year 7 there will inevitably be also another drop off now at Hanford as no one is going to go to there for year 7 and 8 rather than just start with everyone else at SG.

I disagree that everyone will
simply leave at y7. Why would you move a child who is happy, thriving and settled early?
I hope there will always be a market for extended prep - many children are not ready for secondary at 11, and many parents would rather save secondary for y9 and protect childhood a little longer until the teenage years. Whether that's enough to keep numbers up is the question I suppose as some girls may outgrow the school and leave early but that could have always happened. Maybe they'll need to increase intake in the younger years to balance any future early leavers. My understanding is it's always been a small school though - part of the attraction for some!

It’s not about people leaving, it’s about people joining. Whilst previously you’d have girls joining in year 7 for the last 2 years of prep - now with SG being the de facto senior school, and it starting at year 7 I can’t see why anyone would chose to go to Hanford for those last 2 years rather than join SG with the vast majority.

Oh I see - are the majority of girls in 7/8 new joiners then?

No direct experience with Hanford, but we’re local to the area and considering it for the future so interested in any info too.
I am curious though as to which schools brothers of Hanford girls go to as there aren’t any close boys schools?
Also speculating with a previous poster about Sherborne prep being merged with Sherborne and Hanford with Sherborne girls, about Sherborne prep being converted to a boys school… honestly hoping they will as I feel it’d make the most sense to have two single sex preps for two single sex senior schools.

I think most prep schools that go to year 8 rely on a bit of a top up in years 7&8 as they inevitably lose a few to local senior schools that start in year 7 ( including the grammars where we are) or to destination senior schools with their own preps that work as through schools ( eg Claysmore). DD’s prep school year 7 has had a lot of new students from another local prep that finishes in year 6 who will go on to the main destination school that only starts in year 9. DS’s year had this less and was a bit thinner- not disastrously so but they were a bit light on subs for rugby, put it that way.

I've heard there are quite a few Hanford parents with boys at Sandroyd.
I agree that feels neat to have prep and seniors routes split to single sex but goes against the grain as many boys schools are going co-ed (and girls) because there is some opinion that boys do better co-ed. I think girls still do better academically in single sex provision- though again this is getting harder to find in some areas sadly.

Thanks @LaPalmaLlama, that's interesting. Can see especially with sport it could be detrimental if you can't field a full team and be competitive! I'm hoping there will still be a market for those with children who just need a bit more time to enjoy being in a prep environment before being forced to grow up quicker than they need to.

It’s definitely the case that girls’ single sex is more popular than boys generally. I live in an area with single sex grammars- parents of boys are a bit “needs must” about the single sex aspect whereas parents of girls are at worst neutral about it. I also have a lot of have boys at coed and girls at single sex- can’t think of a single one where it’s the other way around.

It’s hard to know how the trust merge will affect numbers. It will probably help that they’re not next to one another ( it’s not like the prep and Sherborne or St Mary’s Calne and St Margarets). I also think parents tend to make a conscious decision on year 7 or 9. DD could have gone for year 7 but deferred to year 9. Prep is also cheaper so there’s that too especially with the VAT increase. And unless the current leavers destinations are heavily skewed towards Sherborne girls I can’t see that changing that much.

There is this tension for girls school due to the year 7/8 overlap but that’s nothing new- both schools talk their own book and parents have to go with their gut.

I know three families with DDs at Hanford and DSs at Hazlegrove.

Being a sceptic, I wonder if the general move to co-ed is driven by philosophy / educational benefits or more the need to get numbers up.

Any more recent views on Hanford? Our DD is unhappy at current school and like the look of such a small school as hopefully will be more nurturing?

My mother loved it in 1950s , with the Cannings & ponies , whereas her niece did not enjoy it .

It has joined the Sherborne Group ,
but I do not know
what the implications are .

I saw that their head left in the middle of the year but someone from Sherborne has taken over. It is tiny - I assume because of the Sherborne backing it is secure? Obviously don’t want to move our daughter to then have to move again.

On the link to Sherborne, I can only see it as a positive both in terms of shared resources/costs and a tacit encouragement for parents with an eye to Sherborne to send their girls to Hanford over the competition (and vice versa that Hanford girls may progress directly to SG over the competition). That’s basically why senior schools all over the country are buying preps in recent years.

My DC is at Hazlegrove which is not linked to Sherborne but send lots of boys and girls to both schools. However, I don’t know any who chose to move their girls to SG in Year 7 rather than in Year 9, and all of my friends with girls at Hanford are also waiting to Year 9 to join SG, partly because they are really happy at Hanford. I asked one friend with a daughter already at SG and it sounds like Years 7 and 8 are pretty quiet with the big intake in Year 9.

@Imabear what did you decide in the end? I guess your DD would be in Year 6 now?