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Original poster

Horris Hill or Ludgrove boarding preps.

30 replies

Nessieflyer · 06/08/2018 13:30

We are considering these two schools for our DS for a 2019 start. He would be a full boarder so pastoral care is obviously very important along with academics. We hope that he will go on to Winchester or Eton and would love to hear from recent or current parents.

Thank you in advance.

OP posts:
NellyBarney · 06/08/2018 20:18

I was taken around HH by the head and his wife and very much liked the family feel of the place and how the boarders and the head's family literally share the same home. My DS would have been a day boy though so I felt he would feel left out by such a close knit boarding community. Friends of mine had their DSs board at HH and were very happy with it. Compared to other local boarding preps HH has rather basic and plain facilities but it's results and approach to teaching are most impressive.

Original poster
Nessieflyer · 07/08/2018 18:56

Thank you @NellyBarney, we are not local so are a little worried about the fact they offer flexible boarding at Horris Hill. Do you know if the most boys go home on Saturday ? Our DS would be full boarding so if the majority of families are local it may not suit us.

OP posts:
peteneras · 07/08/2018 20:07

Why only these two preps particularly? There are plenty of good feeder preps for Eton and Winchester and not being local, I'd have thought it's wiser to look wider afield.

EtonianMother · 07/08/2018 20:09

I second what Peteneras says. My DS went to a (day) prep school a long way from Windsor (so not even a 'feeder prep'), and still got in to Eton.

NellyBarney · 07/08/2018 22:15

HH doesn't offer flexi boarding, only day or full boarding option. Any local boys starting as day pupils are encouraged to board at least from 11 onwards. Although they now seem to actively look for (relatively) local boys with a fee reduction for day pupils and a bus from Winchester. But still very much a full boarding school with only a handful of local boys as day pupils and the vast majority fully boarding. Weekends seem very busy and even local boys who board seem to be only taken out for lunch or tea by their parents rather than go home for the weekend.

BubblesBuddy · 08/08/2018 11:08

If you are in the uk, I think being more than 1.5 hours away from a boarding school is too far unless you never want to see sport, drama, music and be occasionally available if needed. Otherwise, if boys mostly board and you don’t have to be there every weekend, then both schools are fantastic.

SirMister · 08/08/2018 13:49

We visited HH twice for our DS and we're bowled over by all it has to offer. Their drama offering is good as they have a drama (LAMDA) teacher from one of the 3 local theatre to come in and teach the students.

Our thinking of the time was to send our DS to HH as it seemed a good feeder for Winchester but then we thought that a child will potentially go through a lot of changes between entry at 7/8+ to the entry of a senior school therefore, Winchester might be right now but what if our DS' needs changed and he wanted to go for a drama/sports scholarship which Winchester is not renewed for (in fact Winchester have just introduced the sports scholarship this year).

Kids go through lots of change as they grow up so to be fixated on a feeder school is not an approach we thought was right for us.
We then decided to select a school which gives a more broader choice of senior schools (not just Winchester and Eton).
We also considered the list of activities our son enjoyed and really queried the school to determine what meaningful opportunities he would get to pursue these - not just to participate but to actually compete.
That was our journey and I appreciate everyones journey is different.
Hope that helps Nessieflyer

BubblesBuddy · 09/08/2018 00:03

How odd!!! HH sends boys to a whole variety of schools including Radley, Marlborough, Harrow, and others. As if they all go to Winchester and Eton! When I last looked, none had gone to Eton.

SirMister · 09/08/2018 00:24

Bubblesbuddy.
See:
2017 Senior School Awards and Entry Numbers which are do not appear to be equally feeding a broad range of schools but rather leaning towards a handful.....Just reading from the results.....
www.horrishill.com/Results

Original poster
Nessieflyer · 09/08/2018 10:10

We are overseas but have family in Berkshire who will act as guardians for my Ds. This is why full boarding is important. I have heard of families who thought they were getting full boarding only to find out the vast majority of boys go home on Saturday. He will start in year 6 so this will give him a little time to settle in before the pretests.We do want a school with other boys of high ability who are going to Winchester and Eton however my family have said they will travel up to an hour so perhaps we can widen our search for the right school.

My son loves drama @SirMister so that makes Horris Hill very appealing but I have heard on the grapevine that most boys are very local and go home every Saturday until Monday morning. This would worry me. I need a school where boys come from a little further afield.

OP posts:
propatria · 09/08/2018 10:28

HH is a relatively small school,that it gets scholarships to Winchester and Eton but also sends boys to Shiplake and Milton Abbey shows it feeds to a range of schools ,decent geographical spread as well

Ridleyxf · 09/08/2018 11:37

Another option for a full boarding prep in Berkshire is Sunningdale. Lovely family run school.

SirMister · 10/08/2018 09:42

If geography is a concern for guardians then Ludgrove & Papplewick are great options.
If you want to venture further out from Berkshire, Summer Fields in Oxford is great for pastoral, academic and broad range of activities - it was the school we landed on for our DC.
I have also been impressed with HH and Cothill.
But of course there are lots of other great schools, these are the ones I have come across and seen.

Hope that helps.
Good luck

BubblesBuddy · 10/08/2018 12:20

That link is to scholarships. That’s not where all boys go! It’s a very select group of boys and others go to a variety of senior schools without scholarships.

SirMister · 10/08/2018 17:45

Read again Bubbles:
"2017 Senior School Awards and Entry Numbers"
....It is in fact, a full list of 2017 school awards including scholarships.
Here it is again:
www.horrishill.com/Results

Here's Summer Fields too:
www.summerfields.com/attachments/download.asp?file=150&type=pdf

Again, hope all this helps...
Good luck!

Original poster
Nessieflyer · 12/08/2018 12:26

Thank you @SirMister that is very helpful. Summerfields results look very impressive indeed.. You were obviously happy with your choice, do you know how many boys stay at school on Saturday night. Also do they come from a wide geographical area ? Do the boys whose parents are overseas get as much attention as the local boys ?

@Ridleyxf , thank you for your suggestion. Do you have first hand experience of Sunningdale? Are the boys required to stay at school over the weekend ?

OP posts:
peteneras · 12/08/2018 14:10

If you have designs for Eton, in particular, then Summer Fields would be more or less the ultimate prep for this great school. I've met many boys from Summer Fields while my son was at Eton and I was particularly impressed by the way they carried themselves; polite, articulate and confident when talking to adults. Summer Fields sends loads of boys to Eton each year and seems to have a permanent grip of at least two or three KS places each year (out of 14). It's one of these KS boys that I've come to know him quite well including his parents. They came from a town in Yorkshire, boarded at Summer Fields about 175 miles away and eventually Eton - about 200 miles from home. No problems at all. Left Eton after five years for an Ivy League University in the USA.

Another very good school to consider (very similar to Summer Fields) but only 8 miles from Eton itself, is Papplewick. This school would be nearer to your relatives in Berkshire - Papplewick is situated right next door to the world famous race course in Ascot. DS spent three years there and then moved to College at Eton. This Ascot prep is much favoured by prominent families from Asia, e.g. China, Korea, Thailand, etc. I was quite shocked to see how very young some of the boys were when I first visited. Some of them seemed to have just come out from wearing their nappies and now full boarding at this school literally thousands of miles away from home!

Iwantedtrianglesnotsquares · 12/08/2018 21:19

Windlesham house school in Sussex is a boarding co Ed prep. Have a look as they send children to all the top senior schools. (I don’t work there- just think it’s very good).

jellycat1 · 13/08/2018 12:01

@peteneras do you know anything of Sunningdale? We're thinking of preps in the area in a few years for our two boys. I believe Papplewick to be more flexible with boarding. We don't really want compulsory boarding before Year 7 but something about Sunningdale really appeals. You seem to be one of the most knowledgeable posters on the subject - sorry to hijack OP but hopefully relevant for you too.

Ridleyxf · 13/08/2018 12:32

My son left Sunningdale last year. Happy to try to answer any questions.

jellycat1 · 13/08/2018 12:57

@Ridleyxf thanks so much. I'll pm you if that's ok.

peteneras · 13/08/2018 16:13

Thank you for your kind words, jellycat1. I must admit my knowledge of Sunningdale is rather limited as I hardly come across anyone who's been there. Even at Eton I didn't meet many - maybe because of the fact that Sunningdale is not particularly known for achievng KS successes compared to the likes of Summer Fields, Papplewick, Dragon, Westminster, Sussex House, etc. I know it's a smaller school, about half the size of Papplewick and it's very family orientated. Some may like it this way but personally I prefer a bigger school that has a larger scope to allow a boy more independence which is what a boarding school is all about.

Have you seen which was shown on British TV a few years ago which gives a little insight into life at Sunningdale?

jellycat1 · 14/08/2018 06:27

Thanks @peteneras. Yes Papplewick is currently top of the list but I'd like to know a bit more about SS too. We are not set on Eton at all. Very open about 13+ right now as boys are very young. Yes did watch that film and thought it seemed very truthful. I did have a little blub when the lady from Hong Kong was saying goodbye to her son and trying to hold it together.! That's undoubtedly going to be me!

SirMister · 14/08/2018 20:03

Hi Nessieflyer
Summer Fields was either Day of FULL boarding until last year and as such, most boys (~66%) now go home on weekends.
There are lots of international boys from a number of geographies although, an increasing number of Chinese right now....in past years there were a number of Nigerians and I'm sure in future it may be Indians..... I guess it's probably through recommendations from past parents that international student end up there?
Nevertheless, it's a great environment for prepping kids for doing business with the world in terms of understanding the subtleties of cultures which exist in all. Although, there does need to be some checks and balances to ensure that the balance is right so as not to have one culture being more dominant than others - except of course the British culture, which is why the international students come to Britain for in the first place.
Not trying to be contreversial at all with that comment so please do go all anti Boris Johnson on me.

Ridleyxf · 15/08/2018 03:21

@jellycat1 sure, fire away