Forres Sandle Manor

[Pompomtutuhasfairyfingers]

We're looking for an independent prep school that feeds in to Canford. We had planned to send our daughter (currently year 5) to Forres Sandle Manor but friends already there say there is an eery atmosphere at the moment due to staff inexplicably and abruptly leaving (including the head). Any ideas? We're looking for co-ed not too far out of Salisbury.

TIA

@newforestpony11 thanks so much for your reply, that’s very helpful. I see the deputy head from Walhampton is joining as Head in Sept, which seems positive. Also god to hear that kids continue to be happy, though sounds as though things feel in flux still to some degree.
Ps Walhampton looks very special, but I do wonder where kids go on to afterwards though if boarding is not wanted...?

We are moving to the New Forest in the spring (fingers crossed) and Forres Sandle Manor is the nearest prep school which seems to tick all the boxes. @JKR24 did you choose it in the end? I’d love to know your thoughts. We haven’t been able to visit yet. Are things settled now? This thread has worried me a bit!

Update: we have just seen that the school is moving to 16+ - this may be a good thing for us as it would avoid a move too soon for our Y5 DS. Still keen for parental views if there are any?!

Final bump, I promise!

@PamelaFff

Update: we have just seen that the school is moving to 16+ - this may be a good thing for us as it would avoid a move too soon for our Y5 DS. Still keen for parental views if there are any?!

As someone who has worked in independent school finance this is almost always because they are struggling financially , cannot think of any schools who have managed it successfully .

I haven’t had children at this school but I do know that the Deputy Head from Walhampton mentioned by @JKR24 has already left as they have re-advertised for a Head. My son was at a different prep but the gossip amongst parents there last year was that FSM was in financial trouble which ties in with what @Peaseblossum22 says.

The school isn’t struggling financially - their accounts are publicly available and recently were acquired by private equity - they have a lot of investment behind them and have some big, exciting expansion plans (new STEM building). Lots of private schools have taken a view to go through to gcse as a means of increasing revenue and moving with the times. This thread features more speculation than fact…

Name any school - independent or state, that wasn’t struggling financially during the pandemic…

@Thegrabdfromage are you a current parent? Would be interested to chat - we still haven’t made a decision.

@PamelaFff - sure, just LMK your email and I’ll ping you offline

As a current parent, all I can say is I'd wait and see before I enrol my children here. The school was recently bought by foreign investors and does have prospects, but we are yet to see these being implemented.

Are your children happy at the school / would you recommend it? We hear they have a new head joining in September who is going to be the driving force behind the change.

@Thegrabdfromage I thought you were a current parent? I’m local-ish and I know how competitive the prep school market is around here. Sadly the rumour mill about FSM is still in full swing with staff leaving etc. I’m sure with the new money behind it, it’ll be ok in the long term but it’ll take a while for all the changes to bed in.

I am now. Have signed two. I’m afraid your comments (in my opinion) are just that.. rumour and speculation and don’t really correlate to reality or the many conversations we’ve had with the school. There is staff turnover in every school at this time of year and there are by no means a ‘mass exodus.’ They’ve made great appointments to replace any leavers. From all I’ve seen and heard, it’s a hard school to knock, with a significant amount of financial investment behind it which it’s already spending. Unlike many schools in the area

Sorry, I was just confused by your questions - sounded like you were asking for opinions from current parents.
Completely agree that lots of schools in the area have nowhere near the financial investment. I suspect we’ll see a few mergers or schools being bought by bigger groups in the future. In fact, hasn’t that already happened with Moyles Court and Embley?

By the way, I have no link to the school - just two DC at a Salisbury grammar school which is full of ex prep kids, hence hearing all the gossip. I’m sure 90% of it isn’t entirely factual but sadly these things do make a difference to pupil numbers.