Cothill House

[ArabellaT]

Hi I'm looking for up to date views on Cothill House please. The posts I can find on here are from a few years ago. Interested in academic offering and pastoral care and anything else you think is relevant. Thank you.

I have sons at Cothill and love it. It's a proper country prep, unashamedly all about boyhood, and boys who are encouraged to be happy, busy and polite. Broad entry (ie not selective) but narrow exit: sending boys to a fairly tight set of top public schools. This matters because you rarely see Cothill boys going to senior schools in dribs and drabs, so they can retain friendships made as youngsters. The teaching staff are brilliant, both in getting the best out of boys academically, but as characters, with just the right amount of quirk to be fun and interesting. Because it is full boarding all the boys are in it together, and there is great camaraderie, and very little consciousness of privilege or status differences which might be more apparent in other places. Typical Cothill: there is a woodwork shop where boys in free time are helped to make anything their parents can transport home. In their first years it was all about wooden swords and shields, then bird houses, chicken coops, fishing rods... It's awkward to describe the parents as a parent (!) but if I had to I would say unstuffy and less shiny than with some other schools in the same set- no white Range Rovers, mink coats or bodyguards.
When you visit, it will look like chaos with boys zooming around, bowling cricket balls at each other and building dens. But it isn't chaos, there is supervision it's just not smothering. And all the outside time is a great antidote to the serious business of studying and preparation for senior school.

Apologies Arabella, I should have read your question more carefully.
On pastoral care: the first year is pretty small- not many full boarders at eight- but those who do start then form a pretty solid core. The emphasis for youngest boys is clearly on settling in and feeling happy not homesick. So lots of distraction so the smalls are too busy to miss home- trips, inter-dorm pillow fights, pyjama football etc. The Head of Year is more like Minister of Fun. More seriously, the first year forms are all in the main house where the Headmaster and his family live, and there is a genuine sense of care. Behaviour is carefully monitored and sny pastoral issue I have needed to raise has been immediately, effectively and sensitively dealt with. The second years live together in a separate house. It's the point where the year group really starts to expand, and the school works hard to build their shared experience and confidence. In the fourth year (Ms) every boy spends a full term in France, with total immersion in all things French. By this time they will have gone through lots of senior school preparation and the academic demands are much higher. I think it speaks volumes that the school is confident enough to take them out of the Common Entrance millrace for a term, and it seems something that is genuinely adored by the boys, and they come back with a wider friendship group, more confidence, relaxed and ready for the last push. The Remives are housed away from the main body of the school. The idea is to give them more space and responsibility to get ready for exams and senior school. I think it's also good for the younger boys that the 13 year olds are less of a dominant presence than they could be if all continually on site together.
Academically, I would say Cothill is strong but not psycho. There is a breadth of ability, including some fiercely bright and others not so much. There are several streams as boys progress up the school so plenty of stretch, but it couldn't be called a hot house. My assessment would be, your son will get into whichever school is right for him, including the most academically demanding, but they would probably not want to 'force' a boy into a school he couldn't enjoy. And if you are determined on a KS or Winchester Election there are surer routes. Perhaps just as importantly, Cothill boys have a good reputation at senior schools as being really well prepared for public school life.
I've probably gone on too long. Sorry about that to anyone sho has lost the will to live! Good luck with your search wherever it takes you.

Hi, another Cothill parent here. Very happy with it - and we only live 45 mins away and weren’t looking for a boarding or indeed a single sex prep option! It’s a very special world that is that way because of only being full boarding. I endorse basically everything Hameldown says. There are a few minor niggles - they seem to lose a LOT of stuff (though that may just be my boys!) and I get quite a lot of clothes back belonging to others, but it is a minor price to pay for my boys being so happy. There is a certain lack of organisation generally but that doesn’t affect the academics/sports/pastoral care, and is the flip side of the lovely informal atmosphere. As parents we tend to think that there is a typical Summerfields parent and a typical Cothill parent and they are total opposites - probably a huge generalisation but with a grain of truth to it!

Ox do please explain - what is the difference between a summerfields parent and a cothill parent? Genuinely interested! And how are both of these different from a Dragon parent?

Sorry have only just seen this - I’d say a Summerfields parent is generally a bit more flashy/competitive, a Cothill parent is more relaxed/low key/old school. They are nice/easy/non-gossipy. Don’t know many Dragon parents, and I suspect they are quite a broad church as it's so big but, based on those I do know, perhaps more media and fairly ambitious?
Obviously all this is a total generalisation/lighthearted...!

I love this @Ox136jl As a parent who's due to enter the fray over next few years I'm actually very interested in current parents' take on this aspect of the various preps we are considering. Lighthearted and generalized though it may well be! I'd love you to 'do' Caldicott and Papplewick for me

Thank you very much @ox136jl

Had suspected that might be the case...

Years ago when I looked at Cothill it appeared to have almost everything one could wish for - but the total absence of any bursaries for new entrants suggested an extremely closed world, which was the opposite of what we wanted. (We went with one of the other places mentioned above.)

Curious to know if their policy has changed ...

GeorgeTheBleeder
No means tested bursaries at Cothill- I guess that's how they keep the fees down (!). It doesn't feel like a closed world though, perhaps because the boys seem pretty unflashy and not materialistic. I found much more mum-upmanship when my boys were in our local village school....

I was thinking the same thing George.

Most schools do not use the school fees to pay for bursaries. A school that feeds into prestigious schools, where the students will mostly likely end up in Russel group and be heads of enterprise etc. should not have that much trouble organising a bursary fund to keep up their charitable status.

This actually reminds me of schools like Wetherby and the A plus group - who are all about profits and money.

That should read Alpha plus group.

My son was at Cothill, having 2 other children there in its hayday, We hoped and prayed this would be the perfect place for our child’s future. He is bright, outgoing, positive and has never had any problems in school. We were surprised there were only 14 boys in the whole year but mr Bailey the headmaster reassured us this was ideal and nothing to worry about. I noticed my son started becoming withdrawn and unhappy, when I asked him said the boys weren’t very friendly. I mentioned it to the matron who promised she would look into it. When my son came home for the weekend he told me about serious physical attacks by boys in his own year. I reported it to 3 senior members of staff including the head master. They promised to deal with it but nothing was done. We felt we had no choice but to remove him from the school. The aftermath has been horrendous.. and threatening. I would never send my child to this awful school again. I don’t think they have the children’s best interest at heart at all..so sad for a school that used to be amazing. I put it down to the headmaster personally..

Schoolshocksituation when did this happen ?

@Schoolshocksituation I'm sad to see you in such a bad place. It's almost impossible to express how unlike our experience of Cothill this is. I've had two DS at Cothill and the school as a community has seen them through the ups and downs of boyhood in a way that has kept them safe and happy but also helped them grow, taking responsibility and learning from mistakes. Whenever there has been the slightest concern the school has been onto it immediately; responsive to our wishes, sensitive to the needs of the boys and decisive. Of course, full boarding isn't right for every family, and both boys and parents go through a period of adjustment that isn't always easy; I think some mothers struggle more than the children and their unhappiness can rub off on the DS. But the very small first year (Y4) means that no boys are under the radar, and with both my DS I could see the school making huge efforts to ease them into boarding. And ALWAYS the Baileys at the heart of the school: always visible, always available and always ready to listen.

The pastoral care and support from HM, teachers, Chaplain, House Parents and of course Jane have been excellent for my two DS. Over several years' involvement with the school (not finished yet) I've seen one or two examples of boys with problem behaviours. I've known about it because it's not brushed under the carpet. The school has worked with the boys and helped them come through it as part of a community ('it takes a village to raise a child' etc). The one case, some years ago, where a boy was repeatedly handy with fists he was expelled, and again the other children knew about it and understood this was completely unacceptable at Cothill.

Likewise my experience has been wholly positive and have felt caring for the boys is right at the heart of Cothill and is Mr Bailey's main priority.

Lovely review of Cothill in new GSG edition.

Here’s the last bit...

Years 4 and 5 may now go home after games on Saturday and return on Monday morning if they wish. School doesn’t see this as a dilution of the boarding ethos, but rather an expansion: 'We want to make it easier for those full boarding families who aren’t quite ready.' Boarding accommodation for ages 8 to 12 is based in the main school building, with the youngest children under the direct care of Mr and Mrs Bailey and a house parent. Dorm rooms compete for a coveted weekly tidiness award. Year 8 now reside regally in ‘Bowlers’, a swish outpost across the games field where boys say they develop a bit of independence. Even in this new facility, boys sleep in (roomy) dorms of up to 12 beds. ’Tis the Cothill way! Twenty minutes reading time for all each night; reading prefects may read to the younger boys. Homesickness — usually brief if it occurs at all — is dealt with sensitively and boys may phone home whenever they like. Mental health issues are addressed by the school counsellor (unusual to find in a prep school) and Cothill has been able to support boys with a range of challenges.

Cothill is something of leap of faith and might not suit families keen on the more bureaucratic trappings of 21st century school life. Health and safety is observed, but not worshipped, and much is accomplished on trust. For those it suits, the school provides a magical five years and a superb underpinning for all future education.

Hi everyone, having done some research on Cothill and talked to a few parents, I have heard some really great things.

However, I came across a parent who had a child at the school who informed me that there had been an incident a few years ago under the current head master where apparently a year 7 boy was involved in an inappropriate act with some other boys in his year.

From what I was told, the perpetrators were only suspended, not expelled, which considering the serious nature of the incident they should have been!

Perhaps the school was trying to protecting their reputation by not taking more drastic measures and not making a big deal out of it!

Not sure of @GoTerrapins account because there aren't many house parents across the years and the Baileys live in a building outside of the dorms. The little ones have a male babysitter figure and dorms are a tip and just feel sad.

A small pocket of boys at Cothill are just not cut-out for boarding but the school doesn't go far enough to manage them or take them out of the mix. Stealing is endemic and boys can be cruel with words.

This doesn't mean your DS can't thrive. Most boys know who to stay down-wind of but @Disclosure550 has shared a story which is not a one-off and same for @Schoolshocksituation. Shop around to be sure, other boarding schools won't have white range rovers either- most boarding families are armed forces, overseas, or country and horsey.

Don't go by the review in GSG (or Tatler or Muddy Stilletos etc). They're positive for every school, that's their job. They are not public authorities inspecting schools.

Dear @thenthereweresix

It was not my account but that of the Good Schools Guide.

However we did then send our boy there this year so I can provide a first hand correction to YOUR account on a number of facts.

1. the Baileys DO live in the same building as the dorms, just like GSG said.

2. the year fours DO have a fantastic houseparent who runs their boarding activities, takes them on outings, generally teaches them how to settle in at Cothill, and they all adore him. What more do you want? (You sound very mean spirited.)

3. the year fives and eights also have their own houseparents, great role models who understand the way boys that age think and what they need. The sixes and sevens are sharing a fabulous houseparent BUT remember half of the year sevens are normally away in France at Sauveterre at any one time under the care of the Directeur there.

4. the main building dorms are definitely not “flashy” but they are cheerful, cosy and most importantly the boys feel at home in them. Our son’s dorm is covered with drawings and tinsel and has a Christmas tree in it right now. And they do have weekly tidiness competitions just like GSG says.

5. I don’t know about stealing - many things seem to go missing but then turn up again, which suggests to me that boys are careless with leaving their stuff lying around, which is common to boys everywhere.

6. re bad behaviour, all schools and workplaces have the occasional person who does bad things. What matters is how it is dealt with. Everything I have seen is that even the slightest hint of bad behaviour is stopped before it has a chance to start. But I would also like to think that any child who breaks school rules, is entitled to compassion and privacy, and therefore people who share “Chinese Whispers” rarely know the full story and are not in the best position to judge.

Yes the GSG is not an official inspection but looking back at the GSG report now our son is at the school it seems very accurate to us.

My experience is over several years, not the first three months. It is not meant to be mean spirited. I did not know that they had a live-in 'houseparent' now and haven't read GSG so accept this part is wrong.

I’ve had two DS go right through Cothill from 8-13. I’d endorse entirely what Hameldown, Wallabrook and Goterrapins have said. I would especially single out the pastoral care from the Baileys and houseparents from each year, and although you wouldn’t call it buttoned up the discipline is good, not least because the staff really know the boys. After outgrowing prep school my DSs look back on their Cothill days with enormous fondness, still wear their Sauveterre and Leavers hoodies, read their year books and even have a painting of the school in the kitchen. They still talk about favourite teachers who inspired them, and the fun they had. I’ve seen a lot of schools through family, friends and matches, and don’t ever regret our choice of Cothill for a moment- it’s a wonderful place