Oxfordshire preps - advice on Abingdon, Manor, St Hugh’s

[HattyBee]

Planning a move to the Faringdon area (local villages not the town) in the next 6 months. Lots of prep school choices for our son (6) and daughter (8). We’re looking at Abingdon now it’s coed. Also Manor as friends have recommended. Cothill now coed too but not sure about that. St Hugh’s is closest option but we’ve heard good and bad - lots of changes in headmasters, good staff leaving, fees very high - but children happy.
Any advice and feedback from anyone at these schools would be very helpful!

Cokethorpe was great for my son.

Pinewood?

A lot of concern about the new- ish headmaster at St Hugh’s apparently. Brilliant deputy is going to Headington Rye.

The Manor is outstanding. A warm and down to earth atmosphere that is hard to replicate elsewhere, plus the new Head is fantastic. Highly recommend.

That’s great to know. Thank you for commenting - we will book a visit.

Thanks for commenting - interesting to know and confirms what we’ve heard about the Head. It would be ideal for us locationwise but very wary of a school with leadership issues at the top and teachers who don’t want to be there.

Personally I would avoid Abingdon esp if you’re keen on co-ed as it’s going to take a long while for it to establish. Pinewood perhaps?

I am not sure anyone is impressed with the head at St Hugh’s sadly. I hear the parents don’t like him and he is not good with the children too. Can’t make any kind of small talk to the point it is hugely uncomfortable to be around because it becomes so awkward.
I hear great things about Cothill which is becoming co ed - or might already be - and has a brilliant head.

Not sure I agree with the St Hughs comments - I’ve had two children (DD yr 1, DS yr 6) who have thrived there. New Head is excellent, really approachable and has quickly dealt with any issues, so can’t relate to previous comments at all.

The deputy head moving to Rye was a natural move as he stood in as interim headmaster at St Hugh’s and loved it, so no surprise there. Shame, but the replacement DH was the academic lead at Ashfield, by all accounts she is superb and destined for great things so looks like a solid hire - new ideas, new enthusiasms so much better than leaving things empty - obviously top quality staff are wanting to be at St Hughs so that must say something about what’s going on IMHO.

Abingdon schools are generally a mess at the moment, Cothill/Chandlings has just been taken over by Radley so days are numbered is the informed chat.. Manor is really good - led by a head that used to a teacher at St Hugh’s…small world.

Pinewood - in the middle of nowhere, but has been a popular choice in recent years for whatever reason, DH and I didn’t really feel the vibe on the tour.

As with all these things, best to go and visit the school for yourself when its running after open days and get a feel for how things run - worked for us!

Interesting to read some of these comments. Certainly not my experience of St Hugh's, the Head, or parent/staff feelings. Everyone's experiences are unique and it will really depend on what you're looking for. Schools should be chosen on your experience for your family, not others opinions (and who knows why they've formed them!!!). I'd recommend you visit all options, don't listen to negative gossip, and make your own mind up by asking direct questions. Good luck with the hunt.

Appreciate your thoughts but sounds like you may work at St Hugh’s - bit of a sales pitch. Are you the Headmaster?!!!!

We will of course be visiting a range of schools before deciding but IMHO the opinions of local parents are helpful - why I asked on here. You’re not going to hear anything other than how brilliant a school when you visit - and we don’t want to fall in the trap of signing our kids up to a troubled school (been there before).

Sorry, but things we hear about St Hugh’s and the new head aren’t good and make us wary. Massive fees too! Friend with children there say moneys being spent on superficial stuff like deckchairs and plant pots but teachers not being replaced when they leave - she’s really worried. We’ve booked to see The Manor so good to know that’s well run.

Nope! Just a parent who has been at the school a while - sounds like you’ve made your mind up without wanting any first hand information, so good luck to you and yours and hope you spend less time listening to gossip and supposition,

Passive aggressive and very defensive response! Cements my guess that you work there!! it’s not gossip when it comes directly from parents at the school - my friends’ opinions are just as valid as yours are. Of course appreciate that not everyone has the same view and it’s good to hear you are happy with the school. St Hughs is likely to be on our doorstep so we will go and see it and decide when we’re next in the area.

All I will say is look at the accounts of St Hughs. They lose a lot of money hundreds of thousands each year and I’m not confident they can continue to do so forever. I’m not sure a few deck chairs and planters will save them.

Totally agree HattyBee. Extremely defensive response. Rather typical of the headmaster from what we hear actually on the dinner party circuit! Combined with the lack of posting history.
Obviously these conversations happen amongst parents and everyone knows all the gossip that goes on in an area with such a high concentration of prep schools and St Hugh’s has had a lot of bad publicity over the last year. Cothill appears to be doing extremely well out of it.

If headmasters of failing prep schools are the topic of discussion on your dinner party circuit, they must be dreadfully boring.

Ha! Absolutely! But this is the chat when you live in the countryside!

Back to your original question as it seems to have got a bit sidetracked on this thread….
You should work backwards when considering these schools. Would you consider boarding senior schools or leaning more towards local day schools? St Hugh’s is a more traditional prep in that a good proportion of its pupils move onto boarding schools at 13+. Pinewood a large amount of pupils move on to Marlborough. The Manor/Chandlings only goes up to 11 so Oxford/Abingdon day schools are more their target destination. If you want all through schools without the stress of lots of entrance exams then Abingdon/Cokethorpe preps should be considered.
All schools are good at what they offer- we have two children at St Hugh’s and are happy. Lots of our friends have been happy with The Manor.
Only you know what kind of school will suit your child so have a look and keep an open mind. The area of Oxfordshire you’re looking at is very well catered for all kinds of private schools, best of luck with your search.

Thank you for your helpful and measured response jmnjp - absolutely right that things got sidetracked - quite amusing but not what I was intending when asking the question!!! You’re right about thinking about the next step too and where preps feed to. Not given senior schools much thought yet but need to factor this in. appreciate the good advice.

Ha! I just thought that response was really odd - way too much detail especially on the incoming deputy head - a parent wouldn’t know all this and call them “a solid hire”. Defo written by a member of staff who wasn’t very clever disguising this! Bit desperate to rubbish the other schools at the same time.
didnt anticipate this becoming so contentious but quite amusing!!!

Cokethorpe would be another option if you want an all the way through school.

Their new head coming in actually does sound like a ‘solid hire’ too!! 😂😂

Tbh op your response are quite defensive .

If people take the trouble to post, you don’t need to critique what you thought of their advice.

It does make it sound like you had already formed opinions you wanted confirmed.

I'm not one to post on MN - more a passive scroller - but this trail worries me. I work in a local prep school. I go to St. Hugh's for fixtures but, otherwise, have nothing to with the school. I have met the Head a few times, and spoken to a number of people that speak highly of him, and the pupils, parents and staff I meet seem, in the main, to be happy - happier than at a couple of local schools I've been to!

In the current climate of fear around schools closing, these kind of discussions can have a hugely negative impact on whole school communities. Sadly, the (often minority) negative voices are usually louder than the happy ones, but these voices can result in waves of misguided support (look at our current political situation!) . No school is perfect for everyone but, sadly, the happy parents don't feel the necessity to tell the world they're happy. We have disgruntled parents and staff leave our school because it's not a 'good fit' for them (I wonder whether HattyBee fits this group), but the silent majority is really happy.

My real concern is that negativity can mushroom and cause a 'panic buy' mass departure. This is happening across the sector throughout the country at the moment and affects hundreds of happy pupils' education and hundreds of teachers/support staff/catering, cleaning and grounds staff etc. livelihoods.

Please be careful about what you say to who - yes be disappointed that your experience hasn't worked for you but please recognise that everybody has a different lens and deserves the opportunity to be heard - we're in an environment where families in the independent education environment need to stick together!

I'll step off my soap box now and disappear back into the shady undergrowth of scrolling through other people's posts!

I agree.

And it’s also dangerous to dismiss positive reviews as somehow not legit.

Of course casting about like this you may get some comments that aren’t valid - a jealous SIL who wants to badmouth the lovely prep she can’t afford to send her Dc to, or all sorts.That’s the nature of these threads. But letting everyone have their say is the best way to get closer to some sort of balanced consensus. You never know who the non-genuine posters are.

I agree that it’s normally the disgruntled, if anyone, who shout loudest.

We have disgruntled parents and staff leave our school because it's not a 'good fit' for them (I wonder whether HattyBee fits this group), but the silent majority is really happy.

Why are you suggesting she is disgruntled when she is trying to gauge the environment? There are also people on this thread saying they have positive experiences of St Hugh’s which surely balances the others who seem to suggest not so positive. She also asks about other schools. Anyone moving to the area would do this- it doesn’t mean she is ‘disgruntled’ herself! The normal thing to do is to ask opinions of those in the area, visit and make an informed decision. It’s an enormous thing to move areas and choose schools let alone finding a house to buy. Anyone with any sense is going to want to know what the ‘word on the street’ is which seems to me all that she is trying to achieve.

The lack of posting history says it all to be honest.