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!

My recollection as well @MyFastLemur. Also, a third of all children last year got scholarships, half of them got more than one.They announced those on Instagram, so in the public domain

If that is true (and it is not exactly consistent with what I have been told by many St Hugh’s parents over the last four years) then why is the school so reluctant to provide up to date leavers information to prospective parents?

And why does it think that opening a senior school is a viable business proposition?

So no Eton and only one ( who was obviously a music talent) to Winchester? That’s not really constituting a feeder for those two …
Nothing wrong with that, but if parents are wanting that top tier route it’s not a strong contender.
Interestingly the girls’ mix looks a bit stronger …

Their website shows someone was last sent to Eton in 2021. Andrew Nott - three heads ago- had fantastic relationships with senior schools. It’s also going to be difficult to develop those relationships for the current head if he is expecting 50% of the year 8 year group to attend the not yet built senior school in future years.

@calliopespa quite so.

And that list makes no sense at all. Either it’s not accurate (which is possible as the school won’t publish data and parents don’t always tell the truth) or the school has gone mad.

The school says that parents want co-ed non-selective day for senior school, and that’s why they are extending up to 16. But only four pupils out of 45-odd from that list (allegedly) went on to a co-ed day school. Something doesn’t add up.

I have the leavers list from the last speech day programme and this is correct. Sadly, we agree that the senior school
move is madness. It’s not what we want for our children and fear it will change the whole nature of the school - it will impact on how the older children are prepared for entrance exams etc if they are moving on (which the vast majority will. who will want to stay when the experience is no different to the prep and without any team sport?).
I have heard that the student numbers are not that good for next year and it feels this sudden decision is a panic reaction from the headmaster - parents weren’t consulted and apparently teachers didn’t know either (how arrogant is that). So much will need to be invested in a project that will inevitably fail. There isn’t a senior school for the children to ‘move to’ just a small cottage which is being renovated. Proper senior school facilities will need ££££ and judging by the schools accounts, it hasn’t got money to invest. Scandalous to put such a fantastic school at risk - should just stick to being a brilliant prep and find a better headmaster.

Why would the parents or teachers be consulted? That’s just a misunderstanding of how business decisions are made. It’s not arrogance of the head it’s ignorance of the parents! The head didn’t bloody make this decision. This came from the governors. At least slag off the right people. They’ve decided that there is a need from their market research and the hundreds of conversations they’ve had with parents about onward schools. St. Hugh’s has a small majority of parents who are very vocal and professionally offended at any decision the school takes that doesn’t involve them. That leavers list is very much so right. They do a fantastic job with a very broad intake. They have fantastic facilities and solid teaching. They are putting year 9 in the old cottage not a whole senior school. It will clearly expand year on year. Cokethorpe isn’t what most want and there’s not another good option locally. Perhaps we could cheer them on instead of calling for heads on sticks…

I concede that consultation is the wrong word but on a project like this stakeholder research is crucial and this hasn’t been done directly with parents. They can’t open a senior school from zilch so if the school can’t already be sure that a substantial number of children are going stay for year 9 over the next few years, it’s not going to succeed. And my point about the cottage is that the school is not going to be able to invest in senior school buildings and facilities and GCSE teachers unless their numbers go up significantly- when everyone knows student numbers in private schools are shrinking thanks to VAT etc. Completely questionable as a sound business decision - I know a lot of people are saying this.
What do you mean that the head didn’t (bloody) make this decision? That’s like saying the CEO of a business doesn’t drive strategic changes. Of course the headmaster has made this decision- though with the governors involvement and endorsement obviously. I’m perplexed that you say the governors have had hundreds of conversations with parents as the governors are never at the school, certainly don’t speak to parents and there are no parents who are governors. I’ve been a parent for several years and have never spoken to a governor - seen at a distance on speech day only.
I’m not going to cheer them on when I think the decision is poor and putting the school (which as I said previously is fantastic and we are very happy with in many ways) at risk.

@PrancingPonyClubber
It’s a shame. Better IMHO to stick to what makes you special than try to be all things to all people and be mediocre.

@Dstoat It sounds like the school is solving for a problem that was a problem ten years ago, when competition for senior school places was cut-throat and parents wanted a choice of back up local options if they didn’t get into selective Oxford and Abingdon schools (note ‘wanted’ not ‘needed’ - there is nothing wrong with Cokethorpe but people always like at least one offer to turn down). But that is ancient history now. All schools are lowering their admission standards in the current climate, boarding schools are letting in more day pupils, and for a motivated family at the right prep school, almost anything is possible. There is no need to stay at St Hugh’s until 16 unless you are literally unplaceable elsewhere. And who wants to be the only one in the year left behind while everyone else goes off to Abingdon, Stowe and Radley?

You are extraordinary. What is your issue with St Hugh’s? Why would parents not tell the truth? What a strange thing to say.
The list of 2024 leavers destinations is correct. My child was one of them.
I have no skin in the game and am certainly no fan of the incumbent Headmaster, however, as with any non-selective Prep, the destinations are dictated by the parents sending their children there.
As is obvious from the list of destination schools I shared, over half went to full boarding. Not ‘the majority go to Cokethorpe’.

Having heard from many parents over the previous 4-5 years on this topic, it sounds like 2024 was an unusual year then. A sign of how fast the market dynamics are changing. And it only goes to prove my point - if over half the parents now want full boarding and only four want co-ed day, why is St Hugh’s setting itself up as a competitor for the latter? Nuts.

I find the whole thing very depressing - it seems like heads and governing bodies (not just that school but many others too) have collectively lost their minds in panic and are making massive changes without (current) evidence that they are needed or wanted. I am not saying current parents should have been “consulted” but you’d at least expect actual up to date market data. The trope “Parents are always asking us for X and Y” to justify changes a school wants to make, regardless of what current parents think, is always trotted out and it is always nonsense. It is so vague, it could mean a visiting prospective parent asking why Abingdon (say) isn’t co-ed and couple of teachers having a moan that their daughters can’t be educated there for free, and all of a sudden it’s portrayed as local parents beating down the door wanting the school to change 700 years of history.

I’ve had kids at pinewood chandings Abingdon Headington and Shsk, and am in loco parentis to two cousin’s children at Radley. I think school choice is a totally personal decision. The only school we left as not happy was pinewood. Happy kids but amateur hour with unqualified staff and a lazy sending of masses of kids to Cheltenham Stowe and Tudor hall because they couldn’t get them into Marlborough Abingdon or Shsk. That was a while ago so may have changed. Chandlings got all our kids where they wanted to go and they were very happy there. I know happy parents at Abingdon prep, masses of happy parents at the manor, st Hugh’s seems to be rated by the more rural (west Oxfordshire not oxford parents) and more socially aspirational / first time buyers. Nothing wrong with that, seems a very sociable school. Pinewood more army, racing/lambourn and gently impoverished aristos. The day schools closer to oxford have more diverse parents and many more academics/medics/business. Many more working mothers.

so depends what you want really. The joy of Oxfordshire is you are literally spoilt for choice. Go and look at them all. A current parent is unlikely to badmouth the school they are paying for so work out what matters most to you and ask questions. Particularly of the kids showing you around.

Remember if you have an older daughter you are trying to place that Shsk starts in year 5 and if you go in then you avoid the 11+/ce madness entirely. Now Shsk is a fantastic school, I have not one word to say against it.

Everyone I know at St Hugh’s is looking at Pinewood or Cothill for the boys. Teaching sets are being reduced and class numbers are to be increased due to a lack of funds. Ranging from the pre prep to the upper school. No body wants this. It’s really sad. Amazing how the reputation and feeling of a school can change so quickly.

I can see how Cothill's recent move away from exclusively full-boarding could pose an existential threat to nearby preps that don't share its track record on leaver destinations.

@Delphigirl Good to hear Shsk/Helkat is doing well! If I had a girl I’d send her there in a flash. Abingdon’s recent bullying of Helkat over the coed thing is very unsavoury.

Hi @HattyBee we're on the a420 zone also, and have narrowed to Chandlings and Manor for September 26 entry in reception - both seem pretty much equal as far as we can tell, secondary school destination / scholarships / results wise.

We really like the new(ish) headmistress of Manor, have met the new headmaster for Chandlings and not sure... he seems a bit casual... that's the only word we can think of, and not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing. Will go with gut instinct in a few weeks when we have to make a final decision. Would be interested in your thoughts if you've been for any viewings yet? Feel like we're at a complete crossroads with which one to go for

Should add: we've been focused on "in 7 years time" and looking ahead to joining SHK (hopefully if DC has a good brain!), so both CH and Manor have excellent feeds through to SHK

2024 was a typical year in terms of the senior school destinations based on the ten years I’ve followed the school. A wide range of boarding and day, co-ed, girls and boys, selective and non selective - representative of the diverse needs of children at St Hugh’s and their parents’ location and preferences.
I don’t know much about their senior school plans but they don’t make sense - there is already a non selective coed day option very near - Cokethorpe, and that goes up to Sixth Form. I personally cannot imagine who’d want to stay on. Under Mr Nott, academic provision was strong - so there could have been a selective senior coed day option argument. Now - I really cannot see it

I know this is a bit old but keen to hear any updates on various options. as a working parent I asked chat gpt to do some legwork for me as looking at Cothill and various others before a move from London and got a fairly astonishing result - is this really true!? A Cothill parent told me all exeats (7) start at 12.45 (and I saw the calendar) which is a hangover from full boarding I assume, and term starts at 11am (3) , as does the return after half term (3). so I got chat gpt to check for drop off/pick up times outside a fairly normal 9am-4.30pm type day against other preps, and published term dates and got the following - how can I take that much time off!? it's a massive outlier - does no-one work!?

Net effective childcare days = weekday school days in 2026 − (parental time-off full-day equivalents attributable to unusual timings).

On that basis:

• Cheam: 163 weekday school days, with only two end-of-term days finishing before 16:00 (counted as 1.0 day total).
• Net effective childcare = 163 − 1.0 = ~162.0 days.
• Pinewood (Shrivenham): 162 weekday school days, with term ends assumed to require early collection (3 half-days = 1.5 days). No half-term late returns.
• Net effective childcare = 162 − 1.5 = ~160.5 days.
• St Hugh’s (Carswell): 162 weekday school days, with term ends assumed to require early collection (3 half-days = 1.5 days).
• Net effective childcare = 162 − 1.5 = ~160.5 days.
• Sandroyd: 160 weekday school days, with one late-arrival start-of-term day (0.5) plus three early term ends (1.5) = 2.0 days.
• Net effective childcare = 160 − 2.0 = ~158.0 days.
• Cothill House: 154 weekday school days, less (i) three half-term returns at ~11:00 (1.5), (ii) three term starts at 11:00 (1.5), (iii) seven exeat 12:45 collections (3.5), and (iv) two weekday term ends (1.0) = 7.5 days total.
• Net effective childcare = 154 − 7.5 = ~146.5 days.

So, on a “net effective childcare days” basis for 2026, the order is:
Cheam (~162.0) > Pinewood/St Hugh’s (~160.5) > Sandroyd (~158.0) >> Cothill (~146.5).

That implies Cothill is about 15.5 effective working days behind Cheam in 2026 under your timing assumptions.

THREE WEEKS LESS!!! ??? What am I missing?

@nevereverfinished I’d also advise you to check for any other oddities, such as Reception year only doing half days on Wednesdays. We got caught out as it wasn’t well advertised. Check directly with the schools on your shortlist as it probably won’t be on their website and ChatGPT can and does hallucinate

Most of the families at Cothill value being able to get away early for a ski trip or whatever. Not many will be googling for how many childcare days they’ll get….

The other thing to consider is how many times a week you’ll need to be at school for open afternoon to look at books, for music recitals, for matches, for plays etc. As a working mother it’s a complete nightmare.

We actually had an offer for our son for yr 7 onwards at St. Hugh's and we were all really impressed by the Headmaster. Had no problem making small talk with me. The kids seemed to like him and also my son really enjoyed his taster day. I'd definitely recommend it for prep. We decided to go with another school in the end as St. Hugh's hasn't yet put a cohort through GCSEs.