Cothill/Horris Hill/Ludgrove/Sunningdale/Woodcote House

[qualitystreetrosescelebrations]

These schools are our shortlist of prep schools. Does anyone have any opinion good or bad on these?

TIA

I just typed a long message saying how great Horris Hill was and have just lost it! So here's the brief version.
My 2 boys are currently at the school and with small class sizes, great facilities (especially music school and grounds)
and the ability to cater for all boys, it is really a great place.
Very cheerful and happy school although expectations of the boys are still high with out being 'stuffy'.
The present headmaster is due to retire and they have appointed a new head who will start in September. The present head will be missed along with his wife who is super.
It is definitely a boarding school with just a few day boys.
Can't comment on the other schools you mention although I have visited all of them as they all play sport against each other!
Hope this helps. Good luck with your choice.

Just noticed I didn't say which school, but it is Horris Hill!

Thanks for that.

With regards to boarding, that's one of our criteria, large majority boarding, very few day pupils.

You wouldn't know where the new head has come from would you?

What would you say Horris Hill's extra curricular speciality is is it music? or sport? or is it a true all-rounder school?

Anyone with experience of any of the others please?

I know it's not on your list; but Summer Fields in Oxford is wonderful. DS boards there and we have been really impressed with the kindness of the staff, its friendliness and the way in which they really seem to approach each child as an individual. Very good sport/music/academics/art and generally great ethos. Boys fabulously polite.

Do go and look if you haven't yet. New Headmaster very handsome!

For the eye candy alone - I believe it is worth a visit

Unfortunately it is the wrong way from us, it's 2 hours away, ideally looking for a maximum 1.5 hours. Otherwise, the weekly journey is going to be torterous(sp.) for everyone concerned.

There is a biography of new head on the website, he is from a school in Rugby and previously at Caldicot

I think it is truly an all rounder school with boys achieving high standards in music and sport alike.

There are lots of activities for boarders at the weekends and in the evenings. With trips to London to see shows, go-karting, ice skating etc etc. If you are looking for a boarding school I think it would take a lot of beating.

Ah found it - I had missed that.

Shame he doesn't start until 2011, as I feel a head really makes/breaks a school, and I won't have the chance to see what he does, before having to decide on school as we are looking to start in 2012.

But very good to hear he's got a good solid basis to start from.

Hi Qualitystreetrosescelebrrations,

Have just found this after starting a similar thread in Education (Mar 11). HOw did you get on, have you chosen yet? We are in a similar position, looking for two places in Sep 12, so would be interested in your thoughts.

Same here but looking at Sept 2013 for our DS.

Visited Summer Fields, which we thought was excellent, and met Mr Faber; have also met Simon Barber of Ludgrove. Hoping to visit Cothill soon. How do people think Summer Fields, Ludgrove and Cothill compare in terms of types of boys, academic vs sporty etc?

Currently doing the same - narrowed down to Woodcote/Sunningdale now to get DS opinion so going to see both.

Any thoughts on boarding Yr 3 or Yr 4?

My dd was ready at Yr 3 - but although my ds is old for his age in many ways he doesn't seem ready for boarding so think may defer until yr 4.

The other thread's still running on the Education forum about these schools.

Alwaysaskingquestions, Yr 3 seems very early to start: presumably you mean at 7 going on 8? We're slightly worried about Yr 4! Out of interest did your dd board from Yr 3?

Sunningdale seems nice from what I've heard, if you are happy for your child to board. As for yr 3 or 4 you'll know your child best. My guess is that boys cope better age 9-10 rather than 7-8, but how is he like if he stays over without you? - eg at grandparents' place for a start.

If you can't leave them with grandparents then, yes, it might be a bit too early (!), but if you can, that doesn't prove anything in terms of boarding. They're completely different.

For us, it's actually more a question of when the pre-prep naturally ends. Even though DS could leave at the end of Yr 2, and some do at his school, we think it's vital that he experiences being at the "top of the school", so we'll keep him there until the end of Yr 3 when the majority go off to prep school. As a result, boarding can't even start until Yr 4. We're just not sure whether Yr 4 is right for him either!

Time will tell.

Alwaysaskingquestions - we have also narrowed it down to Sunningdale/Woodcote for a Y4 start in 2012, am really interested in your thoughts on this and how you rate each school. What is your DS like? I hope you don't mind me asking but obviously these schools suit certain children.

My DTS loved Woodcote but they haven't seen Sunningdale yet. I think the sport really appealed to them.

Agree with natural end - that's the problem, his current school has the natural break at yr 2, so he'll be top of pre-prep then, and yr 3 is the start of prep. Would have preferred though pre-prep ending at yr 3.

My dd was a flexi boarder (Mon-Wed, Thu-Sat) in yr 3, but ended up asking to stay so we would go and see her every Wed/Sat/Sun even if due to activities she chose to stay at school.

He goes for sleepovers at lots of different places (friends/grandparents) so no problem with him going away.

Age wise he's an October birthday (as is my dd) so they are the older ones in the year. So 8 rather than 7 for majority of yr 3.

Wouldlikeagirl personality wise my ds is a very calm controlled lad, and is not a risk taker. He will calculate and assess a situation before undertaking anything. He is a musician, and a sports player. He is above academic average but is dyslexic.

His request in a school is that it is small, no girls, with plenty of football and rugby, with a piano to play, and would like to sleep there.

My only concern with boarding school for him is that he doesn't throw himself into everything, he's too controlled. His sister on the other hand didn't care what it was that was going on, she was just there in the thick of it getting on with it.

Alwaysaskingquestions I don't get the impression there are many full boarders in Y3 at Sunningdale or Woodcote, unlike Ludgrove who I believe insist on it from the start. When we visited Woodcote they confirmed they would be pretty flexiable with weekly boarding if a child was in the younger form.

Your son sounds very mature and knows what he wants. Certainly my DTS would love to go this Sept, again I think the appeal of the sport, but I would like them to wait another year.

Have you been to Woodcote yet? A few pianos to play dotted around the school, though when we visited none seemed in tune!

Haven't been to Woodcote yet with ds, that's booked for this term.

Sunningdale was flexible on boarding up until yr 5. We have 1.5hrs travelling time to both, so it would have to be weekly boarding minimum, with us visiting mid-week, but impractical to come home mid-week.

DD was an 1hrs travelling, and that was the max of feasibility of coming home on Wed night.

I wish we could move closer and have him as a day pupil, but unable to due to work. :(

What can anyone tell me about Ludgrove School?
I first heard of Ludgrove school several years ago when I read a book on Prince William, lets all have a laugh, I was one of those who wanted to know everything about him. The book said that Ludgrove was a full boarding boys school, boys slept in dormitories of eight, phone calls home were forbidden, wrote a weekly letter home, went home once a month, eight o'clock curfew, boys were taught Latin and Greek, the school has a golf course and excellent facilities. PS ALL of the figures in the book were based on 1990 information, so the school may be completely different today.
What does the modern Ludgrove school have to offer boys?

OK my DS started at Ludgrove this September. It is a lovely school, and a "proper" boarding school, so the boys are either all out or all in (roughly every other week) I must say that the homesickness is something we had not anticipated. He was a confident happy and popular child at his previous school and we thought that he would love all the opportunities that Ludgrove can offer, but he has really struggled with the separation and if I had one criticism it is simply that there doesn't seem to be anyone around to give him a hug when he needs one. But maybe that's the point of boarding? To toughen them up? We looked at literally hundreds of schools and for us Ludgrove stood out in many ways, but it hasn't been quite the journey we were expecting. Hope this helps. BTW the sports facilities are outstanding and academically although non selective they seem to manage to get all the boys into their first school of choice.

Just read previous post and in response to your queries, boys phone home all the time (too much in my opinion!) You can call them every lunchtime apart from 2 days a week. They write lovely letters every Sunday. Dormitories roughly 8 I think (certainly at our level, don't know about further up the school) and fabulous showers! The boys do all do latin (my DS loving it) not sure about Greek, maybe the scholarship set? Hope this answers some of your questions. It's a great school. Incidentally when they played one of the other schools you mention recently, the "other school" was unable to field a full team as some of the boys had gone home ie. more weekly than full boarding. Beware of this, my friends son found himself in a dormitory full of occasional boarders and 2 Chinese boys who kept to themselves at weekends and was very homesick.

I think 7/8 is too young to board. I boarded when I was 8 for a while and I always remember thinking it was the children who seemed to have the happiest homes who seemed the most upset about it and cried the most! Both my parents, grandparents etc all boarded and though it might be great for academic prowess and success in life, I dont think it is the most loving environment, it is basically just an institution. I think possibly the teenage years are more suited as this is the age that children are looking to become independent from their parents.

Agree with flyingsaucer123. Enjoy your children when they are so little and imprint some of your family ethos and values onto them rather than institutionalise them at such a young age.

However, that is my opinion and I respect that everyone else makes their own decision for their family. Therefore if you want to put them in boarding school at 7yrs, go and look round and choose the one that will suit you and your family - and Honeysuckle for a lot of people that will be weekly boarding because they want to see their children, so if that means they can't field a team, so be it. Maybe your school should only do fixtures against other full boarding schools to avoid disappointment in the future?

(PS - my children are going to board at 13yrs, so I'm not anti boarding, and I boarded from 11yrs, which I think is a better age to be able to cope with the separation. Just my opinion, don't shoot me down!)

I agree with milkshake and flyingsaucer. I cannot imagine how hard it must be for a child to board at 7,8,9 years. For the right child I think it can work well at 13+ (maybe even 11+) but at this age I think they need their homes and families. Can I ask what the drivers are to send kids to boarding school at less than 11 years?

Ghoul. I can only speak personally. Boarding school at 8 was not plan A but:

• DS, who is bright but dyspraxic with working memory disorder was struggling and unhappy at his rather pressurised London prep. We couldn't find an alternative we liked (ie academically rigorous but more rounded and not pushy) in London
• We both work and are not able to be home before 7.30-8 and sometimes later. Whilst this didn't matter when he was younger (we had a good nanny) we found that he wasn't getting enough stimulating company in the evenings.

He had basically outgrown the nanny

• He was spending at least 1 and 1/2 hours a day getting to and from his London school, which was a terrible waste of tim
• He is an only child and we thought that it would be good for him to have to learn to rub along with other children. Contrary to popular belief they really do learn to be kind to one another:as 10 year old boys go they are very mature and emotionally literate

-At school he has freedom to mess around in the woods etc with his friends. In London he would not have this relatively unsupervised fun -Boarding school is not what it was. We see him every weekend apart from 3ish per term- most weekends we just take him out on Sunday but he is in all home for about 24 weeks per year. School is kind and cosy

I won't pretend that the first term when he was 8 wasn't very hard; but he is now 10 and absolutely loves it. When he is home it is very special

Vix, thank you for answering my question. I can understand your reasons and they do make sense rationally. I just feel emotionally a child needs a bit more. Who gives him a hug if he's sad? I know most families where both parents work see their children primarily at weekends as do parents of boarders so I'm not sure why it feels so different to me. But it does...