Dorset prep school

[tbecca1978]

Hi, we’re emigrating (!) to Dorset in October and looking for a good prep school for our three girls aged 4, 6 and 10. Going to be based between Gillingham and Sherborne. Any suggestions? Tx.

Leweston school is fantastic 3-18, maybe a little to far for you though, 10 mins from Sherborne , used to be all girls now mixed. Prep school has a fantastic reputation and is on the same site as the senior school. Wonderful huge grounds and facilities….

Thanks so much, MaryBeldam. Leweston is on our list and looks great value. Thanks for the tip. Will also look at Clayesmore because it has a senior school too. We were considering Sherborne Prep too for the same reason (although I gather the girls school is not connected at all with the prep school?) - but a friend in Sherborne tells me it might be closing soon anyway and I’ve read similar on here. Any local insight? Thanks again! :-)

i don’t know about Sherborne prep so not much help sorry! I grew up in Sherborne and went to leweston, so slightly biased! But I have friends who went there who now send their kids there which I think speaks volumes. It’s a catholic school which I don’t think is as heavily pushed as it was when I was there, the nuns aren’t there anymore but the children still attend church. Great music and sports departments. Sherborne is a stunning old town and the school does
some
interschool activities with Sherborne boys and girls. We used to play sports against clayesmore which is also fantastic and still
has a great reputation. I’m not sure there’s much between them to be honest, both have hugged grounds/ mixed, although I don’t think clayesmore Is denominational.
look at both and take your girls !

As a current, very happy, parent at Sherborne Prep, I can heartily recommend it - my DC are thriving and really love it.

The school recently merged with Sherborne School which is investing financially in its facilities etc.

Lots of very senior staff at the boys’ school also have children at the Prep (there are also very close links with the girls’ school though that is a different legal entity – but many girls move on there).

No sign of any intention to close it!

Numbers did drop during the pandemic but appear to be recovering. Don’t know Clayesmore well, but people I know with children at Leweston are happy with that school too.

For what it’s worth, if this is a concern, the auditors have been recording a going concern material uncertainty for Leweston for some years now, in the accounts on Companies House.

No such note on the Sherborne School accounts (or indeed the Sherborne Prep accounts previously, when it was separate) …

Have a look around all of them and see what works for you!

Hanford?

Just been to Hanford, 3WildOnes! Loved it. What an amazing place. And a close connection with Bryanston I gather which we also like. Also impressed by Leweston - particularly the fees! What am I missing?!

Still hearing negatives about Sherborne Prep and the Sherborne senior schools. Contacts from here (M3 corridor) have a child in each and haven’t been too pleased so far. The jury is out on the new prep head apparently with numbers still falling and they said both Sherborne Girls and Boys schools are in a ‘time-warp’.They’re considering jumping ship to Hazlegrove and King’s, Bruton. Are these any good?

Will go back to Leweston and Hanford in October and hope to get things sorted for Jan 2023! Fingers crossed. Thanks all. x

Not missing anything with leweston , it’s amazing value for money, I think stemming from fact it’s a catholic school and they tend to be better value for money. only wished we lived closer, we are in Poole so our girls going to prep school there. Hazelgrove also has v good reputation, have friends with kids there. Heard v good things about kings and Bruton at secondary school level, not sure if they have prep schools….

Just visited Leweston - superb! Go for it tbecca1978! We also went to Sherborne Prep recently. Bit of a disaster. They are now following the PSB - the ‘Pre-Senior Baccalaureat’. We were amazed by this considering they said in the same sentence that they are trying to enhance their academic reputation! We ran a mile when we heard this. We have friends with two kids at Sherborne Prep who we contacted afterwards who say the school seems to have little direction over its academics and that the PSB waters down their academics even more. From where we are coming from in Bucks, consensus is that the PSB is out-dated now and many prep schools are dropping it near us. Also told us that Sherborne Prep made a hash of communicating this to the parents and that it all comes across as weak. Worrying rumours about numbers and leaving staff too. Met the head who is quite new - her fixed smile was pretty disconcerting! School lacked heart we felt and in the end we have decided to avoid it (and what seems like it’s old fashioned senior boys school). Liked Hazlegrove and loved Leweston if that helps anyone!

DD is at Hanford at the moment. It is an amazing school.
For the past two years she has been counting the months til she leaves, not because she’s looking forward to it, but because she doesn’t want to leave. 😢
The girls are just allowed to be children here. Horses, dogs, tree climbing, swings, no mobiles, it is an idyll.
When we visited the school we fell in love with it, now that we’ve been there for a few years we love it even more. There genuinely is no other school like it.

Agree @veryveryhappymummy . If we lived in Dorset my girls would be there. If they are happy to board when a bit older I will send them.