We are currently looking around Dorset for a prep school for our DC, 2 boys, and 2 girls, and there just seems to be so many options it’s becoming very hard to decide even after looking at some of them, especially for our boys!! There are many coed schools so we’re looking for one that’s geared more towards boys simce we’re pretty decided on Hanford for our girls. For reference we’re located around Sturminster Newton for any recommendations that wouldn’t be too far.
So far here’s what we have:
Hanford - An all girls schools which we have completely fell in love with for our daughters. Small class sizes, beautiful school, horses, as well as a day and flexi-boarding option.
Port Regis: This is one of our favorite choices for our sons, it seems to be sporty, although it seems quite large. I’d love to know the class sizes for different year groups but there looked to be about 50 kids in year 8 last year. They also have a local boarding option of 2 nights per week which is a great option for us. Also pretty close.
Sherborne Prep: I’ve heard so much about this school, both good and bad and I’m not sure what to think about it. I’ve heard they have smaller class sizes which is good, but they don’t seem to have as much green space. This would be a farther drive though. I believe it used to be a boys school, is there still more boys than girls or has that changed?
Clayesmore Prep - A small school, seems to be about 20 kids per year, a similar size to Hanford it seems. I don’t know too much about the school, I’m honestly a little more keen to the senior school rather than the prep but I’d love to hear any one’s experience with the school. They do seem to offer flexi boarding as well but it doesn’t seem as well established.
Bryanston Prep Knighton House - Not really considering this school as it doesn’t seem to have many boys, as it used to be a girls school, although it does seem nice. Would this be a good option for a boy or should we dismiss it altogether? We considered this for our girls as well but we liked Hanford more.
Leweston Prep - About as far as Sherborne Prep, it also used to be a girls school so I don’t know how the boys numbers are now. I don’t know too much about the school but people seem to like it.
Sandroyd - I’ve heard people really love this school, but this would be a very far drive for us, 30 minutes there. I feel like this would just be too far to go daily, even with flexi boarding two nights per week. If it’s really so wonderful for a long drive I'm open to it! They do require all students to board in year 7 and 8 which we aren’t sure we want to do, and if we do full boarding we would prefer it to be at an all boys school. I don’t know if I want a school where we would have to move later if we didn’t want to board.
I think that’s our whole list!! A long thread but if anyone is a parent at one of these schools I’d love to hear! I think our main problem is that we wanted a single sex school for our boys, as we’re doing a single sex school for our girls. This brings in the consideration of doing a boarding prep school later, but that’s something else entirely. We would also want to pick a school with a good nursery with half day classes for our younger children.