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This country prep’s burgeoning profile continues apace, with numbers now at nearly 400 and a spectacular, state-of-the-art new boarding house due to open in 2025. The merger with
Rugby School in 2020 thrust it into the spotlight and both schools share the same educational philosophy of developing breadth of character, which means that while Bilton Grange pupils don’t have guaranteed places at Rugby (unless they're joining the school's new all-through boarding pathway – more on that below), the active learning approach at the prep neatly dovetails into the IB style of teaching at Rugby.
Where is Bilton Grange?
Set in the village of Dunchurch a few miles from the market town of Rugby, Bilton Grange school is surrounded by 90 acres of parkland and playing fields.
The huge grounds are an integral part of school life, not just to ‘get outside, play and breathe’ but also to have al fresco lessons, such as in the large outdoor classroom nicknamed the ‘wigloo’ for its wooden structure. Inside, there’s a fun Harry Potter vibe, with a Hogwartsesque dining room in the beautiful 19th-century Pugin mansion (there’s also a ‘sorting ceremony’ to allocate houses, which children love). A few years ago, an extension was added to the music school but the whole site is top-notch – from the D&T workshop and the organic vegetable patch to the swimming pool and the nine-hole golf course. More recently, significant investment has been made by Rugby School – most noticeably in the classrooms, which have had a makeover with new whiteboards, interactive screens, lockers, desks and shelving. There is also a new science lab, as well as more classrooms to accommodate the growing numbers.
The Nest pre-school and the pre-prep (up to Year 3) are housed in a self-contained building within the grounds,
as is the nursery, Little Grange, which opened in 2022 in a charming new mountain chalet-style building. After-school care is available in The Den for children in the pre-prep and The Nest until 6pm.
Bilton Grange has good road networks and links to the M1 and M6; there is a mainline rail link in nearby Rugby (connecting to London in just 45-minutes) and the school runs several bus routes to the surrounding areas. Birmingham airport is an easy 30-minute drive away, making this a wonderfully convenient
country prep school for international students.
Headmaster at Bilton Grange
An ambitious and on-the-ball head, Gareth Jones joined in September 2021 from St Andrew’s Prep, Eastbourne and was previously at The Dragon. He arrived with the vision of honing Bilton Grange’s existing strengths, widening its reputation and ensuring that there is energy and purpose behind everything it does – three boxes he’s most certainly ticked. And his mission continues, which sees him working across absolutely everything, from nursery and boarding provision to aligning teaching at the school with the wider Rugby School Group (he has already visited Rugby Thailand and Rugby Japan, where he has been busy sharing ideas with his fellow heads). His outward-looking energy is infectious, but what we most admire is the way he’s preserving the integrity of Bilton Grange while he expands its horizons.
Admissions at Bilton Grange
This is a very exciting time for Bilton Grange. Since merging with Rugby School in 2020, pupil numbers have shot up from around 280 to 380, bucking the trend of most country prep schools. There are waiting lists at the lower end of the school as demand to get in early has risen; there are currently two forms in Reception with demand for three. At prep level, there are a few spaces available, but the Rugby effect has seen a big increase in interest.
The school recently introduced a brand-new all-through boarding pathway, which offers new Year 7 joiners the opportunity to progress seamlessly through to Rugby if they commit to boarding at both schools. This – alongside the announcement of the new boarding house – has seen demand for boarding places soar.
CAT scores are used for children from Year 4 upwards but most importantly, prospective pupils will be invited for a taster day. The main focus is to make sure children will cope with the curriculum and the demands of a busy prep-school life. There is no formal assessment for the pre-prep; in The Nest, places are limited and operate on a registration basis. Entry into the pre-prep is automatic for those coming from The Nest.
Siblings will be looked at favourably, so long as the individual meets the school’s criteria – so it is usual for siblings to be offered a place, but it is not a guaranteed policy. The chorister programme for Years 3 to 8, which was launched in September 2022, has proved extremely popular. Choristers perform variously as boys’, girls’ and mixed choirs, and visit Rugby at least three times a week, where they sing and make use of its facilities. Means-tested
bursary support is available via the
Foundation Award and the school’s boarding bursary provision,
The Earle Fund, and it chooses candidates who will make the most of the opportunity.
Academics and senior school destinations
Teaching programmes have aligned with the wider Rugby School Group, including Quality First Teaching, a learning and development initiative which follows seven strands of teaching and focuses on areas such as metacognition. It’s a dynamic, hands-on approach and staff have embraced it wholeheartedly. During the construction of the new boarding house, the building site has become a key learning tool, with pupils engaging with the project at every stage, from talking to the site manager about safety to coming up with stories about the underground chamber that was uncovered for a creative writing competition.
Pupils only follow the CE syllabus in maths, English and science. Humanities, modern foreign languages (French and Spanish) and classics are still studied and assessed, but through their own forward-thinking curriculum which offers further breadth.
The ethos of Bilton Grange is to support and help all pupils reach their full potential. The Learning Development Department is an integral part of the school and has a broad range of resources available to support pupils, including in-class TA support, small group withdrawal lessons and bespoke one-to-one lessons. Pupil progress is closely monitored and individualised learning plans are regularly reviewed in partnership with parents. Access to educational psychologists is available if required.
Although over half (55 per cent)
of leavers go on to Rugby School (they have doubled the number going there to board), Mr Jones is keen for Bilton Grange to remain an all-school feeder and supports applications for other senior schools by preparing pupils for CAT or
ISEB tests. The school also helps with academic scholarship applications and runs a scholarship set, taught separately. Pupils head to all the main public schools in the area, including
Oundle,
Uppingham,
Shrewsbury,
Stowe, and further afield to Eton,
Harrow,
Radley, Cheltenham Ladies' College and
Westminster. In 2024, pupils were awarded 37 different scholarships from 10 different senior schools, including eight academic accolades.
Co-curricular at Bilton Grange
In addition to the typical main sports (including rugby, hockey, cricket and netball), Bilton Grange has its own 25m indoor pool and extensive grounds – meaning there are other more unusual options available, such as triathlons or orienteering. Children are bussed to Rugby School for various training sessions, and the access to facilities at the senior school is growing, hugely benefitting pupils of all ages and abilities. Many play at county and even national level. Mr Jones told us that he is keen to further improve the sports provision so that every child can value their own contribution at whatever level they are at, putting the focus on developing skills, not just results. Outdoor education is clearly important to the school – next on Mr Jones' agenda is a high-ropes course in the grounds.
Partly in response to demand for more flexibility and partly to broaden the co-curricular offering, formal Saturday teaching for Years 4 and 5 has been abandoned in favour of BiG Saturdays – an optional morning of activities, from sport to arts and crafts, taken up by more than 80 per cent of children. Years 6, 7 and 8 have formal curriculum teaching on Saturday mornings, with sport in the afternoons. Music, drama, D&T and art are very much scheduled within the timetable.
The Activities and Options programmes ensure that pupils are clued-up in areas such as STEM, touch-typing and problem-solving, while still having plenty of access to less cerebral clubs (such as Outdoor Adventurers, Brownies, bee-keeping, scuba diving, golf, taekwondo).
Boarding at Bilton Grange
The recent investment in the new boarding house and the launch of Bilton Grange and Rugby's new boarding pathway is proof of the school's commitment to boarding – and a range of flexi, weekly and full options are designed to suit all families. Boarders currently sleep in the main mansion house: boys on one side and girls on the other, under the care of a team of houseparents and matrons. The cosy and homely dorms have all been recently refurbished (with input from the pupils); the boys’ dorms are named after surfing locations and the girls’ dorms after skiing resorts. With the opening of the new boarding house in 2025, numbers are set to rise even further. We met the new house parents, Camilla and Nic, who are excited about the new space – ‘It’s just amazing.’ It follows the Swiss boarding model with smaller dorms and more communal areas. There are usually around 50 boarders who stay at weekends, which are filled with onsite activities such as bushcraft and zorbing, alongside trips to the likes of Cadbury World or theme parks.
Bilton Grange school community
In the early years, form teachers are the first point of contact for children and teachers are easily accessible to parents at the beginning and end of each day. From Year 5, all pupils have a tutor and wider discussions happen in tutor-group time, where listening to each other is encouraged. The school has adopted the BG Learner Profile, which mirrors the system used by Rugby School and places emphasis on emotional intelligence, reflection and awareness of one’s place in the community.
Bilton Grange has good relationships with local primary schools with children visiting for talks, music concerts and events.
And finally....
Bilton Grange has been transformed in the last five years. Now a big hitter in the country prep league, pupils are heading off to some of the top public schools in the country. Yes, the Rugby School effect is strong, but Bilton Grange itself is responsible for the confident, thoughtful and keen learners that are winning those places.