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Our View of Frensham Heights School
‘We ditch the lanes other schools make kids walk in,’ says head Ben McCarey of this Surrey co-ed that has been a beacon of progressive education since it was founded 100 years ago. The focus here is on championing creativity and individuality, and with its liberal and non-punitive approach, first-name terms and absence of uniform, it allows children to show up as themselves knowing they’ll be valued and respected for who they are. The school continues to 18, with boarding from Year 7, making it a compelling all-through option.
Where is Frensham Heights School?
Set on the outskirts of the pretty Surrey village of Rowledge, a few miles from Farnham, Frensham Heights sits in a beautiful red-brick Edwardian mansion in 125 acres of glorious countryside. The views of the South Downs from here are blockbuster. The house is jam-packed with stunning original features and grand reception rooms, and each section of the school has its own area on what feels like a really close-knit campus. The all-through ethos is evident, with nursery children beetling about among the sixth-formers – and Frensham’s extensive facilities are available to all of the 500 or so students.
Most day pupils live in the nearby towns of Guildford, Farnham and Godalming, with an extensive school bus network helping bring them in each day.
School headmaster
Ben McCarey joined the school in September 2024 from his previous post as head of Holyport College, a secondary state boarding and day school, and he’s got stuck in from the get-go – in one term he’s already sung on stage three times, dressed up in drag and tested out the school’s new 150ft zip wire on its refurbished Go-Ape course. He clearly loves the school and tells us becoming head of Frensham Heights ‘felt like fate’, as after 20 years in the state system he’d become ‘disillusioned with the narrow set of hoops the system forces pupils to jump through’. Since his arrival, as well as ‘reintroducing fun’ by modelling it himself, he’s also been fostering pupils’ sense of belonging and community, in part by moving away from the school’s traditional non-competitive ethos. ‘Competition done well unites the community,’ he says. ‘We need to teach kids to win well and lose well.’ A recent inter-house singing competition saw pupils and staff singing, playing instruments and even choreographing dances to the delight of all. ‘I want the kids to drive the direction of travel with house competitions providing it comes with unity, community and joy,’ says Mr McCarey.
Admissions process
Frensham is a truly all-through school offering a holistic approach to educating the whole child from nursery to Year 13. There is currently single-form entry from Reception to Year 3, with numbers increasing higher up the school. Years 7 and 9 are key entry points, and demand has led to an extra class being added in both groups. The school has enough space in most year groups to offer flexibility to newcomers, but places are being swiftly filled by parents leaving London. Some families also welcome a fringe benefit of the all-through model: the opportunity to escape the potential stress of the 11+.
While the school is selective, it’s not highly academically so. Children joining in Year 7 will sit an exam but they do so alongside Frensham’s own Year 6, which is a good way of informally calibrating the cohort.
Sixth-form entry is strong – some students move on after GCSEs (perhaps for a change of scene in some cases), but there is always a fresh intake of students looking to finish their educational journey in this progressive environment. Anyone looking to join the school at this stage is expected to achieve at least six GCSEs at grades 9-4.
Academics and destinations
The academic ethos here revolves around critical and creative thinking, and collaboration was a word that sprang to mind repeatedly during our visit to Frensham. Teachers work closely with individuals and groups of students alike, pupils co-operate and confer to get the job done and staff have a mutual respect – partly due, perhaps, to the importance of parity across all subjects. Children are encouraged to find their potential and to thrive but not to be defined by exam results. This deliberate lack of competition is also apparent in the absence of a head boy/girl or prefects, and children aren’t singled out for prizes in a formal speech day. Instead, the aim is to build relationships that spark learning – and using teachers’ first names is one way that Frensham creates an environment of trust. Provided it doesn’t disrupt the class, students are allowed to learn however they wish – be it sitting in a window seat or with their books spread out on the floor. It all helps contribute to the lovely relaxed environment.
In the school's most recent inspection, both the quality of students' academic achievement and the personal development was found to be excellent – and the report commented that students are 'supported by teaching that is strongly focused on the individual' as they 'develop outstanding levels of self-knowledge, confidence, self-discipline and resilience' – high praise indeed.
Languages are taught from nursery, with the option to choose either French, Spanish or both from Year 7. Streaming starts in Year 7 for maths and Year 8 for English; students have the same tutor in Year 7 & 8 and then in Year 9-11, before moving to mixed-year tutor groups in the sixth form. GCSE choices are very flexible too, with no one obliged to choose subjects that fit into pre-defined blocks (languages aren’t compulsory, for example).
Frensham boasts three ICT suites, and technology is a big focus. Students in Year 10 and above can sign up for a BTEC in Esport, which is highly focused on the business element of gaming (students might try their hand at managing a brand or developing a product) and taught in an incredible gaming room which must be utopia for many teenagers. The library is more comprehensively stocked with publications than many reputable newsagents. It is a buzzy and friendly place, with a hot-chocolate machine and a wonderfully engaging librarian who will source any book for you on the school Kindle if it can’t already be found on the shelves.
Creative subjects get top billing here, and are among some of the most popular A-level subjects alongside maths and ICT (they were recently runners-up in a national computing competition). Last year the most popular university course was PPE, and the most popular university Exeter. Nearly all the students headed off to Russell Group universities, with the rest choosing an art foundation, a job in industry, even a role performing in the West End.
Co-curricular at Frensham Heights School
Sport is inclusive here and definitely more about the enjoyment of taking part and the benefits of being fit and healthy rather than the need to win, so if your child is highly competitive on the sporting front, this may not be the school for them. There are no Saturday inter-school games (or indeed any Saturday school), although Frensham does arrange a significant number of fixtures across all year groups during the week.
Football is big for both boys and girls and netball is one of the strongest sports. Pupils can play mixed hockey in the spring term, along with badminton, fencing, basketball, tennis and table tennis. Cricket, swimming, dodgeball, high ropes, cycling, athletics and rounders are all on offer too, and students can follow a competitive or non-competitive sporting track. There are plenty of opportunities to get stuck into something a bit different, too – Frensham pupils are currently representing Great Britain in mountain biking, rowing and dance.
The creative arts at Frensham Heights are remarkable – and it’s getting even better: ‘Creative arts have always been a strength, now it’s an acceleration,’ says Mr McCarey. The enormous arts centre is quite something: there’s an impressive darkroom with eight projectors, a dedicated ceramics room with six potters’ wheels and several kilns, a metalworking area and facilities for woodwork and jewellery-making – plus a dedicated exhibition space. Children in Years 7,8 and 9 benefit from a full six hours of creative arts a week, including ceramics, fine art, drama,
dance, music and D&T, all overseen by a hugely passionate and inspirational head of faculty.
Dance is now timetabled from Year 7 to 9 and offered at GCSE and A level. The school dance troupe was even part of the Dance World Cup – ‘Dance is not exclusive, nor is it a bolt-on,’ Mr McCarey tells us. There are two lovely dance studios with sprung floors, and a new Frensham Heights Arts Awards programme offers intense dance coaching alongside A-levels, helping prepare pupils for a professional career.
Drama takes place in the huge, professional-standard Aldridge Theatre, which also offers a box office and café where parents can wait while students are finishing off their club activities. Students can get stuck into set design, lighting and sound production. You’ll also find a brilliantly eclectic range of musical groups and bands with rock and pop concerts aplenty; recently, the sixth formers staged a Back to Broadway evening. They were also inspired to perform a cabaret show after a drag artist came in to speak to them. They told the head they ‘want to be more edgy’ and, as mentioned, Mr McCarey got fully involved. Students have the use of a music tech room and recording studio and sometimes unexpectedly benefit from a tune from the ukulele band as they wander the halls. As with everything here, music is student-led but the staff will offer support and help children in any way they can to pick up an instrument and enjoy music. Nearly half of the students play an instrument, which means the timetabling of a whopping 200 music lessons or more a week.
School clubs are anything but the usual suspects; Years 9 to 11 are expected to take three clubs per term but the challenge may well be deciding which to choose. Contemporary dance, parkour, bike maintenance, creative writing and survival skills all feature, and you’re in luck if you've always wanted to learn the art of ninjutsu.
The plethora of welly racks gave us our first clue to the importance of outdoor learning here. From forest school for the youngest students to camp-outs and
Duke of Edinburgh, being out and about here is unquestionably part of creating resilient young people willing to try something new. The big trip for Year 12s is a 10-day outdoor-learning extravaganza to Knoydart, a peninsula on the west coast of Scotland. Students take part in team building, activities and projects designed to enhance their curriculum (local culture, history and language), engage with the community (building otter hides or a giant draughts board for visitors) and challenge them (kayaking, navigation, survival skills). Oh, and it’s a tech-free zone, which in itself may be a challenge for many teenagers.
Frensham Height's brilliant initiative, The Village – which sees Year 8 pupils head off for two nights wild camping – deserves a shout-out too. It’s brilliantly character-building stuff, with students making tents from tarpaulin, learning about foraging and fire building and eating supper off plates made in their woodwork classes. Frensham has also launched a partnership with Worthy Earth, which has seen students work in tandem with three full-time horticulturalists to lay the foundations of an agro-ecological, sustainable kitchen garden. Designed as an interactive learning resource, it’s the perfect way for them to gain awareness of the social reality of food production and an understanding of sustainability and biodiversity – and working on the farm is now an integral part of the Year 7 and 8 curriculum.
Trips are next level – surfing in Cornwall, outward bound expeditions to Scotland and, for Year 9 upwards the amazing opportunity to go on the biennial outreach trip to the Malawi Schools Trust.
Boarding at Frensham Heights School
Around 100 students board at Frensham Heights; around half are weekly or flexi and around 15 per cent of the boarders are from overseas. There are three boarding houses: Hamilton House for students in Years 7 to 9 (where pupils sleep in small dorms), Main House in the historic part of the school for Years 10 and 11 and Roberts House for sixth form, which is set up like a university hall, with single rooms and two kitchens for rustling up light meals. All have a lovely family feel and bright, welcoming and comfortable common rooms, plus a huge lawn to let off steam on.
Sian, Frensham’s head of boarding, has worked here for years – and house staff are charming with a great sense of humour. When we visited, she told us the boarding model here gives pupils an important mix of freedom and responsibility. Specialist teachers will often open up facilities for a particular activity at the weekend, but boarders can also enjoy shopping trips to Guildford, walks with the staff dogs, skating or trips to Harry Potter World. Boarders have access to their phones in the evening but at a certain time (depending on age), phones are stored safely in their charging cupboards and internet is switched off.
Frensham Heights school community
The informal environment here is credited for helping to create strong and respectful relationships between students and staff, while a no uniform rule allows children to express themselves. There’s a dedicated pastoral space, The Hub, for students to drop into anytime they wish, and a clever red, amber and green card system helps children discreetly remove themselves from lessons when needed. Counsellors and members of staff are on hand to talk to and Mr McCarey is keen to help pupils feel safe about making themselves more emotionally vulnerable – ‘Teenagers today need to see that it’s okay to not feel okay.’
An extended lunch break gives students plenty of time to chill out, stretch their legs and take part in clubs in the middle of a busy day, and wraparound care means everyone can stay on for homework and supper for a small additional fee. Students eat communally, which feels absolutely right at a school like this. The food is excellent, and Mr McCarey is moving towards the kitchen being self-sufficient in everything from seasonal veg to meat. ‘I want to teach kids where food comes from, the more hands on the better.’
Parents are an involved part of the community, organising fundraisers, as well as having a voice in all areas of the school. They were recently consulted on whether to ban mobile phones. Pupils also had a say, too, and a ban was brought in. Being Frensham Heights though, this hasn’t translated into searches or handing in of phones. Rather, pupils are trusted to ‘get it right’. Parents, like pupils, are fully invested, says Mr McCarey. ‘They believe in the uniqueness of the school.’
And finally....
This isn’t a uniformed or brand-driven school. It doesn’t rate itself on academic results but instead asks children to be brave, pose questions, be respectful and be themselves. We had a good sense that both students and staff felt empowered and accepted for who they are. If you’re looking for a school that really puts child’s needs first, Frensham Heights ticks all the right boxes.