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We’re not surprised this Berkshire school that sends around a third of its leavers to Eton every year is currently oversubscribed. A Swallows and Amazons nirvana (without the boats), it’s a traditional all-boys country prep but with added quirk, fun and an extremely kind heart. Non-selective at intake but very strong academically, you won’t find in-your-face grandeur here, but you will find positive values, enthusiasm, humour and teaching beyond compare.
Where is Papplewick School?
Close to a number of other private schools in Berkshire, set on a 15-acre site on the edge of Ascot (with the racecourse so nearby, it’s possible to listen to the Gold Cup while watching your children play a cricket match), Papplewick is an easy hop out of London. The Papplewick Express minibuses ship boys in from Chiswick, Gloucester Road, Brook Green and Maidenhead, with west Londoners complementing the local contingent and a small cohort of overseas pupils.
There’s a smart entrance in the main building and plush sofas in head Tom Bunbury’s cosy study, and classrooms are a collection of slightly ramshackle buildings. But that’s all part of the charm – and touring the school feels more like exploring someone’s lovely home than an establishment. An exceedingly impressive newish boarding house has seriously upped the school’s game too. Outside, boys enjoy cricket in the Square (the heart of the school), whizz by on RipStiks, hang upside down on the adventure playground and race around climbing trees and getting scuffed knees.
Headmaster at Papplewick
One of the most popular heads on the prep-school circuit, Tom Bunbury is dynamic, genuine, warm, confident and, most importantly, believes in his boys. He has been in charge since 2004; before that he served as head of maths, housemaster and deputy head, arriving at the school way back in 1993.
Mr Bunbury is very clear and open about the Papplewick ethos: ‘kindness, kindness, kindness’. Yes, he has high standards and expectations for his boys but, above all, he believes prep school should be fun. ‘Papplewick is a million miles away from being in a pressure cooker; we provide a chance to hang onto childhood.'
Admissions at Papplewick School
The school is firmly non-selective, and doesn’t look for a particular type of child – just one who will fit in, get stuck in, and do well. There’s no entrance exam, and the school puts as much stake in reports from a prospective pupil’s current school and a friendly interview alongside their parents. Mr Bunbury wants to see the raw product of each boy, and prepping is strongly discouraged. All pupils are met individually during open days, and this struck us as a really special touch, a world away from the madness of some schools’ open mornings.
Boys who ‘get’ the Papplewick ethos and want to take part in absolutely everything will thrive here. Up to 16 children join in Year 2 from a mixture of local pre-preps and state primaries, with further intakes in Years 3 and 4 when the London boys arrive on the Papplewick Express. Plenty more join higher up the school, and as the pupils’ horizons expand, so do the year group numbers to match.
Academic and all-rounder
Papplewick scholarships are up for grabs for boys in all year groups, alongside awards for those showing talent in sport and music.
Academics and senior school destinations
It’s the brilliant staff, says Mr Bunbury, that are so key to the success and ethos of Papplewick. There’s a wonderful mix of the young and energetic and more mature, with bucketloads of experience and character in tow. Here, it’s all about ‘challenging and stretching boys’, he tells us – but the support they receive from their teachers is nothing short of outstanding. Staff are full of joy, and totally adamant that boys should have fun while they learn (so much so that they aren’t aware of how hard they work to get such fantastic results).
Papplewick embraces CE for all subjects, and there is no sign of this changing. The curriculum is deliberately traditional and even includes ancient Greek. Streaming starts in Year 3, with a scholarship set created in Year 6.
Given the non-selective admissions process, Mr Bunbury is rightly proud of how well the boys do. Many parents choose Papplewick for its extraordinary hit rate to the big boarding schools – Mr Bunbury ensures he speaks to every parent in Year 5 for an hour to ensure their son is going to the right school. Eton takes the largest number of leavers (this year, 14 out of a cohort of 45 are heading there), with Rugby, Harrow and Winchester also popular. Every year, boys win a hefty number of academic, art and all-rounder scholarships – and a King’s Scholarship to Eton is an almost annual occurrence.
Co-curricular at Papplewick School
It’s cool to join in here, and although sport is huge (unsurprisingly for an all-boys prep), success in this area isn’t placed on a pedestal. Instead, pupils are encouraged to get stuck into art, music, drama, choir and everything else with just as much gusto.
Football kicks off Michaelmas term (there's a tour to Spain this Easter), with rugby taking over after half-term and continuing through to Easter. Cricket is the major summer sport, but many other sports are on offer too: golf, basketball, polo, shooting, rowing, croquet, futsal and American football, each with its own fixtures. Parents (and dogs) flock to the sidelines on Wednesday and Saturday match days.
Art takes top prize, with GCSE-standard (and higher) artwork and ceramics on display. Drama and music are up there too, with a good number of pupils winning creative and performing arts scholarships to senior schools. There’s a main school production every year, and a recent performance of Pirates of Penzance was, by all accounts, superb. Boys can also join one of the three choirs, or flex their musical muscles in the jazz and string ensembles or the saxophone quartet. The annual Spring Arts festival is much-anticipated, with public speaking, poetry competitions, debates, house shout and music performances galore.
All boys take part in PALS (Papplewick Activities and Leadership Scheme) – the school’s own DofE, encouraging self-esteem, goal-setting and good leadership. There’s also an annual ski trip for families, a Stag Challenge adventure tour to South Africa, and a leavers’ camp in the South of France, which we hear is a total blast.
There’s no shortage of clubs for boys to sink their teeth into, but the standout has got to be herpetology, or ‘Snake Club’. The science lab is a slithery menagerie of serpents, bearded dragons, spiders, newts and frogs – oh, and the crickets and baby chicks they have for lunch. Boys take responsibility for particular snakes and club members earn a herpetology tie emblazoned with coiling serpents – a great talking point at senior-school interviews. Rather charmingly, Papplewick also has Britain’s only prep-school antique booksellers, collecting and selling rare books.
Boarding at Papplewick
Papplewick is all about boarding, and everyone has to board from the summer term of Year 6 (although many further down the school do too, and occasional boarding is popular). Saturday school is important, and from Year 3 onwards, there are lessons in the morning, followed by a chapel service, lunch and afternoon sports fixtures (with an extremely impressive spread at teatime). Parents can, and do, join in from chapel onwards, which one parent tells us 'makes for a big family feel’. Boys can head home on Saturday afternoon and return on Sunday evening or Monday morning, but many stay for the weekend to enjoy the fun stuff – all-you-can-eat Chinese, socials with local girls’ schools and exclusive use of the local slide-and-waves pool.
It is all helped, of course, by the fabulous boarding house and what the school calls its ‘modern, family-friendly’ approach, with parents welcome to drop in at (almost) any time, including Monday mornings rather than Sunday nights after a weekend at home. While there are undoubtedly a few wobbles, a fortnight of full-on activities at the beginning of the boarding programme usually wards off homesickness. Two-thirds of staff, along with their families and pets, live on site, which really bolsters the community feel.
Papplewick school community
From Year 6, boys are allocated a tutor who will see them right the way through to graduation. We loved the way everyone sits down together for lunch each day, with a member of staff on each table, family-style.
Pupils have got each other’s backs – and while they have heaps of fun, they all have firm boundaries too. The most coveted leavers’ prize goes to the boy who has shown the most enthusiasm for school life, the biggest contribution to the community and, above all, the most kindness to others – which says all you need to know.
We hear high praise for the exceptionally warm and welcoming parent community and the very well-organised PTA. All are welcome at Papplewick, and parents are a mix of millionaires, bankers, two-income households and those with grandparents fronting the fees. The joy of Papplewick is that you won’t know, or care, which is which. The car park isn’t overrun with Teslas, and the chat on the sidelines is refreshingly down to earth and modest.
And finally...
This is a thoroughly wholesome, successful school, with a big, big heart. With pupils hailing from a wonderful melting pot of locals, Londoners, internationals, new-to-the-school parents and alumni, there’s a great un-cliquey atmosphere where everyone is embraced equally. We’d send our sons here without missing a beat.