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Our view
Windlesham House is one of those schools that evokes an incredible emotional response, with many parents themselves having spent Elysian childhoods here. In the heart of rural West Sussex, this is the oldest prep in the country, yet in recent years there has been an injection of fresh energy into the school, which has brilliantly adapted to the needs of modern families and a vibrant local market too. There’s a wow factor here, with parents and pupils alike bowled over by everything it offers.
Where?
The school has a wonderfully itinerant history. Established in 1837, it has moved four times – from the Isle of Wight to Brighton, then to Portslade, before finally settling in its current location on the South Downs (to avoid any sat nav mishaps, its founder married the daughter of the vicar of Windlesham, in Surrey – hence the name). And what a choice – a stunning Queen Anne mansion set in 65 acres of woodland and sports pitches, with a swanky sports centre and indoor swimming pool (one of former head Richard Foster’s legacies).
It might be rural, but with the A24 nearby and buses for day pupils and boarders, the logistics of coming and going are easy.
Head
Ben Evans arrived in September 2020 after eight years as headmaster of Edge Grove in Hertfordshire (before that, he and his wife Alex spent many happy years in Sri Lanka, where Ben was head of the British School in Colombo). High energy, confident and utterly charming, he’s a huge advocate of outdoor education and the wide green open spaces Windlesham House has to offer. His two young sons are both pupils here (so he sees everything from a parent’s perspective too), and Alex plays an integral role in school life – whether it’s acting as librarian or heading up the pastoral committee.
Our moles tell us he’s given the school ‘a totally new lease of life’. Over the last few years, he’s worked tirelessly to divert the school away from its more traditional path, putting the focus instead on a much more modern approach to prep school life – which has included scrapping both Saturday school and compulsory boarding. He’s also placed personal development at the heart of the school, with a new wellbeing centre pupils can visit outside lesson time for one-to-one or group chats. ‘Children need to know there is always someone there to go to,’ says Mr Evans, who wants to help coach them through things like friendship ups and downs, equipping them with life skills that will help them be successful in the world.
Admissions
Taster days and overnight stays are the key to this wonderfully welcoming non-selective prep that looks at each child as an individual. Recent school reports, test scores and an informal assessment are added to the mix. There’s no nursery, so most pupils join in Reception.
New pupils usually join at the beginning of a term, but there is a refreshing flexibility to the admissions process. Historically, the school has been top heavy – four form entry in Years 7 and 8 means there’s plenty of space for Londoners looking to board for the final two years of prep school – but lower down the school, the local market is blossoming too. There’s superb support for children with English as a second language – and a sizeable and vibrant international community too. Word of mouth is spreading fast (not least because the school has recently realigned its fees to appeal to the day school market for the younger years) – so we’d recommend registering your interest as soon as you can.
Academics and senior school destinations
Academic rigour has been tightened in the past few years, and the focus here isn’t just on the top two years and senior school preparation – but on strong academic delivery for everyone from the word go. A new whole-school scheme brought in last year taps into ACE learning habits – active learning, critical thinking and exploring – which helps to embed skills such as questioning, creativity, reflexivity and resilience to deliver a learning journey where pupils feel more involved with their own development.
From Reception, children are taught not just what to learn, but how to learn – we loved the ‘Wonder Wall’ in each classroom, which encourages pupils to pose questions and discuss possible answers. Learning is wonderfully immersive, and pre-prep children are exposed to a new language each term – by the time they have reached Year 2, they will have dabbled in a mind-bogglingly impressive nine different languages, from Portuguese to Japanese.
Specialist teaching kicks in from Year 3. There’s a lovely mix of pupils and abilities, and the SEND department works to develop each child’s self-esteem as well as helping them in any areas they might need a boost.
Windlesham House is one of only 500 schools in the world to be recognised as an Apple Distinguished School – an accolade awarded for ‘continuous innovation in learning, teaching and the school environment’. All pupils in Year 3 and above have their own iPad to work on in lessons, and teachers use interactive screens in their classrooms. Pupils learn coding from scratch and regularly compete in robotic programming competitions – and judging by the trophies on display, they’re pretty good at it too.
Mr Evans is big on character education, equipping his pupils with entrepreneurial spirit – so there’s lots of outdoor education and forest school for all ages. Saturday school has been reformed and academic lessons replaced with the optional Diploma and the Challenge (Windlesham House's answer to D of E) – weaving in plenty of leadership opportunities and critical thinking skills.
From Year 7, the children are set in maths, English, French and sciences, but there is no scholarship class. The big news this year is the launch of the brand-new Windlesham Diploma for pupils in Year 7 and 8, which signals a gentle move away from Common Entrance (which, according to Mr Evans, means pupils ‘lose their love of learning purely to jump through hoops for the exams’). The English and maths curriculums will remain largely unchanged, but the new diploma has been designed with future-ready skills such as leadership and entrepreneurship in mind – and aims to equip pupils with the confidence they need to make the leap up to their senior schools. Practical learning will be a big part of the curriculum: pupils will head to science conferences to research topics and engage in debates and presentations (before presenting their findings to their parents); get mucky down on the new school farm and head out on geography field trips to the South Downs. It’s an approach that moves learning to a real-world level. It’s bold, but with Mr Evans’ experience spearheading the Edge Grove Baccalaureate in his previous post, he’s definitely a safe hand at the tiller.
The majority of pupils stay on the whole way through to 13 (one or two will peel off at 11 to go down the state route), heading on to a raft of local schools including Brighton College, Seaford, Lancing, Hurst, Worth and Bedes – and some of the big name boarding schools further afield including Rugby, Oundle, Marlborough, Eton and Winchester. There’s no set route for leavers, which means the school works incredibly hard to find the right school for each child, with Mr Evans visiting all of them. Around 25 per cent of leavers depart with a scholarship under their belt.
Co-curricular
If sport is your son or daughter’s thing, then Windlesham House is utopia. The main sports are football, hockey, rugby and cricket for the boys; hockey, netball and rounders for the girls. There’s a full-size Astro, nine-hole golf course, tennis courts and a seriously smart swimming pool, plus an enormous new sports hall for badminton, volleyball, badminton, gymnastics and fencing. All pupils get the opportunity to play in a team, and there’s plenty of healthy rivalry with local preps. A recently launched Sports Academy Programme caters for the gifted in golf, swimming, tennis and equestrian. It’s delivered off-site and includes strength and conditioning and mindset coaching.
Everyone from Reception upwards has weekly swimming lessons, and the PTA recently purchased a huge inflatable obstacle course for the pool, much to the delight of the children.
Music is a big part of life here. There’s an audition-only choir for pupils in the top two years, and regular chapel services for pupils to sing their hearts out in. There are weekly music lessons from Reception (all the pupils learn the ukulele), with 80 per cent learning another instrument and all involved in at least two major productions a year (there are also three choirs, an acapella group, and cool bands from all year groups who perform at Windlesham Rocks).
The refurbished theatre now has a new sound box and lighting, and children are encouraged to write and perform their own plays and dance performances, as well as taking part in LAMDA classes. On our visit, we were given an impromptu performance of a song and dance number in the upcoming Year 8 play. Every pupil in every year group gets involved in drama – and with Tom Hiddleston as an alumna, there’s plenty of inspiration for budding actors to follow their dreams.
A whole section of the school is dedicated to art, with a designated ‘drawing corner’ and the Studio, where pottery, textiles (knitting is very popular) and graphic design are taught. The facilities are amazing – there’s a glass fusing machine for making glass tiles and a heat machine for designing T-shirts and mugs. Pupils work on individual projects as well as collaborating on pieces, all of which go on show at an end-of-year exhibition. Art therapy is also on offer after school as part of the new wellbeing drive. In D&T, pupils develop their designs using CAD before moving into the hands-on workshop. They also learn coding and programming, and one pupil even fixes iPads and phones, which he instigated with the help of the IT teacher. Another is planning to build their own computer, and everyone gets involved in making films, building keyboards and racing each other at typing. Cookery is taught in the school’s very own teaching kitchen.
Other activities from the 80-plus on offer include street dance, gardening (the school has a market garden with chickens), photography, silk-painting and space club, held in the Observatory in the winter. An outdoor classroom is used for survival lessons, building shelters and campfire cooking; Survival Night – where pupils camp out in the woods – is epic. Pupils can bring their own horses to school, and there is also clay pigeon shooting on offer.
Boarding
Over the past few years, Windlesham House has transitioned from a full-boarding prep into a leading day and flexi-boarding school. It’s all in response to parental demand, and the changes are proving a resounding hit, with younger years lining up to take advantage of the new rules and families who might never have considered boarding all flocking to sign up. And it’s not just the boarding structure that’s had a refresh – the dorms have been updated too, with more common rooms added. Those who stay over on the weekends can be assured that there are plenty of activities and playmates to keep them busy. A new bus to and from London has been a huge hit with weekly boarders who live in the capital.
Day pupils join one of six day houses, and house loyalty is fierce – endless competitions include pancake races, egg and spoon runs and the hotly anticipated Golden Welly, when a house throws down a challenge event with little warning. For day pupils, wraparound care gives them the option to have breakfast or supper at school if pre-arranged, and the school minibuses operate three routes around Sussex – to Chichester to the west, Brighton to the east and Petworth to the north. There is also a bus to Putney Heath via Leatherhead.
School community
Tutors and house parents are the first port of call for parents – one mother tells us they are ‘phenomenal’. There is chapel three times a week, newsletters to keep parents informed and stars handed out to children for good behaviour (five stars equals a foodie treat). Older ones also help out at Forest School with the tinies, so learn to give back early on, and everyone from Reception onwards is invited to voice their opinions via the school council, which recently fundraised for a friendship bench in the playground. Parents rave about the fact that children can just be themselves – including the school’s long-standing no-uniform policy (polo shirts are encouraged).
Parents are a big part of the community here, with opportunities to join parent swimming and netball clubs as well as a parent choir. There’s always impressive attendance at Saturday matches and weekly assemblies, and plans are afoot for an onsite café so that parents can catch up over a coffee after morning drop off.
Ties with local schools are growing in a meaningful way. Windlesham House lend the swimming pool to one local school, transporting pupils in their own minibuses – and the Windlesham House Forest School practitioner is now holding classes for local primary schools too.
And finally...
Parents talk about children ‘thriving because of their grounding at Windlesham House’ which leaves them ‘confident not arrogant’ and with a can-do mentality. It’s no wonder that many parents who were educated here want the same experience for their offspring. Windlesham House offers families a refreshingly modern take on traditional prep school life.