Bloxham School, Bloxham
Whole School Open Morning - 11 March 2023
An excellent all-rounder, this small, unpretentious school has big ambitions – and not just in the classroom. It stands out for its innovative academic approach and supportive environment that’s ideal for those pupils who need a more intimate place to shine.
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Caterham School, Caterham
Visitor Morning - 02 February 2023
Visitor Morning - 15 March 2023
With the relaxed air of a country senior and the underlying street smarts of a school so close to the capital, Caterham is an impressive hybrid. Day-, weekly- and full-boarding options add to its appeal, and its inclusive, welcoming and innovative style is an attractive proposition. Its popularity has grown steadily to a point where there are five applicants for every place available – and it’s not hard to see why.
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Eastbourne College, Eastbourne
Open Morning - 25 February 2023
Open Morning - 13 May 2023
Eastbourne has a best-of-both-worlds location between the South Downs and the sea – head Tom Lawson waxes lyrical about the wellbeing benefits of living by the water. Outdoorsy boys and girls run along the beach after lessons, go mountain biking over the hills and spend the summer term sailing and windsurfing.
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Embley Senior School & Sixth Form, Romsey
Prep & Senior - 24 February 2023
Early Years & Reception Open Morning - 08 March 2023
Prep & Senior - 16 March 2023
Prep & Senior - 26 April 2023
Hampshire’s ‘Digital Downton’, with a stunning aristocratic rural setting juxtaposed with a forward-thinking IT strategy that made educational mincemeat of the global pandemic, this school is a real belter. Add in a truckload of extracurricular opportunities, an impressive academic record, a focus on developing young people with kind hearts and a twinkly-eyed headmaster who exudes purpose, and you have a pretty attractive package.
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Frensham Heights School, Farnham
Whole School Mini Open Morning - 01 March 2023
Whole School Mini Open Morning - 22 March 2023
Whole School Open Morning - 13 May 2023
Frensham Heights is a Surrey day and boarding school with its focus firmly on the future. Since its foundation in 1925 it has sought to provide an alternative style of education based on mutual respect, tolerance and generosity of spirit that educates the whole child. Its invitation to ‘come and be you’ and insistence on inspiring each child to improve themselves – in any way – is a pleasure to see.
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Great Ballard, Chichester
Open Morning - 27 May 2023
Open Morning - 30 September 2023
Set just outside Chichester, this relatively new senior is the result of the organic growth of Great Ballard prep. Clever marketing, happy prep-school parents and word of mouth have resulted in a real buzz and demand for the senior school, which will grow to encompass GCSEs by 2024 (the school currently caters for Years 7, 8 and 9).
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Heathfield School, Ascot
Meet the Head - 07 February 2023
Meet the Head - 02 March 2023
Meet the Head - 07 March 2023
Open Morning - 10 March 2023
Meet the Head - 16 March 2023
Meet the Head - 20 March 2023
‘The merit of one is the honour of all’ is the school motto here – and there is certainly much to be merited at Heathfield. Cast aside any preconceptions you may have about this all-girls, Ascot-based senior and prepare to be bowled over by an unashamedly girls-first ethos which puts its pupils at the forefront.
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Marymount International School London, Kingston Upon Thames
Open Morning - 22 April 2023
The first all-girls school in the UK to adopt the IB curriculum – both the Middle Years and Diploma programmes – Marymount International School offers a broad-horizon education from its leafy setting in Kingston upon Thames.
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Queen Anne's School, Caversham, Reading
Open Morning - 03 March 2023
Open Morning - 20 May 2023
There’s a wonderfully unconventional buzz about Queen Anne’s, a smashing little school that has a forward-thinking head and is leading the way when it comes to innovative learning. Girls here don’t need to be top of the class – just happy to step out of their comfort zone and throw themselves into the endless opportunities that come their way.
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Stowe School, Buckingham
Third Form Open Morning - 04 March 2023
Sixth Form Open Morning - 22 April 2023
Third Form Open Morning - 13 May 2023
No longer seen as a soft option, Stowe senior school has undergone a renaissance over the past two decades under the leadership of maverick head Dr Anthony Wallersteiner. It’s a place where individualism is encouraged, talent nurtured and eccentricity celebrated – and it all happens in one of the grandest and most beautiful school settings in the country. An education here is a huge privilege and reassuringly liberal. There’s a new breed flocking to Stowe – and it’s certainly not short of academic ambition.
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The Marist School, Ascot
Open Morning - 03 February 2023
Open Morning - 10 June 2023
Academics are top-notch, sports teams are embarrassingly successful, girls are articulate, kind and thoughtful and the extracurricular programme boasts 97 activities – there’s little doubt that The Marist is, to quote parents and teachers alike, going from strength to strength.
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Thornton College, Milton Keynes
Whole School Open Morning - 04 March 2023
Very much an all-through school, Thornton College is one family on one site with a focus on inclusive Christian values. Girls we met were confident, chatty and exceptionally well behaved – and nurture is well and truly baked in.
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Bryanston Prep, Blandford Forum
Open Morning - 03 February 2023
Open Morning - 05 May 2023
It’s been a time of change for this bucolic prep school in rural Dorset: it’s returned to its 1950s co-ed roots (day boys were welcomed in 2020, and now make up 20 per cent of pupils); it’s been brought into the fold of big sibling Bryanston; and it’s got a new head all fired up with ambitious plans that the merger has made possible.
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Cheltenham Prep School, Cheltenham
Prep Open Morning - 11 February 2023
A thriving school with outstanding facilities of its own as well as some of the additional resources of Cheltenham College, Cheltenham Prep really does tick all the boxes. With a very visible and engaged headmaster to boot, this impressive school is surely – in the local racing parlance – a dead cert.
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Clayesmore Preparatory School, Blandford Forum
Whole School Open Morning - 25 February 2023
Whole School Open Morning - 13 May 2023
Housed in a turreted mansion between Blandford Forum and Shaftesbury, Clayesmore Prep shares the same gloriously rural surroundings as the senior. Its dedicated facilities are topped up with the bonuses of the main school’s large sports centre, full-sized Astroturf, dance studio, theatre and chapel. There is a real emphasis on older pupils mentoring and supporting younger ones.
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Port Regis School, Shaftesbury
Pre Prep Open Morning - 10 February 2023
Prep Open Morning - 04 March 2023
Pre Prep Open Morning - 05 May 2023
Prep Open Morning - 13 May 2023
Don’t be fooled by the turreted façade of Motcombe Park, Port Regis’ magnificent Victorian red-brick home: this is no draughty, creaky old school. It’s a place that shimmers and shines; hot on manners, hard work and integrity, yet dynamic and progressive. Brilliant new head Titus Mills arrived last year, tasked with reinvigorating Port Regis – if you’re expecting a sleepy country school, prepare to be blown away.
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Stonar Prep School, Atworth
Equestrian Open Morning - 08 March 2023
Once seen as the first choice for the horsey set thanks to its phenomenal equestrian centre, this all-through co-ed day and boarding school in rural Wiltshire now has a reputation for being academically ambitious, too.
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Wells Cathedral Prep School, Wells
Spring Open Morning - 11 March 2023
Summer Open Morning - 13 May 2023
For one of the oldest educational establishments in the world (founded in 909), Wells Cathedral School has a decidedly modern motto: Esto Quod Est (Be What You Are). This co-ed day and boarding all-through school is very well set up for getting the best out of every pupil, and it’s clear that the prep school – which shares the same site as its senior sibling – takes this warm, accepting attitude seriously.
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Westonbirt Prep School, Tetbury
Prep Open Morning - 17 March 2023
Prep and Senior Open Morning - 05 May 2023
An academically inclusive prep where personal and social development are key. Westonbirt prep is known for its small class sizes, cosy family atmosphere and gentle encouragement. A rather special place – this is somewhere that focuses not just on academic achievement, but the all-round package.
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Canford, Wimborne
Open Morning - 22 April 2023
Open Morning - 07 October 2023
It’s hard not to be blown away by the grandeur of Canford, a Sir Charles Barry-designed castle in the thick of 250 acres of Capability Brown parkland. But despite all this magnificence, both school and pupils are unstuffy and flash-free. Gearing up to celebrate its centenary in 2023, this is a brilliant all-rounder that looks outside of the bubble, aces exams and turns out wonderfully grounded young men and women with a real awareness of the world around them.
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Clayesmore School, Blandford Forum
Whole School Open Morning - 25 February 2023
Whole School Open Morning - 13 May 2023
Top-notch academics paired with a family vibe make this rural Dorset school a happy place to be. And with a prep school on the same site, it offers an excellent all-through option. Leaving the prep feels seamless (95 per cent of its pupils join the senior school), and with the stress of being drilled for exams to get into senior school eliminated, the inclusive holistic approach established at the prep continues organically – pupils don’t even need to change uniform, bar a couple of items.
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Dauntsey's , Devizes
Open Morning - 06 May 2023
Dauntsey’s is a warm and welcoming centre of learning and adventure. Pupils are taught to be courageous but humble, an ethos to be cherished in a world full of competition and entitlement; they are lucky to be here and, refreshingly, they know it.
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St Mary's Calne, Calne
Open Day - 25 February 2023
Open Day - 13 May 2023
Small and nurturing, academic but not nerdy and brimming with laidback, nicely gung-ho girls, St Mary’s Calne is, says its head, ‘the best of the British boarding school tradition – with a modern twist’. Girls are equipped with firm foundations for life, leaving armed with bucketloads of confidence and self-esteem.
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Stonar School, Atworth
Equestrian Open Morning - 08 March 2023
Senior Open Morning - 20 May 2023
The freedom for pupils to be themselves is evident at this all-through, co-ed school tucked away in rural Wiltshire. Its ‘horsey’ reputation comes courtesy of a first-class equestrian centre, but in recent years it’s been shifting perceptions with increasingly impressive academic results.
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Taunton School, Taunton
Whole School Open Morning - 04 February 2023
This non-selective all-through senior has a global outlook and an adaptable approach, offering the IB alongside A-levels (plus BTECs in business and sport) in the sixth form, and a recently launched International Foundation Course for those whose first language isn’t English. It offers masses to get stuck into once the bell rings, from sports taken by ex-pro coaches to DT.
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Wells Cathedral School, Wells
Spring Open Morning - 11 March 2023
Summer Open Morning - 13 May 2023
For one of the oldest educational establishments in the world (founded in 909), Wells Cathedral School has a decidedly modern motto: Esto Quod Est (Be What You Are). This co-ed day and boarding all-through school is well set up for getting the best out of every pupil, regardless of their talents. It’s also one of only four specialist music schools in England, and the only one to operate within the broader context of a traditional school.
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Westonbirt School, Tetbury
Senior Open Morning - 03 March 2023
Senior Open Morning - 18 March 2023
Prep and Senior Open Morning - 05 May 2023
Way back when, Westonbirt was considered more of a finishing school than the well-rounded, academically inclusive place it is today – and once you’ve busted through the myths, you’ll see what a special place this is. Known for its small class sizes, cosy family atmosphere and gentle encouragement, this is a school that doesn’t focus solely on exam success and academic achievement but the whole holistic package.
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