Beeston Hall

Beeston Hall is a proper country prep school – the headmaster, Fred de Falbe, has a farming background – with plenty of dogs, campfires on the beach, shooting, reeling and sailing (Beeston was second in the IAPS Sailing Championships last term). Beeston offers a ‘wrap-around day’ – day pupils can arrive at 8am and leave at up to 7.15pm (in Year 6) – which must be a great help to working parents. There’s also a minibus run, with ‘Bus Aunties’, from Norwich, Aylesham, Dereham and Fakenham.

In the past two years, there’s been 100% Common Entrance passes to first-choice senior schools, which may be as far afield as Ampleforth and Eton. The Earl of Leicester, at nearby Holkham, is chairman of the governors and the Old Beestonians.

• 150 pupils aged 4–13, co-ed, day and boarding
• £2,850–£7,940