* Read Country Life’s Autumn 2013 School Life supplement in full
We know all about Eton, Ludgrove and Downe House, but what about those schools that offer an equally excellent education on less eye-watering fees? Catherine Austen lists the schools you should know about but probably don’t.
Moffats, Shropshire
01299 841230
Small,
family-run, co-ed prep school and kindergarten based in Georgian Kinlet
Hall – teacher-pupil ratio is about 1:12. Choice of day,
weekly-boarding or full boarding. Children are expected to muck
in-literally-with chores, which includes stable duties. The cricket
ground was once voted one of Britain’s most beau- tiful settings. School
was founded in 1934 by the children’s author, Natalie Joan
Engleheart-the current headmistress is the sixth member of her family to
run it.
Dean Close School, Cheltenham
01242 258000
This
co-educational public school in Cheltenham (which also has pre-prep and
prep departments) is possibly the best-kept secret in Gloucestershire.
It aims to provide pupils of a broad range of ability with a superb
all-round education in a no-non- sense way. It boasts a very good drama
department.
Dormer House, Gloucestershire
01608 650758
This
is a tiny-fewer than 150 pupils- co-ed school in Moreton-in-Marsh,
Gloucestershire, and takes pupils from 2 to 11. Parents’ National
Education Union-affili- ated, there’s lots of individual attention; the
children are encouraged to develop indi- vidual talents. Prides itself
on being affordable. The Nest, open 51 weeks a year, is a childcare
service for working parents
Hereford Cathedral School, Hereford
Junior school 01432 363511; senior school 01432 363522
Co-ed
day school with nursery, junior and senior departments sited on the Wye
and next door to the Cathedral, where the carol service takes place.
One of the oldest schools in the country, it offers a particularly wide
range of extra- curricular activities, is notable for producing
musicians, including the former royal harpist Jemima Phillips, and has a
strong link with a school in Nepal, which many Year 12 pupils visit.
Kitebrook, Cotswolds
01608 674350
Has
long prepared Gloucestershire girls for their senior schools (often
Tudor Hall and Cheltenham Ladies’) but has only recently catered for
boys, too. Family-run, small, friendly and nurturing in a Cotswolds
setting, with sheep and chickens, Kitebrook is back on an upswing. Has a
pre-prep, Hillside.
* See the best schools in the South of England
