Prep schools
The schools where boys will be boys
According to The Good Schools Guide, only 9% of Britain’s boarding prep schools (fewer than 40 in total) are for boys only. So what makes these trend- bucking institutions such a good option? Tessa Waugh asks parents and teachers for their views
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F you ask someone to name a boys’ prep school, they might well say Summer Fields in Oxford. It was founded back in 1864 and has built
a reputation as a feeder for the top public schools. Last year, it proudly cheered on two old Summerfieldian Olympians, and the headmaster since 2010 is old boy David Faber, the former Conservative MP and history writer. Christopher Sparrow, head of boarding,
says: ‘This year, we have an outstanding crop who are sitting scholarship exams, but we also cater for the academically less able. We instill the belief that they’ll be a success in whatever they choose to do.’ There is a handful of day boys among the
255 pupils, and Mr Sparrow recalls: ‘On the first day of term last year, a mother came to pick up her day-pupil son, who was in floods of tears. When she asked him why, he said: “I don’t want to go home”.’ With 151 pupils, Aysgarth in North York-
30 School Life, Spring 2013
shire is Britain’s only boys’ boarding prep school in the North. The school makes full use of its rural location, hosting meets for the Bedale hunt and organising geo-caching on the North York Moors, ferreting and shooting. Headmaster Anthony Goddard is very clear about what makes the school stand out from its co-educational neigh- bours: ‘We focus on the things that boys like, from boy-focused material in the library to an emphasis on the outdoors, with activities that are adventurous and competitive.’ He’s also clear why educating boys sepa-
rately at this age works. ‘In some ways, it prolongs their naïvety and childhood.
Between the ages of 11 and 13, boys who are around girls start to become more self- conscious and don’t want to be seen doing things that are considered uncool.’ Sending an eight year old off to board
might be a wrench, but the school focuses on making being there ‘fun and cosy’ and, every week, pictures are posted on the web to show parents what the pupils have been up to. They’re then propelled out of their rosy-cheeked idyll into the best schools in the country. In Berkshire, Horris Hill has just under
120 pupils—both day boys and boarders— and, although it may be small, it’s renowned
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