Prep schools
At Horris Hill, boys can pursue traditional pursuits such as model-railway making She also feels that the number of male
teachers helps. ‘The boys are surrounded by fantastic male role models, so you might be good at chess but that’s as cool as being good at rugby.’ As for the next stage, Aldro boys win places and scholarships to all the top public schools. Mrs Yeldam feels that Aldro forms such a good basis that the tran- sition won’t be a worry: ‘At 13, they know who they are and will go on to thrive in a single-sex or co-educational environment.’ Alex Pearson, mother of two sons, feels
the same about Ludgrove in Berkshire, which she describes as ‘boy heaven’. Her belief is that the school, which has roughly 200 boys, offers a proper childhood that no longer exists in the wider world. ‘It’s an academic school, but manners and friend- ship are equally important. I don’t know how they do it, but they really do find the good in everyone.’ Her eldest son is now in his first year at Eton. ‘One of the Dames said to me the other day: “George always holds the door open for the kitchen staff.
32 School Life, Spring 2013
Those Ludgrove boys are good boys.”’ At Cothill House in Oxfordshire, head-
master Duncan Bailey (assisted by his wife) presides over 240 boys at his alma mater, like Ludgrove, one of Britain’s last full-boarding, boys-only prep schools. He’s a great evangelist for the boarding experi- ence: ‘We treat the boys like dogs and run them around a lot so they sleep really well.’ Pupils learn that hard work brings rewards: ‘Boys are encouraged to play hard and work harder. That might mean climbing trees and getting muddy, but it might mean scoring a century for the 1st XI or winning a scholarship to a major public school.’ The formula obviously works, with a high proportion of Cothill House pupils achiev- ing scholarships to the major public schools in their final-year exams. It’s a persuasive story that these schools
tell, and the impressive results and smiling faces of both pupils and parents back it up. The only difficulty lies in choosing the best one for you and your child.
Boys and staff on an adventure at Aldro
www.countrylife.co.uk
Aldro
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