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This outdoorsy rural prep at the foot of the Yorkshire Dales is now fully co-ed, with boys and girls (and ) all enjoying the 50 glorious acres of fields, woodland and gardens. The enduring school values of respect, endeavour and courage anchor pupils as much as the setting, and the addition of girls in September 2024 has been seamless – in fact, it feels like they’ve always been here. There’s another exciting change on the horizon too, with Aysgarth joining the Rugby School Group in July 2025, which, says head Jonathon Anderson, is a great fit as it shares a ‘sense of all-round ambition’ and will open up even more opportunities for pupils.
Where is Aysgarth School?
Surrounded by farmland, Aysgarth sits on the edge of the village of Newton-le-Willows near Bedale, with a handsome purpose-built Victorian main building presiding over the gorgeous grounds. It’s remote, for sure, but just 10 minutes’ drive from the A1, so it’s easy to find by car. The nearest train stations are Northallerton (20 minutes) and Darlington (30 minutes), which are both on the east coast main line between London and Edinburgh. Boarders can be escorted in both directions. A limited morning school-bus service runs during the week for day and pre-prep pupils, picking up in Ripon and Asenby. Boarders come from far and wide, both in the UK and abroad, including regular boarders from Spain. In September 2025, two new Chinese and one Japanese pupil will join the school, and there are usually a clutch of forces children.
Headteacher at Aysgarth School
Jonathon Anderson took up the headship in 2023, arriving from Clayesmore School where he was also head. Before that, he was deputy head, director of studies and boarding housemaster at Westbourne House School in West Sussex. He and his wife Hester, who is houseparent to the boys in Year 4, have had a busy two years, overseeing the admission of girls from Year 4 (the pre-prep has been co-ed for over 30 years). It’s gone extremely well, with 35 girls currently at the school and, by September 2025, numbers are forecast to be just under 40 per cent. The 23 girls’ beds are all now occupied, so the accommodation will be extended over the summer. Mr Anderson believes the success of the switch to co-ed is due in part to the number of girls who have chosen to board (only four need to do so). It helps them to be fully integrated, which indeed they are. We saw mixed tables at lunch, mixed games in the playground and an easy rapport between everyone.
The other big change – joining the Rugby School Group – wasn’t sought out by Aysgarth (apparently several other prep schools did approach it for a merger). Rather, Rugby approached Aysgarth, recognising its strong position in the region. The news has been favourably received by everyone, and an immediate benefit will be investment in new facilities, including a full-size Astro pitch and the extension of the girls’ boarding space. However, Mr Anderson says that, as the school has been so well maintained, most new investment will be spent on pupils rather than infrastructure. He’s also excited about the international breadth of Rugby, which has schools in Thailand and Japan, with one in Nigeria due to open later this year.
Admissions to Aysgarth School
The school isn’t academically selective, but children are asked to sit an assessment test to establish their ability and potential. Places are offered to those who staff feel will benefit most from the rounded education offered here. There are currently 73 pupils in the pre-prep and 152 in the prep, 80 per cent of whom board.
Academics and senior school destinations
Class sizes are small – a maximum of 16 – and gentle streaming in English and maths from Year 4 ensures everyone gets bespoke attention, and every child has their own academic and pastoral plan. There’s a dedicated daily reading time for everyone just before lunch; younger pupils do guided reading in groups, taking turns to read aloud, while the older ones are left to read independently. On our visit, the library was full of children with their noses buried in books. We also saw one pupil reading aloud to a blind friend.
Everyone learns Latin, and academic subjects taught for CE are English, maths, science, French, Latin, history and geography. A varied enrichment programme includes lunchtime lectures on a range of topics, which is great preparation for Year 6 assessments, Common Entrance and interviews.
Due to its location, there’s no one obvious senior school destination, and pupils head off to a whole range of schools, including Eton, Harrow, Shrewsbury and Sedbergh. Rugby is also a popular next step and will now, no doubt, be an even more compelling choice with the merger. A good number of pupils win scholarships; this year’s batch includes an all-rounder to Shrewsbury and a music and academic scholarship to Fettes, while last year saw a boy win a prestigious art scholarship to Harrow.
Co-curricular at Aysgarth School
Sports facilities are excellent, with games pitches aplenty, an Astro (with a full-size new pitch soon to come), a heated indoor pool, a three-hole golf course and a capacious sports hall with a climbing wall, where children also do indoor tennis and cricket nets coaching. Pupils play the usual traditional games, with boys joining in with netball and the girls bringing even more competitiveness to hockey. Boys and girls train together, and a number of them play at county level. The school does well at cricket too, and matches are both single sex and mixed. There’s lots of cross-country, and sailing is also an option.
Nearly everyone learns an instrument and places in the choir are coveted – some pupils are choristers at Ripon Cathedral, and the choir is often invited to perform there and at Durham Cathedral. Each year group puts on a play – this year, the seniors staged Aladdin – and many children work towards LAMDA awards. The art and D&T studios are fantastic, and pupils often spend time there in the evenings. Kayaking in the pool is another popular evening activity and one of eight on offer – all except riding are at no additional cost. Pupils are encouraged to spend time outdoors and are often to be found careering around the valley and woods, making dens and makeshift waterslides, and zipping around on bikes.
Every two years there’s a ski trip – this year 100 pupils are heading off to the Italian Alps. Every other year, pupils can go to France and Belgium to visit First World War sites and the choir sings at Ypres.
Boarding
There’s a great boarding community at the school, with full, weekly and regular (two to three set nights) all on offer, which means there are always plenty of pupils staying over. Girls have the top floor of the main school building and all the rooms and communal spaces are lovely and homely (though not many families could boast a hairdryer bar, we imagine). While the boys have an Xbox in their common room, the girls have a Wii dance mat and enjoy pamper nights and bracelet-making in their downtime. One teacher told us that children are happy to board here because they are allowed to play; a pupil said he likes the fact that ‘you’re not cocooned’. The school seems to have got the formula spot on – no doubt the head and his wife’s ‘mum and dad’ attitude helps. Hester tells us there’s a definite sense of ‘going home’ at the end of the school day, when staff switch to parenting mode.
School community at Aysgarth School
The head and his wife’s parenting role isn’t just for boarders – pastoral care is a real strength, and Mr and Mrs Anderson, along with houseparents, matrons and nurses, take great individual care of pupils, continuing home routines and creating new ones. Asking for help and showing emotion are normalised. There’s a school counsellor, weekly hot-chocolate catch-ups with the school nurses and termly ‘chip chats’, where children have fish and chips from the local chippy and hang out with the matrons after school. A dog curled up in the corner of a classroom is another lovely home-from-home touch. More formally, the school uses STEER tracking to monitor pupil wellbeing. There’s also a school council run by Year 8s, with representatives from each year giving pupils a real voice.
And finally...
It’s exciting times for Aysgarth, with girls now part of the wonderful school community and the upcoming merger with Rugby opening all sorts of new opportunities. What hasn’t changed, though, is the ‘work hard, play hard’ ethos, the well-mannered, charming pupils and the feeling that childhood is very much protected here.