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Our view
This historic Somerset school has enviable film-set looks, but it’s the pupils who give it soul, belting around its 200 acres on bicycles and scooters and clomping through forests in brightly coloured wellies. Bursting with creativity and innovation, plans are afoot for rewilding and solar panels, and the superlative academics (achieved without being selective) and enlightened pastoral care mean parents are clamouring to get their children’s names down from birth.
Where?
Allow an extra couple of minutes for your journey to Hazlegrove: once you’ve turned off the dual carriageway, prepare to give way to the sheep and cattle grazing languidly along the drive, ringed by open parkland and leading to the beautiful 18th-century main building. It’s all very wholesome and pastoral and sets the tone for what’s to come: a school that impresses from the minute you arrive and charms the more you get to know it.
Hazlegrove has all the bells and whistles of a top-notch country prep. Classrooms are big and bright; facilities expansive, and space endless (200 acres, if you want to quantify it) – yet with the A303 right on its doorstep, it feels properly in touch with the outside world. And we love the fact that the grand house isn’t just reserved for trophies and honours boards: instead, it’s very much part of everyday life, with classrooms spilling off the main hall and pupils excitedly retrieving rugby balls from puddles just outside.
From here, it’s a 15-minute drive to Sherborne in one direction and Castle Cary in the other. Castle Cary connects to London Paddington in under two hours, and the school runs a minibus service to and from Sherborne, Shepton Mallet and Warminster.
Head
Head Ed Benbow arrived at Hazlegrove in September 2022. This is Mr Benbow’s first headship; before Hazlegrove, he was deputy head at Cothill House, following a stint as head of boarding at Pinewood and a decade working in the City. We found him to be incredibly warm and wonderfully enthusiastic – and his palpable love for the job and the beautiful school he’s in charge of is nothing short of inspiring.
Mr Benbow is a huge fan of the West Country (he was educated at Sherborne, just down the road), and his passions are wide-ranging – he’s sports-mad (particularly rugby, hockey and cricket), but also musical (he plays the French horn, piano and sings in the choir). He’s joined by his delightful wife Amanda and their two young children, and the pair make a fantastic team: Amanda is an educational psychologist, and thoroughly involved in school life. She sees pupils for one-to-one sessions and has created a wonderful nurture room, and she’s parents’ go-to for any neurodivergence or pastoral issues. She has also introduced a weekly coffee morning for parents which is hugely popular.
Admissions
Places are offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and priority is given to siblings and boarders. Most parents put names down a year prior to entry (places are limited and there are waiting lists in some year groups, so it’s worth being organised), but there’s nothing high-pressured about the process. Children entering the Nursery or Reception are invited to meet a pre-prep staff member and join a Forest School session before a formal offer is made (as most pupils go straight through to Reception, a place at the Nursery is considered gold dust). Children looking for places throughout the school undergo a short informal assessment to get a snapshot of current learning levels. The most important thing is finding children who’ll get stuck in.
Hazlegrove is part of a foundation that also incorporates King’s School, Bruton, a senior school located eight miles away in Bruton. Many children make the all-through journey from 2-18 across both schools, which share a common Christian ethos and a great sense of community.
Academic and senior-school destinations
A recent inspection found the quality of the pupils’ learning and achievement to be ‘excellent’, with everyone reaching beyond expected academic levels. Class sizes average out at around 15 pupils, and small tutor groups ensure each child is well-known and understood. A busy learning-support unit is well equipped to help children with dyslexia.
Specialist teaching begins in the nursery and gradually extends to every subject by the time pupils reach Year 6 (when they start moving around the site for lessons, readying them for the transition to senior school). Everyone learns French, and Spanish is offered as an alternative to Latin, which is on the timetable from Year 6. Oh, and it’s worth noting there’s a thriving reading culture, as illustrated by ‘Millionaires’ Club’ – once you’ve read a million words, you’re in.
The calibre of staff here is high – most have top-quality degrees from Oxbridge and Russell Groups, making them more than capable of really stretching the most able pupils. We loved the super-smart science block with state-of-the-art modern technology to ignite curiosity in any child. There’s a strong emphasis on digital learning: everyone in Year 6 and above gets their own iPad, and we spotted some serious gizmos on our tour (check out the laser cutter and 3D printer in the D&T lab). We love the school’s attitude towards working styles – children are encouraged to submit their work in the way that plays to their strengths, be that via voice notes, typed notes or handwritten script.
From Year 4, Saturday school is part of the school week, with lessons in the morning and matches in the afternoon.
End of year assessments are rigorous and the scholarship set (introduced in Year 7) still takes compulsory Latin. Up to around 40 per cent of leavers move on to partner school King’s Bruton, taking lots of friends with them. The rest head to the full range of seniors, including Canford, Millfield, Blundell’s, Wells Cathedral School, Radley, Bradfield, Marlborough and Sherborne, many with a scholarship in hand.
Co-curricular
The sporting facilities at Hazlegrove wowed us; you name it, they’ve got it. From Year 4 up, there’s sport every day (rugby, football, hockey and cricket for the boys; netball, hockey and cricket for the girls), making full use of the school’s pitches, Astros, tennis and netball courts, dance studio, and mini six-hole golf course. There’s a real team spirit, and players are swapped in and out during matches to give everyone a go at representing the school. The 25m indoor swimming pool means kayaking skills become part of the sporting curriculum from Year 5, and nursery school children take a short stroll to the pool for regular swimming lessons. More left-field options include biathlon and triathlon.
Art, drama and music are done to a high standard at Hazlegrove, with everyone taking part. Music is big and most pupils learn an instrument (even the bagpipes), and there are more bands, orchestras and music groups than we could count. Each year group has its own choir too. Annual highlights include choir services at Sherborne Abbey and Wells Cathedral.
Every child gets their moment in the spotlight via an annual play for each year group from nursery to Year 8. After sitting CE, the leavers stage a musical extravaganza based around pop songs – and if the stage isn’t your thing, there are plenty of opportunities to help out backstage instead. LAMDA is a popular club.
We were very impressed with the Art and Design Centre, an exciting and dynamic hub of activity where pupils can get stuck into textiles, ceramics and computer-driven Design Technology (weekly awards and certificates inspire pupils and more and more are winning art scholarships). There’s a fully-equipped Food Technology room, though since the food in the dining room is ‘the best part of school life’ according to one pupil, we doubt many go hungry.
When pupils are not in the classroom, the real focus of life at Hazlegrove is outside. Outdoor learning is part of the curriculum for Years 3 to 5, and in summer, chickens strut around the grounds while children pick veg in the kitchen garden and help look after the aforementioned and much-loved guinea pigs. There’s kite flying, orienteering, woodland games, bonfire building and camping – and even a go-kart track that would turn most parents green with envy. The adventure-playground circuit is serious stuff, and there’s a trophy to be won for whoever clocks the fastest time around it.
Boarding
Boarding is a thriving part of school life. Children can choose to go full, weekly or flexi (one to four nights per week), but all boarders stay at school for the first and last weekends of term to help create a real sense of community. Boarding numbers steadily increase as pupils move up the schools.
Expect exceptional pastoral care and a real family feel (we love the fact that siblings sit together during supper). With their Quentin Blake wallpaper and pretty pastel bunting, the dorms in the three boarding houses (one girls’, two boys’) are sunny and welcoming. We particularly liked the lovely garden in Blackford House (for girls in Years 3-8), which is home to guinea pigs Galaxy and Milky Way, and the newly refurbished Lankester House (for junior boys), complete with Lego room and fish tanks. Senior boys sleep in School House, which is squirrelled away at the top of the main house. Dorms have what must surely be the best views in the whole of Somerset.
With 60 or so children in the school every weekend, there is always lots on: baking, bonfires, ice-skating, a spin round the go-kart track, off-site visits to beaches or the caves at Wookey Hole. Oh, and we love the ‘no devices’ policy; even the teachers aren’t allowed to use their mobile phones on the school campus, and children have dedicated letter-writing time on the weekends. Children are, however, more than welcome to use the landline to call home, or borrow a tablet to Skype their family.
School community
The size of the school allows teaching staff to get to know all pupils individually, and all children check in with their form tutor every morning and lunchtime. Staff are brilliantly well-trained in spotting issues, and the overriding message we took away from our chat with Mr Benbow was that there are so many eyes on each pupil that problems are spotted quickly – and nipped in the bud as soon as they arise.
Families tend to live within a 45-minute drive. This is the school of choice for locals and thrusting ex-Londoners moving to the southwest, who want their children to have a more worldly lens than what is offered at some of the other local schools (note they're a nicely understated bunch too, with far more battered Land Rovers spotted in the car park than shiny sports cars). It’s also popular with military families, whose offspring make up a good majority of the full boarding contingent. The active and hugely welcoming parents’ association frequently organises events including a drinks party in September for new parents, quiz nights, a summer fete complete with dog show and a biannual ball.
And finally....
Hazlegrove seems to have it all: a beautiful building, arguably even more beautiful grounds, knockout facilities, a caring family ethos and a wide range of opportunities for children to really get stuck into their passions. Most importantly, it’s home to hordes of happy children – and we can’t wait to watch it flourish under Mr Benbow’s watch.