Tatler UK - 10.2019

tatler.com Tatler Schools Guide 2020 49

PUBLIC

PHOTOGRAPHS: JAMES MCMILLAN

SOUTH WEST & WALES

pupils to leave as someone you

would want to employ. Thomson

believes that there is no ‘typical’

pupil – and she will always keep

the school under 700 students,

ensuring that anyone who might

be overlooked in a larger school is

taken from zero to hero. The

creative juices are certainly flowing

here – pupils draw inspiration

from the local geography and

architecture for their art and DT

projects, and there are regular

visits to galleries. This small school

ranks in the top 100 cricketing

schools (cricket is just as popular

with the girls as the boys) and all

sport is very much for everyone –

there are boys in the 1st XV rugby

team who started in the U14 Cs.

CLIFTON COLLEGE 

Guthrie Road, Clifton, Bristol

BS8 3EZ

Website cliftoncollege.com

Head Tim Greene, DPhil, since

2016; previously Deputy Head

Pupils 724. Day: 215 boys, 162

girls; boarding: 209 boys, 138 girls

Faith C of E Ages 13–18 Te r m

Fees Day: £8,785; boarding: £13,525

Oxbridge 8% Registration One

year before entry; £150 fee

Admission Pre-assessment, CE or

school’s own exams, interview and

school’s own report Alumni John

Cleese, Field Marshall Douglas

Haig, GB hockey player Lily Owsley

PREP Head Jim Walton Pupils

525 day and boarding: 281 boys,

244 girls Ages 2–13 Term Fees

Day: £5,990; boarding: £9,385

The hours are long and the days

are busy at Clifton College, which

was founded in 1862 and is

housed in impressive 19th-century

buildings. It’s a refreshingly all-

round school that works hard to

find individual strengths – a task

made easier by the enviable facili-

ties and extracurricular offering.

Annual Play Week is a highlight:

every house (all mixed-age) puts on

a play with students responsible

for every element of the produc-

tion, from acting to costumes and

sound. Weekends are jam-packed,

with an impressive timetable of

activities and sport ending at 6pm:

DAUNTSEY’S 

West Lavington, Devizes,

Wiltshire SN10 4HE

Website dauntseys.org Head

Mark Lascelles, BA, since 2012;

previously Lower Master and Acting

Headmaster at The King’s School

Canterbury Pupils 820. Day: 261

boys, 261 girls; boarding: 146 boys,

152 girls Faith C of E Ages 11–18

Term Fees Day: £6,550; boarding:

£10,850 Oxbridge 4%

Registration Mid-Autumn term of

year before entry; £100 fee

Admission School’s own exam,

interview and previous school’s

report Alumni Friends of the Earth

Co-founder Richard Sandbrook,

children’s author Rev Wilbert Awdry

When asked what the school’s

strengths were, three parents put

‘adventure’ at the top of their list,

and Head Mark Lascelles agrees

that it’s ‘an essential part of life at

Dauntsey’s’ due to the school’s

passionate belief that it teaches

invaluable life skills, and helps

young people to develop resilience,

empathy, perseverance and self-

awareness. Set in Wiltshire’s green

pastures, this is a wholesome and

decisively run co-ed school that is

reassuringly practical and realistic

• you can be either a day pupil or a
  boarder (there is no flexi option)
  and everyone attends Saturday
  school. 2018 saw an outstanding
  set of EPQ results with 85 per cent
  of pupils gaining A*–B grades and
  the qualification is growing in
  popularity as students catch on to
  how well it prepares them for
  university. Full of lively, kind and
  ambitious students, Dauntsey’s
  ‘is noted for its unpretentious
  atmosphere’ reinforced by the bal-
  anced intake from prep and state
  schools at 11 and 13. Demand for
  a place is high, attracting families
  from far and wide: there are 14
  different buses transporting pupils
  to school each day – the Head
  didn’t want anyone to have to leave
  for school before 7am, so the first
  bus departs at 7.01am. School
  spirit is alive and kicking here:
  when the 1st XV Rugby made the
  National Vase final, more than 700
  pupils travelled all the way to
  Twickenham to support the team.

DEAN CLOSE

SCHOOL 

Shelburne Road, Cheltenham

GL51 6HE

Website deanclose.org.uk

Head Bradley Salisbury, MEd, since

2015; previously Deputy Head

Pupils 468. Day:119 boys, 88 girls;

boarding: 135 boys, 126 girls

Faith C of E Ages 13–18 Term Fees

Day: £8,600; boarding: £13,200

Oxbridge 8% Registration 18

months before entry; £100 fee

Admission CE or school’s own

exam Alumni Political Adviser to

US General Emma Sky, actor Hugh

Quarshie, TV personality Jeremy Wade

PREP Head Paddy Moss Pupils

307 day and boarding:162 boys,

145 girls Ages 7–13 Term Fees Day:

£6,500; boarding: £9,300

Head Bradley Salisbury is savvy:

he knows that a school is only as

good as its teaching body. He has

worked hard to recruit excellent

staff and a brilliant Warden and

CEO of the Dean Close ]

CLAYESMORE

fencing, sailing and hockey, which

is of such a high standard that it

attracts students from as far as

Edinburgh (the U14 girls came

third at the National Finals in

2019). The Science School, mean-

while, draws pupils from across the

globe, so it’s no wonder Clifton

enjoys an unrivalled roster of

Nobel prize winners. ‘The school

is really good at preparing pupils

for the future,’ says one satisfied

parent, citing the school’s environ-

ment as both representative of the

real world and at one with the

local community. The Head never

misses Chapel, which one pupil

describes as ‘the centre of the

school community’, and the light-

filled Percival Library houses more

than 15,000 books. Twelve

students will take up places at

Oxbridge this year and 85 per cent

win a place at their chosen

university each year.

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