108 Tatler Schools Guide 2020 108KING’S COLLEGE
SCHOOL
West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DN
Website kcs.cambs.sch.uk Head
Yvette Day Pupils 409 day and
boarding: 259 boys, 150 girls Ages
3–11 Term fees Day: £5,450;
boarding: £ 8,440; choristers: £ 2,790
Despite having been founded in
1441 when Henry VI established
both the college and choir school,
King’s maintains a modern out-
look alongside its quintessentially
English prep feel – pupils love the
new sports and cultural centre, and
there are two IT specialists if cod-
ing is your thing. A grandparent of
a recent leaver said he would ‘re-
member King’s as the school that
smiles’. Pupils move on to fantastic
Cambridge day schools as well as
Eton, King’s Ely and Oundle. With
26 choristers, singing is ‘part of the
DNA of the school’. There’s an an-
nual ski trip to Switzerland and a
history trip to Cologne, and pupils,
staff and parents alike fundraise for
their twin school in Sri Lanka.MAIDWELL HALL
Maidwell, Northamptonshire
NN6 9JG
Website maidwellhall.co.uk
Head Robert Lankester Pupils 136
day and boarding: 84 boys, 52 girls
Faith C of E Ages 7–13 Term fees
Day: £5,895; boarding: £9,050
With 80 per cent of students in
school on Sundays and a packed
weekend schedule, Maidwell Hall is
the perfect antidote to the ‘no man’s
land of flexi-boarding’, to quote one
parent. The luxury of time afforded
by full boarding allows this small
community to think big. Recent
highlights include a production of
Goodnight Mr Tom that left staff
and parents in tears, sports tours to
Antigua and Dublin, and the in-
troduction of some extraordinary
clubs – trout smoking anyone? The
use of iPads in lessons has proved a
great success but, fear not, these are
not allowed out of the classroom
and letters home are still written on
Wednesdays. Ensuring everyone
gets a healthy dose of country air,
pupils are let loose in the grounds to
run, cycle or boat (yes, there’s a lake). MAIDWELL HALLOLD BUCKENHAM
HALL
Brettenham Park, Ipswich,
Suffolk IP7 7PH
Website obh.co.uk
Head David Griffiths Pupils 200
day and boarding: 116 boys, 84 girls
Ages 3–13 Term fees Day: £6,680;
boarding: £8,700
This is the rural prep school to opt
for if ‘a proper rounded education’
is top of the agenda. Reliable
sources report that self-professed
family man David Griffiths is do-
ing a great job in his first year as
Head, preserving the school’s well-
balanced focus on sport, academia
and music as well as introducing
new concepts, including a week-
long arts festival. Maintaining a
Swallows and Amazon spirit in the
age of the iPad, campfires in the
gorgeous 80-acre grounds are
among the boarders’ weekend
highlights. Newcomers are wel-
comed by a roaring fire in the
entrance hall, encapsulating the
warm, caring atmosphere for
which Old Buckenham is known.
For leavers, it’s the top public
schools – this year including Eton,
Rugby and Oundle.MOOR PARK
SCHOOL
Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 4DZ
Website moorpark.org.uk
Head Charlie Minogue Pupils 183
day: 96 boys, 87 girls Faith RC
Ages 0–13 Term fees Day: £5,975;
boarding: £8,870
Amalgamating outstanding aca-
demic success with the joys of a
playful childhood, Moor Park
could be described as the holy grail
of prep education. Set in 85 acres
of idyllic Shropshire countryside
complete with a deer park, assault
course and woodland school, tree-
climbing and muddy shoes are ac-
tively encouraged. Fresh from his
MEd in Educational Leadership,
Head Charlie Minogue is evangeli-
cal about the importance of pre-
paring young minds for the chal-
lenges of our ever-changing world:
he has introduced the ‘Moor Park
Mindsets’ to teach his students
how to think outside the box. Re-
sults are impressive: in the past two
years, 59 leavers won 53 scholar-
ships and awards. But Moor Park’s
greatest achievement is the culture
of kindness and respect underpin-
ning every part of school life.ORWELL PARK
Nacton, Ipswich, Suffolk
IP10 0ER
Website orwellpark.org
Head Adrian Brown Pupils 310
day and boarding: 180 boys,
130 girls Ages 2–13 Term fees
Day: £6,386; boarding: £9,200
A magnificent Georgian man-
sion at the end of a grand drive,
Orwell Park is nevertheless a
grubby-knees type of school:
think bushcraft areas, assault
courses, leaping deer in the
grounds and roaring fires inside.
Thanks to impressive facilities,
sport is quite something here:
one-to-one cricket lessons, a golf
course and even a climbing wall.
Despite all the action, chapel is
held every Thursday morning in
the local village church, which
gives the children time to pause
and reflect. Orwell has a link
with Mayo College, a boarding
school in Rajasthan known as the
‘Eton of the East’, and following
several successful pupil trips,
there is hope of it becoming an
annual thing. Leavers disperse
across the country to Oundle,
Eton, Stowe and beyond.10-19-Schools-Guide-PrepMidlands.indd 108 09/08/2019 22:24