Even if you have secured your child’s Senior School, a prep school will enrich your child’s life for years 7 and 8. From age 11 to 13 boys and girls go through a vast amount of physical and emotional changes and to experience this in the secure environment at the top of a prep school without the influence of much older peers is invaluable. Childhood is such a cherished time, why rush it?

If families have chosen a senior boarding school, the benefits of boarding at a prep school first are huge. Being the big kid in the boarding house helps with the transition of staying away from home and with the routine and demands of boarding.

Joining Highfield and Brookham in its penultimate year means children earn roles of responsibility almost immediately rather than the latter years of senior school. Our Year 8 pupils wear their badges with pride: Peer Listener,
School Councillor and Head of School. The leadership and responsibility leaves them feeling on top of the world.

Moving straight from Year 6 to senior school means one set of exams after the next. Pre-tests will barely be behind you before GCSEs appear. Spending Years 7 and 8 at prep school gives children something beyond an exam-based curriculum.

At Highfield and Brookham we have moved away from the restrictive nature of the Common Entrance syllabus and are packing the children’s last two years with an enviable education, filling the void with a rich and dynamic programme. Our bespoke curriculum for Years 7 and 8 is centred on communication, critical-thinking, collaboration and creativity, essential skills that equip children for senior school and life beyond formal education. We will teach your children to adapt for the future world we can’t yet envisage. 

Year 6 runs high on emotions while children wait to hear from their chosen senior schools and a handful of children will miss out on their first choice, or even second choice school. At this point parents look for prep schools experienced in helping children in Year 7 secure a senior school place.

Children move on from us to approximately 30 different senior schools and our Head, Suzannah Cryer, has a personal relationship with all of them. Remarkable at getting to know every child’s unique personality and discovering which school might best suit them, she is also exceptional at showing this to senior schools so they too can see the fit. As a result new senior school doors open and doors closed at the end of Year 6 may well reopen!

On average we welcome ten new children into Year 7 each year who experience a magical prep school education for a couple of years before they move on. Among the top destinations are Marlborough College, Canford School, Cranleigh School, Wellington College, Eton College, Bryanston School and Winchester College.