Boarding
Boarding at Highfield and Brookham is extremely popular but also completely optional. Our boarding provision has always been an integral part of the prep school and perhaps the continued popularity reflects how well we do it. Our flexible contemporary boarding provision means that if you are considering boarding for your child we are sure we can offer something that suits them. We offer everything from two nights per week to the ever-popular full boarding experience.
One of our many strengths is our diverse national and international community. We have always enjoyed a strong association with Armed Forces families and we are honoured to have been welcoming children from overseas for more than decade. Throughout our history we have been able provide outstanding pastoral care and the full boarding experience for children whose families may be abroad. The thriving boarding community means that no child will ever feel alone if their parents are out of the country. They are part of a large extended family who care for and support them every step of the way.
The approach to boarding is excellent – we love the Junior Boarding House to start and there’s a great balance of freedom and guidance.
Full boarding is the complete package offered to children in Year 4 to Year 8. It allows your child to experience the whole week, including weekends. Roughly a quarter of our boarders board full time, including international children, Forces children and local children who want to experience full boarding before senior school. Weekends are treasured by our boarders as they enjoy more of their favourite part of boarding – being with their friends.
Sundays offer a relaxed start with a ‘pyjama breakfast’ at 9am. Each weekend there is a either an on-site or off-site activity such as bowling in Guildford, going to the cinema in Portsmouth or fairground rides at Hollycombe. Our weekly boarders always have the option to book additional nights to join our full boarders for the most popular weekend activities – ice skating in Winchester being one of them.
Weekly boarding is available from Year 3 to Year 8. Approximately half of our boarders choose this option. As a weekly boarder your child will arrive at school on Monday morning and return home on Saturday, allowing them to experience the joys of being part of our thriving boarding family.
If your child doesn’t have school on a Saturday they are collected at 9am, if they do have Saturday School they will be collected at the end of the school day. We also value seeing our families at Sunday Chapel, which has been an important part of boarding for many years. We would love to invite your child to stay after Sunday Chapel and there will be no extra charge.
This is our unique take on part-time, flexi boarding and is available for children in Year 3 to Year 7. Around a quarter of our boarders choose our Steps to Boarding programme. Steps offers your child a gentle start to boarding. It is a great opportunity for them to test the water before being a full boarder either at prep or senior school. It also offers families a more flexible option to fit around after-school clubs and commitments, the school run and work life.
What makes it special is your child will board the same nights each week and have their own bed, in their dorm with their friends, with their belongings. No chopping and changing. It is their home even if they are only with us two nights a week. Children in Year 3 to Year 6 have the options of staying two, three or four nights a week and children in Year 7 have the choice between three or four nights a week.
Additional boarding gives children who aren’t full boarders the option to book extra nights in our Boarding House on a more flexible basis. As we do not ‘hot bed’, your child’s bed is always available to them on other nights when they need it, or simply when they want to stay for that extra special weekend activity. We all know how popular the Winchester Christmas Market is!
What we’re up to…
The final Cushion Concert of the spring term featured a range of wonderful performances, including solo and duet vocals, piano and guitar solos and some highly entertaining LAMDA performances. Cushion Concerts provide a fantastic opportunity for pupils to perform in front of their parents in a relaxed and supportive setting, creating truly magical moments for everyone. #TogetherWeGrow #IndependentSchool #PrivateSchool #PrepSchool #PrePrepSchool #Liphook #CreativeLearning #Surrey #Hampshire
Eager pupils have lent a hand – or at least a bucket – to the fundraising efforts of five members of the school community ahead of next month’s London Landmarks Half-Marathon. Read the full story here ➡️ bit.ly/4iEWN59 #TogetherWeGrow #LondonLandmarksHalfMarathon #CharityRunners #CentenaryBursariesFund #BoardingSchoolsInHampshire
For their final get-together before the Easter holidays, and hot on the heels of the amazing efforts of the Year 5 and Year 6 pupils in their production of Pride Rocks, the children in the prep-prep Theatre Club today put on a wonderful performance of their own featuring singing, dancing and choreography to the uplifting soundtrack of The Circle of Life. Bravo, children! #TogetherWeGrow #TheCircleOfLife #PrePrepTheatreClub #PerformingArts #IndependentSchoolsInHampshire #CountryEducation
Hats off to our lovely Nursery children who got the final week of the spring term off to the best possible start today with a wonderful Easter bonnet parade in our fabulous woodland. #TogetherWeGrow #EasterBonnetParade #SchoolsInHampshire #BoardingSchoolsInHampshire #Nursery #PrePrepSchool #PrepSchool #IndependentSchool
What an amazing week we’ve had on the theatrical stage. Our Year 5 and Year 6 children have excelled themselves with no less than six extraordinary performances of Pride Rocks. Under the direction of Mrs Baird, our exceptional Head of Drama, the children recited their lines, danced and sang with immense pride, passion and expertise, supporting each other every step of the way as the powerful tale unfolded. Grateful thanks to Aldro for providing the zebra and giraffe heads and Cranleigh School for supplying the stunning masks. #TogetherWeGrow #PrideRocks #SchoolsInHampshire #PerformingArts
Having performed in front of their upper prep school peers today, our Year 5 and Year 6 children are now halfway through the six scheduled performances of their spectacular, atmospheric and dramatic stage show, Pride Rocks. And the general consensus so far? It’s been a roaring success! #TogetherWeGrow #StageShow #MusicalTheatre #PrideRocks #PrepSchoolTheatre #PerformingArts #CoeducationalSchoolsInHampshire
Bubbles, bears, biscuits and books were the order of the day for our Nursery children today. The excited children took full advantage of the warmer weather and blue skies to head outside and have fun with their friends at a wonderful teddy bears’ picnic; chasing bubbles, eating tasty bear-shaped snacks and listening to Mrs Horn read captivating stories out in the fresh air. #TogetherWeGrow #TeddyBearsPicnic #OutdoorLearning #Books #TheGreatOutdoors #SchoolsInHampshire
The girls’ football season continued apace today with the visit of our friends from St. Edmund’s School, Surrey. Our U13, U12, U11 and U10 girls were in fine form under mercifully sunny skies, demonstrating just how much they have improved in the past month. The girls will wrap up their season against Aldro on Saturday before turning their attention to cricket after the Easter holiday. #TogetherWeGrow #TogetherWeCompete #TogetherWePlay #PrepSchoolSport #GirlsFootball #GrassrootsFootball #SchoolsInHampshire
From crime scene investigation to the benefits of healthy eating and from fascinating trips to the Science Museum and Natural History Museum, London to a feast of forensics, our inquisitive children immersed themselves fully in British Science Week. #TogetherWeGrow #Science #CrimeSceneInvestigation #STEM #WeLoveScience #SchoolsInHampshire #BoardingSchoolsInHampshire
Year 7 have taken inspiration from the work of JMW Turner, who was best known for his expressive colouring and imaginative landscapes. Working on a theme of abstract seas and skies, the young artists covered repurposed canvases with scraps of paper to create texture before clever use of primary colours, complemented by whites for tone and black for shade, added real emotion to the children’s artwork. #TogetherWeGrow #CreativeArts #InspiredByFamousArtists #ExpressiveArtwork #SchoolsInHampshire
Experimental artists in Year 3 have been busy mixing primary colours in the art room today to produce secondary colours. The children discovered that mixing red, blue and yellow in pairs produced vibrant hues of orange, purple and green which they could use to add a real splash of colour to their clay faces. #TogetherWeGrow #Art #Creativity #Painting #SchoolsInHampshire
Year 4 pupils today learnt some amazing facts about giant tortoises. As part of a weekly initiative where the children are encouraged to bring something unusual or interesting into class to spark healthy discussion and broaden their knowledge, George T brought in his sulcata tortoise. The children discovered that ten-year-old Boris, who is still only a baby, hails from north Africa, is a herbivore and could weigh up to 90lbs (40 kilos) when fully grown. #TogetherWeGrow #TogetherWeLearn #SulcataTortoise #AnimalMagic #HealthyDiscussion #FascinatingFacts #SchoolsInHampshire
Whether it’s in the classroom, on the sports pitch, in the art room, on stage in the theatre or working on experiments in the science lab, the flame of passion burns brightly within our children. They possess an innate desire to learn, spread their wings and be the best they can be, something we wholeheartedly encourage and nurture. #TogetherWeGrow #PassionForLearning #ThirstForKnowledge #EndlessPossibilities #SchoolsInHampshire
Looking for a unique and nurturing educational environment where your child can truly thrive? The countdown to our next Open Morning on Friday 14th March is on and we can’t wait to meet all the prospective parents. Why not come along and see for yourself? Simply click the link in our bio to reserve your spot. We look forward to welcoming you. #TogetherWeGrow #IndependentSchool #PrivateSchool #BoardingSchool #PrepSchool #PrePrepSchool #Nursery #Liphook #Hampshire #Surrey #WestSussex #OpenMorning
With spring just around the corner, we were today appropriately treated to another uplifting music concert. Pupils from Year 3 to Year 7 performed eclectic pieces for guitar, piano, recorder, violin, saxophone and cello while the Year 4 band rocked their way through 20th Century Boy. And Romilly and Felix performed a sublime rendition of the humorous song The Cover Is Not The Book from hit film Mary Poppins Returns. #TogetherWeGrow #MusicalTalent #CreativeArts #SchoolConcert #SchoolsInHampshire #PrivateSchoolsInHampshire
It’s been another cold day on the hockey pitch, despite sporadic bursts of watery, early-spring sunshine. But what has proved incredibly heartwarming yet again is the dedication, camaraderie and skill shown by all of the boys, not to mention the immense pride that comes with wearing the green and black. Thank you to all of the players and coaches from Amesbury School, Edgeborough School, St. Edmund’s School, Surrey and Westbourne House School for playing a full part in a quite brilliant U9 tournament. #TogetherWeGrow #TogetherWeCompete #PrepSchoolSport #BoysHockey #BoardingSchoolsInHampshire
Quality play and insightful coaching were the order of the day as our boys rose to the occasion on the hockey pitch this afternoon against our friends from @westbournehouseschool while the girls battled it out on the football pitch. Prep school sport was the real winner though. Well played, everyone! #TogetherWeGrow #PrepSchoolSport #Hockey #GirlsFootball #PrivateSchoolsInHampshire
When it comes to being healthy, look no further than Year 3. As part of their spring term topic looking at the benefits of healthy eating and the importance of wellbeing, the children took on the Great Smoothie Challenge – and passed with flying colours. Split into teams, Year 3 not only had to produce tasty fruit smoothies, they had to explain to the judging panel where their fruit came from and champion its nutritional value. The children were also judged on their brand name and logo and how well they worked together. #TogetherWeGrow #GreatSmoothieChallenge #HealthyEating #SchoolsInHampshire
Mrs Houghton, our Head of Art, has signed up to the Addictive Sketchers Movement to help pupils on our popular Tuesday Sketch Club brush up their artistic skills and learn new techniques. The movement is headed by @addictivesketcher Adebanji Alade, president of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters, and his expertise is already proving inspirational judging by the amazing portraits the children have already produced. #TogetherWeGrow #Art #AddictiveSketchersMovement #CreativeArts #PrivateSchoolsInHampshire
Curious Year 3 have been gripped by festival fever in Spanish today. Having discovered the amazing sights and sounds connected with the annual Las Fallas festival in Valencia, the children worked in small groups to create colourful and informative posters depicting the history, food, fireworks and colourful traditions surrounding the 19 days of Las Fallas, which celebrates the arrival of spring and pays tribute to St Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. #TogetherWeGrow #LearningSpanish #LasFallasFestival #PrivateSchool #ModernForeignLanguages #BoardingSchoolsInHampshire
Our determined young swimmers last night made it seven years unbeaten in inter-school galas after a dazzling display against valiant visitors @stedmundshindhead. With competition close in the early stages, Highfield and Brookham’s strength in depth tolled. The 51-point margin of victory was all the more remarkable as, in the absence of Year 7 swimmers who were visiting the @natural_history_museum, our Year 6 children swam up an age group. We now look forward to our final two galas of another busy and brilliant season in the pool – against @cranleighprepschool and @stivesschoolhaslemere. #TogetherWeGrow #SwimmingGala #MakingASplash #PrepSchoolSport #BoardingSchoolsInHampshire