Welcome to Sherborne Prep – where our children are encouraged to seize every opportunity before them.
We are a caring, nurturing, and inspiring community that places the holistic care of every child at the heart of what we do. Our staff are passionate, dedicated educators, committed to supporting children to be happy, kind, courageous learners, and outward-facing individuals. We also laugh, a lot! We are a vibrant school that celebrates the magic of childhood.
We will push children beyond their comfort zones; to be ambitious for themselves but also for their community be that through academic rigour, music, the performing arts, sport, or adventure. Our children have true character: they know they are safe to explore and will be guided throughout their time at the Prep to be ready for senior school and beyond.
Children are encouraged to be not only kind to others but also to themselves; they are aware of others and the world around them. We aim to instil a generosity of spirit, to engender independence and curiosity in pursuit of experiences, to be honest and open and to persevere. Those who are brave and know that to reach your potential takes hard work will find the most success and fulfilment in life; our staff are with each child every step of the way throughout their Prep School days.
We truly are a community. Children have the best opportunity to thrive when the adults in their lives have a positive relationship. Our parent body is a kind and inclusive one. Joining Sherborne Prep means the whole family joins our Prep School - we are strongest when working together and this will enable our children to shine bright - to be ready for the future; to experience opportunities that not only will help them develop as individuals but also provide them with a desire to play a positive role within their local and wider community, developing global citizens who will truly make a difference.
Annie Gent, Head
1. Sherborne Prep
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Astro
Upper Lawn
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9. Sports Centre
10. Music School
11. The Chapel
12. Sherborne Abbey
13. The Courts
14. The Powell Theatre
15. Sherborne Train Station
Oxley Astro
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“The school didn’t try and mould my son, they let him find his own shape and just made sure that there weren’t any sharp edges, and for that, I’ll be eternally grateful.”
We believe the purpose of Early Years education is to guide children towards a successful and fulfilling life, while simultaneously creating a joyful and caring atmosphere, inspiring each child to reach their full potential. Our dedicated team is devoted to nurturing the growth of every child, offering a well-rounded education that intertwines academic challenges with enjoyable and adventurous experiences. By keeping class sizes small and prioritising interactive learning, we strive to cultivate diverse interests in children while equipping them with essential skills for their future. Through a comprehensive curriculum taught by subject specialists, we provide our children with ample opportunities to become confident learners who have a genuine curiosity about the world.
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At Sherborne Prep we encourage and develop happy, fulfilled pupils through a stimulating but rigorous curriculum. This promotes their spiritual, moral, cultural and physical development and constructs experiences that help them to make sense of the world and prepare them for later life. Through creative, supportive and challenging teaching, our children will be immersed in an engaging curriculum that inspires independent thinking and intellectual curiosity. Opportunities are fostered to ensure the development of six core skills, which we believe should lie at the heart of educational development: leadership, communication, collaboration, independence, thinking & learning and reviewing & improving. The school follows the Pre-Senior Baccalaureate (PSB), which is a curriculum designed for children to develop key skills and achievements in preparation for their senior schools.
Our focus is on the whole child, and this is never more apparent than with our Early Years and Pre-Prep provision. We understand these are precious days in a child’s development, where the habits formed will last a lifetime. We put our Dragon Values at the heart of everything, celebrating kindness and compassion and showing attentiveness to the individual personality of every child. We encourage our whole community to show empathy and compassion to others and give them the tools to thrive in different situations.
We understand that each child is different and are committed to helping every pupil realise their full potential. Our SEN staff work with class teachers and parents to provide specialist support for children with learning differences, helping them flourish at school. We have smaller study groups in which children have the opportunity to work at their own pace to build confidence and develop their skills. Our Little Room offers a safe space for children to read quietly or have some time out.
Throughout the school, there are adults and places where the children can go to seek support, from their form teacher and Form room to the Little Room, to their independent tutor and any member of staff.
Boarding provides the opportunity for children to grow in independence, build their resilience and learn to socialise in a warm and nurturing environment. Acreman House resides in the heart of Sherborne Prep School and is run by Mr Chiappa-Patching, his family, and a dedicated boarding team. From one night a week through to full boarding and a wide range of active weekends, there are a variety of options available for boys and girls who may well be beginning their boarding adventures.
“Boarding gives all our children the stability throughout the school week and it means we can have that key time at weekends that we all enjoy.”
Sport plays an important role in life at Sherborne Prep for all our children. It is never just about winning or losing (though we do like to win!). The spirit and manner in which children at Sherborne Prep approach sport is central to all that is great about our school. We believe firmly in a pupil-centred approach and work hard to provide an atmosphere where children and staff can strive to be the best that they can be, whilst providing breadth and opportunity for all.
All our children play so many sports beyond the core netball, hockey, cricket, rugby and swimming. Football is around every corner, in every break and finding itself in tournaments and matches against local teams. Tennis is ever popular; Fives grows year by year. Athletics and Gymnastics are perennial favourites, and we look forward to building squash, climbing and bouldering into the jam-packed days. Water Polo, anyone?
Music is a core pillar of offering within our school. Over 70% of Years 3 to 8 take individual 1 on 1 lessons, with group lessons for our Pre-Prep. Within the school, we have a Cantores Choir, Chamber Choir and a joint schools’ orchestra with Sherborne Boys and Sherborne Girls. We regularly perform in their concert halls, alongside services in the Sherborne Boys Chapel and a termly service in Sherborne Abbey. The highlight of the musical year is our raucous House Singing Competition, taking place in the Gransden Hall at Sherborne Girls.
We have a variety of ensembles and choirs in a wide range of musical disciplines.
Our pupils make up the bulk of the Trebles in the Abbey Choir, both Boys’ and Girls’ Choirs. They have the opportunity to access a unique musical education within the Chorister programme at Sherborne Abbey.
Here at the Prep, we are very lucky to have a wonderful teaching space for our D&T lessons: a classroom area where we discuss, plan, and carry out research for designs and a workshop with a wealth of tools and resources where the creative magic happens!
Every year group starts a new project each term which begins with a collaborative discussion engaging the children in the decision-making and planning process. This ensures the children’s projects are pupil-led, relevant and have a true purpose.
Resistant materials are a firm favourite, with cross-curricular links that enable children to delve into their wider knowledge and incorporate topic work from other subjects –one of our Year 7 projects has involved researching mountains around the world and building a 3D model based on topographic maps; our Reception children have studied insects, learning about their features before making a ladybird model.
Sustainability is also hugely important to the teachers as well as the students at the Prep and our Year 8s have taken on a fantastic project designing and building a living wall out of reclaimed pallets. We warmly invite you to pop in to see the children in action working on their creations – it is always a wonderfully exciting hive of activity, where every child has the opportunity to unleash their creativity and fulfil their design dreams!
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“It’s been so special and so much more than a school to us. It really has just given us the best possible start in life.”
We are passionate that every child at Sherborne Prep enjoys being involved with Performing Arts.
Every year group spends a week off timetable at a purpose-built theatre, Greenfield Hall. With speaking parts, singing parts and backstage technician opportunities, we instill confidence and self-belief in the shyest of pupils.
“If
you hear a voice within you say, ‘you cannot paint’, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced”
Vincent van Gogh
We believe that creativity should permeate all areas of the school, allowing our children to develop their ideas freely, to both discover their own talents within our community and to celebrate individuality. Our new venture embracing the PSB has been a success, highlighting creativity throughout the curriculum.
Our programme ‘Artist of the Week’ is a public celebration of individual responses to independent projects. It is wonderful to see our children’s art every week, bringing colour and joy to the start of the day. The department organises the Sherborne Prep Art Exhibition, which is an annual show, and includes a piece of work from each child in the school for parents and families to see, alongside group or collaborative work. All children in the upper school have the opportunity to visit world-renowned galleries and exhibitions on school trips to Paris, or London including the National Gallery, Musée d’Orsay, and the Louvre. The school annually submits artwork for the Young Artist’s Summer Show, both an online and physical exhibition at the Royal Academy of the Arts in London and participates yearly in the SATIPS Art Exhibition.
Alongside our normal timetabled art lessons, children can choose to develop their creativity further in our daily enrichment sessions, held every day after school or as part of our Saturday Activities.
The department prepares children for art scholarships to Senior schools, through a tailored programme of support. Amongst others, we have achieved success for our art scholars at Sherborne Boys, Sherborne Girls, Bryanston School, Clayesmore School, and King’s Bruton.
What is life without adventure? What is a character unless it has been given a challenge, proven up to it and grown as a result? The Prep provides ample opportunity to test mettle in the safest and most nurturing of environments. Whether it is a Saturday or Sunday trip, an overnight Micro Adventure, a weeklong break, a Saturday morning activity, the school has myriad opportunities to develop just a little bit more each time. It isn’t just outdoors that this can and does happen –day long extra-curricular whole school days give children here a chance to explore academically, seeing what excitements can lie in Science, Maths, History as well as the countryside, beach, and mountains.
“I think from the first day when my son joined Nursery aged three, we really felt the Prep family ethos come through.”
Co-curricular clubs are extra-curricular activities that enable children to step away from formal learning, garnering a rich variety of experiences that form character, deepen understanding and stimulate new knowledge. Children can pursue their interests and passions outside of the classroom which can help foster a sense of curiosity and excitement, as well as develop their social and emotional skills. Whether it is within the community at large, or for a charitable purpose, all provide a different stretch and cultivate a slightly different section of the brain each week. There are more than one hundred and fifteen clubs to choose from during the week. The challenge is which one to choose!
Sherborne Prep is an amazing school which needs to be seen and experienced to really get the ‘feel’. Our children are inquisitive and curious, kind and compassionate. The flourish under our passionate, forward-thinking and caring staff. Sherborne Prep needs to be seen to be believed and we welcome you to come for a meeting with our Head, Annie Gent, and to have a tour of our school. We are based in around twelve acres of Sports Pitches, playgrounds, orchards and gardens so there is plenty to explore.
Contact us to arrange your individual visit, place on an Open Morning or to have an initial chat to find out more. We look forward to hearing from you.
The steps to joining Sherborne Prep:
