WHAT? WHERE?

Chandlings Prep is an independent, co-ed day school set in 60 verdant acres just 5 miles from Oxford, teaching children from 2 – 11 years, on a ‘gently selective’ entry criteria, based on a mix of behaviour and potential. There are currently 310 pupils here (roughly a 50/50 split between boys and girls) in the main school and nursery combined with Pre-Prep and Prep classes averaging 15 (and going up to a maximum of 20).

The main building is a ex-private home built in extravagantly faux Tudor lodge style (think beams, wrought iron chandeliers and turned wood staircases) with a breadth of honeystone-exterior buildings with folly arches and toytown towers, along with more modern, less architecturally attractive add-ons. Looking out on woods and greenery all around, the school invites you to take a deep sigh and relax.

two school boys swimming wearing orange swim caps - chandlings prep

FACILITIES

SPORT

With 60 acres to play with and a relatively large cohort, it’s no surprise that sport is high on the agenda here with a ‘sport-for-all’ mentality and strong facilities that include two large multi-use halls, a revamped 15m indoor pool (swimming is part of the curriculum from 4yrs up), 7 rugby/football pitches, 3 netball courts, 6 cricket pitches, 7 cricket nets, a brand new hockey astroturf, ballet studio, a riding school and – of course! – a six hole golf course.

Girls’ sport has had early time and investment – Chandlings was the first Prep school in Oxfordshire to introduce girls’ cricket instead of rounders, and in Years 3-4 they play a mix of single and mixed gender matches, and the girls played football here well before the Lionesses decided to win the Euros.

In terms of physical exercise, the woodland area is put to good use with a nine-station low ropes course, lake with dipping pontoon and archery range.

There’s both a karate programme and a golf scheme, a boon for pupils who perhaps aren’t so drawn to the mainstream sports of rugby, football, cricket, hockey and netball.

DRAMA

Drama has had an overhaul with arrival of Kate Belcher, the new Drama Teacher, a published playwright and composer who ensures every child gets a speaking part in one of the five (five!) productions on offer each year. Every child from Year 1 to Year 6 also gets the chance to perform in termly tea-time concerts which are held in Lantern Hall, one of the two main multi-use spaces. LAMDA lessons are also available.

Perhaps a signal of Chandling’s intention of raising the standing of Creative Arts within the school is the first ever Celebration of the Arts event that took place in Summer 2022 – a whole school initiative that combined performances across music, drama, DT, art, poetry and ballet. An outdoor theatre came into its own with the summer’s heatwave and the head has confirmed her plan to upgrade the Lantern Hall into a better equipped theatrical space.

MUSIC

Another key hire has been the new Head of Music, Megan Sharp (previously at The Dragon School) who has revolutionised the school’s singing and introduced a school orchestra and big band, as well as revamping the music department and creating a bespoke Band Room. I bumped into her mid tour and very much liked her energy – she clearly has big ambitions musically for the pupils, with the introduction of a Junior Orchestra this month (she’s on the hunt for a bassoonist player fyi) and a Senior Orchestra set to start in the new year.

The school has the usual array of peri teachers who power through 100 instrumental lessons a week in the 4 practice rooms, all equipped with pianos. There are also two teaching rooms, one of which houses a baby grand, with larger ensembles and performances taking place in the multi-use halls. Sharp herself is an organ scholar should your child have the urge to get pipping the pipes.

ART

The children have access to two arts rooms, including the lovely Orangery art room that looks out over the front lawn and has plenty of natural light, with a kiln, and working with textiles, photography, charcoal and plenty of natural materials collected from outdoors. A sculpture trail is dotted around the school with new installations being prepared for this year’s 30th anniversary and the 2023 Festival of the Arts.

DIGITAL LEARNING

Digital Learning at Chandlings has made great techy strides. Children from Reception to Year 6 have weekly DL lessons and prep children take full advantage of the well-equipped makerspace where they are taught to code robots, produce stop motion animations, edit photos using the green screen and much, much more, preparing them for life beyond Chandlings Prep.

GENERAL

Plenty to entice. The library is rather wonderful and I’m sure feels spectacular to little eyes – an ‘oak tree’ in the corner showing off its bookcase branches, a curly staircase and wooden balcony from which to look down on the main space. There are two science labs at Chandlings, a dedicated food tech room (children learn from Y1) and a swanky DT studio which includes CAD design and laser cutting as well as more traditional hand tools.

LITTLIES

A very sweet, well established nursery facility called Lavender Courtyard (shared with Reception), first opened in 2005, and is made up of three rooms split by age. There’s also Lavender Cottage, the nursery’s own outdoor learning area, which staff combine with supervised nature walks in the school’s grounds to introduce littlies to the natural world.

The curriculum here is just as varied as the Prep school, with the younger contingent learning everything from French nursery rhymes to music and movement. Thanks to the facilities on offer at Chandlings Prep, nursery children also learn tennis, ballet, yoga and football, as well as weekly swimming lessons once they turn four. The year before kids join Reception, they’ll be introduced to the Phonics scheme used in Pre-Prep and numeracy – all intended to make the jump to the next stage as stress-free as possible.

There’s a nurturing environment here, and I’d say the relaxed, family atmosphere at Chandlings Prep sits well with the Nursery and Pre-Prep facility.

ACADEMICS

Strong. This year 100% of pupils made it into their chosen schools, with 40% receiving scholarships – a strong strike rate for a school that prides itself on not being a hot house. As a local day school it’s probably no surprise that most of the next schools are local too -the likes of Magdalen, Abingdon, Bloxham, Headington, St Helen & St Katharine’s and Oxford High School along with another dozen or so big hitters.

Science is taught as a single subject at Chandlings, and foreign languages focus primarily on French which is taught from Reception, before introducing some Spanish and Italian further up the school. Philosophy lessons are perhaps the most unusual additions to the curriculum. The school recently won the National School History competition at The Oratory School from a field of 200 entries.

Importantly, teachers across all subjects often take lessons outside, whether that’s creating bug puppets from materials found in the forest or re-enacting a moment in history. There is also a Head of Outdoor Learning who takes every class outside each week for specific outdoor learning activities. With full boiler suits and waterproof coats for outdoor work and play, Chandlings kids are definitely free range.

Worth noting too that there are 60 extra curricular activities on offer either before school, during lunch or in the after-school clubs – fencing, yoga, horse-riding, coding, and everything in between.

PASTORAL CARE

This is where Chandlings takes the wellbeing ball, spins it on a finger, and bunnyshots it through the hoop. Wellbeing is taken so seriously here that there’s a whole Wellbeing Programme dedicated to it. Based on the school logo, the Chandlings Wellbeing Knight focuses on the children’s Relationships, Learning, Body, Heart, World and Reflections – explored every half term and backed up with a Wellbeing Website, Wellbeing Champions, a Wellbeing Room decorated by the pupils where they take mindfulness sessions, peer play (older children playing with the younger ones twice a term), a Wellbeing Book Area with funny books to cheer pupils up, plus weekly Wellbeing Wednesdays and Feel-Good Fridays.

There’s a Values Board whose focus changes each half-term and highlights children who demonstrate the Chandlings values. Children can tell others what they’ve done and a Worry Monster where they write any messages if they’re sad or anxious , and a Staff Chocolate Fairy (because the staff need looking after too). A Happy Hut in the grounds has just been decorated by the super-excited kids, and on the day I was there the quote of the day, written by a Year 6 pupil, “Look into your life and see the twinkling stars, then the storm in your eyes will become the gentle waves lapping against this boat.”

Child after child was brought out of a class to talk to me about wellbeing – the kids live it and love it, it does seem to permeate the DNA of the school. For a cynical old hack, I was pretty impressed.

From a tracking point of view, the Head of Pastoral has an overview of pupil behaviour and any external issues, and there’s a dedicated weekly meeting with staff where any worries or issues with pupils will be flagged.

THE HEAD

Christine Cook is popular with both parents and children, with an ease and confidence that’s infectious. Good humour too – showing me around the grounds, she was totally unfazed when one of the two pet pygmy goats grabbed her skirt in his teeth. Since joining the school in 2017 she’s made it her mission to exploit the fantastic outdoor space, and has clearly turned her attention over the last 12 months to the arts offering, bolstering the staff, plotting a more useful theatrical space and giving the children opportunities to shine.

A clever financial move to create an rentable ‘conference’ space with separate access at the school for various yoga classes, social events and when convenient, parent/teacher meet ups has bolstered the books. And with so much space at her disposal, Cook agrees there’s still room for Chandlings to grow – 350 being the absolute limit for pupil numbers.

QUIRKS

Most schools might have the odd class hamster or bunny-rabbit, but Chandlings Prep goes one step further with the two Pygmy goats, who are taken on (supervised) lunchtime walks around the grounds twice a week by the children and are official school pets.

nursery age children walking goats - chandlings prep

I had beehives at my own primary school as a child and remember it to this day (we made ceramic jars and took the honey home to our parents) so it’s a thrill to a rare school that still offers this amazing opportunity. This year at Chandlings 64 pots of honey were made and sold to parents, and the aim for 2023 is more more more. A kernel of an idea to grow fruit and veg in an onsite cottage garden to use for school meals as well as sell to parents is currently a glint in the head’s eye, but I like the ambition.

WRAP AROUND CARE

boy reading a book in an oak tree with Winnie the Pooh stuffed toy - Chandlings Prep

Chandlings offers an Early Birds Breakfast Club from 7.30am (£8) or free care from 8am. Free supervised after-school Homework Club (4.15-5pm), after 5pm a fee is charged – £10 per family per 1/2 hour until 6pm when all children are collected.

SEN

There are four specialist teachers in the Learning Support Department, all of whom are able to work with the children on a 1:1 as well as small group basis. Learning Support happens within the department within the main hub of the school.

ISI REPORT

The school was inspected in June 2023 and was awarded Excellent in all areas. See the report here.

FEES

£4940 per term for R&Y1, going up to £6390 per term – I’d say that’s around average generally in Oxfordshire but less expensive than a lot of the Oxford schools.

WORD ON THE GROUND

Chandlings Prep has a reputation as an inclusive, nurturing, friendly school that’s a bit of a hidden gem. It doesn’t quite have the swagger of some of the city centre prep schools but is strong pastorally and academically and the parents I talked to loved the school and their happy, engaged kids.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: Anyone looking for a pastorally driven, outdoorsy school with great facilities and excellent academic results. The weekly swimming lessons from nursery (Age 4) are a great boon to the school and it’s beginning to push a much stronger all-round offering.

Not for: The anti-hothouse and ‘join in’ rather than ‘win at any cost’ ethos is palpable, and won’t appeal to all, and the lower profile of the school compared to the more shouty Oxford preps might not please competitive parents.

Dare to disagree? Be my guest! There is a Whole School Open Morning on Wednesday 8 May and Saturday 21 Sept (10am-12pm). Booking is required for all events: book here. You can also take a virtual tour of the school here. Let me know what you think!

Chandlings Prep, Bagley Wood, Kennington, Oxford OX1 5ND. Tel: 01865 730771.

Chandlings Prep School, Bagley Wood, Oxford

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