WHAT? WHERE?

St Hugh’s is a co-educational, proudly non-selective Prep school for kids aged 3-13 years in the South Oxfordshire countryside, with a total roll of around 345 in Pre-Prep, Middle and Senior departments. Plenty of care and attention is the order of the day at St Hugh’s with an average of 15 in each class. The school started its existence in Kent in 1906, moving in 1945 to its present home of Carswell Manor – a stunner of a Jacobean mansion with plenty of modern additions, set in 45 lovely acres. The school is definitely rural, though ‘remote’ is too strong a word – it’s just a mile or so to the town of Faringdon and a hop and skip to Lechlade, while Oxford and Swindon are each half an hour away.

FACILITIES

/SPORTS

Around £8 million of investment over the last seven years has buffed and polished St Hugh’s sports facilities, with a 20m heated indoor swimming pool (opened in 2020), a floodlit astro turf, large, refurbished sports hall with 6 cricket nets, 5 rugby pitches, football/grass hockey pitches, 7 netball / tennis courts, a dance studio, and a woodland cross-country route.

Rugby for the boys and girls’ hockey and swimming are particularly strong – the Girls swim team were IAPS national finalists in 2022 and 2023 (and have just qualified in 2024), and the Girls U13 hockey team also made the finals in 2023 and 2024. Plenty of extra curricular sports clubs too including fencing, archery, horse-riding, judo and street-dance.

/CREATIVE ARTS

St Hugh’s is a true all rounder but if there was one area where it really shows off is in its music provision, set within its own modern music building. Energetic Director of Music Sally Ewins delivers 5 choirs (70% of the children opting do it in their lunch hour), 28 concerts a year, an orchestra and various rock, brass and string ensembles. Radley College is sometimes utilised by St Hugh’s, and last year made magical backdrop for the Christmas carol concert.

Drama is well supported here, with a converted barn providing a studio and theatre space, with Radley College and The Beacon in Wantage booked for the bigger shows – six each year including a musical for Year 7s and Shakespeare for a mixed age-group cast, plus LAMDA exams on offer and curriculum Drama taught from Middle School onwards.

The Art department is quietly successful, sharing a floor with DT, with two large bright studios awash with children’s work, and in recent years winning scholarships to schools including Radley, Headington and St Edward’s. There are plans to create an additional Art Gallery in the Manor House to showcase the children’s art so watch this space.

/GENERAL

There’s a fabulous, atmospheric two floor Harry Potter-style library in a 17th – century dovecote (and another two libraries for Pre-Prep and Middle). The huge adventure playground will thrill your kids – rope bridges, pole, scramble netting and all that jazz. Also impressive are the three Forest School sites – smaller areas for Nursery and Pre-Prep (with a vegetable patch and greenhouse for growing veg from seed), and a fully equipped two acre site for Upper School, complete with outdoor pizza oven. A recent addition is the St Hugh’s ‘natural history museum’ filled with finds brought in by the children – it’s a really creative idea brought to life by pupils.

ACADEMIC

St Hugh’s celebrates a “rainbow of abilities” at the school so it’s not just a gallop to the hothouse here, but the school still delivers great results – in 2024 9 pupils have been awarded scholarships to the likes of Marlborough, Radley, Downe House, Cheltenham College and St Edward’s, with 100% at Common Entrance. French is the main language taught here, with Latin from Year 5 and Spanish, German and Ancient Greek clubs.

SEND

Children with SEND needs are well catered for at St Hugh’s, starting usually with small booster groups and turning into individual support as needed. There are actually two free half hour sessions each week offered to any child who needs a bit of extra help. The school provides three Learning Support teams, one in each of Pre-Prep, Middle and Upper schools.

PASTORAL CARE

St Hugh’s is well known locally for its nurturing approach, with a Wellbeing Schools Award won in 2019 and recently re-awarded, well before ‘wellbeing’ was even on most schools’ radars. All children here take relaxation and mindfulness lessons every half term – think yoga and meditation – and there’s been a recent addition of popular therapy dog Enzo who can escort the kids to lessons and is on hand for cuddles.

There are plans for a single central Wellbeing Hub for Middle and Upper School so I’ll let you know when that transpires.

The Deputy Head Pastoral oversees weekly meetings amongst the pastoral and teaching teams to pick up any potential issues in the kids, and there are counsellors providing support through techniques including, speech and language, draw, play and sand therapy. Interestingly the school is bucking against the drive for more tech, instead encouraging conversation, debate, relationships and balance which should have a positive effect on the pupils’ wellbeing too.

LITTLIES

The Cottage Nursery at St Hugh’s is long established, taking children from 3 years old in a dedicated space next to the Pre-Prep. Weekly French, Forest School (in its own dedicated site), PE, and swimming lessons are all offered here to those who take the minimum of 4 sessions per week. Baby and toddler groups have now been introduced too for those who want to try before they buy!

The Pre-Prep next door looks out onto a generous play area that includes an adventure playground, giant chess board, sandpit, and a field for zipping around in. Forest School is still front and centre at this age, and the kids head out in all weathers – St Hugh’s is very much an ‘outdoor’ school with elasticated waterproof trousers on everyone’s uniform list, and the kids are allowed to get mucky with nature. I like that.

BOARDING

The Boarding House, accessed over two floors in the main Manor house, is smart and popular with the kids – around 65 of them board either Weekly (Monday – Saturday morning) or Flexi (regular nights each week).at any one time. Both options need to be booked in advance. The Friday night boarding is popular with both pupils and their off-the-leash parents but be aware that boarding at St Hugh’s is being phased out for Years 3-4, so from 2025 it will be for Years 5-8 only, with the view of making evening activities more cohesive. All boarders here make and strip their own beds – good practise for Senior schools. The kids I spoke to about boarding loved it, tumbling praise for activities like Zorbing, retro-gaming, and even a cèilidh.

THE HEAD

David Griffiths has been in situ since Sept 2023, having previously been head of co-ed Prep school Old Buckenham Hall in Suffolk for five years. Helpfully he’s also an ISI Team Inspector so he knows what makes an outstanding school! Griffiths is stamping hard on any idea of St Hugh’s as a “sleepy countryside Prep school”, seeing it as a dynamic all-rounder, and with that in mind he’s making his mark with a hit list that includes a new Enterprise curriculum for Years 7-8, the creation of a central Learning Support hub, and expanding the remit of the Forest School for the older kids so it’s less gardening and more adventure-based. The two giant chess sets in the school grounds have been his instigation and he’s also keen to forge a closer parental community – there’s now a Park Run every term with parents and pupils (with two of his own kids at the school I’m guessing he limbers up too) plus parent swimming, tennis and yoga. There are plans for a coffee shop and gym, which would be accessed by parents and staff.

QUIRKS

St Hugh’s soul is more traditional than quirky, but it isn’t scared to buck a trend, with the Head claiming it’s “not a device school” and the introduction of initialed, standard issue pencil cases in 2023 (to match existing initialed school bags) to stop comparison between the kids (highly successful by all accounts). Chess has been a popular addition to St Hugh’s, not exactly unusual in itself but the results are pretty special – undefeated so far in local schools’ league. Each week the winning House with the most points gets to hoist its own flagpole in a short ceremony.

REPORTS

Happy days for St Hugh’s which received Excellent across the board in its Nov 22 ISI report – both for Compliance and Educational Quality.

WRAP AROUND CARE

Good. St Hugh’s has its fair share of two working parents and caters to it with early drop off at 8am, after school clubs until 5.30pm (various sports plus robotics, debating, creative writing, nature and gardening club), after which they can have supper and then be picked up at 6.15pm. Flexi boarding is a huge advantage also, though it can’t be booked on the day, so some parental organisation needs to come into play.

MOBILE PHONE POLICY

There is a strict no mobile phone policy at St Hugh’s, including for boarders.

TRANSPORT

A school bus service has recently been launched with routes to the east (starting at Radley) and to the north (starting at Burford) – with further routes planned for the 2024/25 academic year.

FEES

Reception (4+): £4,830 per term, Pre-prep (Yrs 1 & 2): £5280 per term, Middle School £7500 per term and Upper School £8350 per term. Add £1780 for termly weekly boarding. Flexi boarding is £50 per night. The Cottage Nursery is £492 for one morning session per week per term, £378 for one afternoon session per week per term and £870 for one full day per week per term. There is a minimum requirement of four sessions per week for all Nursery children. Particularly by the Upper School fees are getting quite punchy, but it’s worth considering that these fees include all trips and residentials, wrap around care (from Reception onwards), all internally run clubs and activities, free SEND support for up to two sessions each week, and all books and materials. With all these extras, the fees are not incomparable to preps with similar offerings.

WORD ON THE GROUND

Parents love the friendly, inclusive, non-pretentious vibe – there’s no question there’s a warm, nurturing atmosphere at St Hugh’s and there’s a lot of attention on wellbeing,balance and making sure the kids are happy. The pupils I spoke to absolutely adored the school – a big shout out for the food! The only nuggets of dissents were that the boys want a second Astroturf (first world problems but I’m just passing it along) and the older pupils in Years 6-8 would love more Forest School, though this is being addressed.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: Anyone looking for the holy grail of all-rounder Prep education with strong pastoral support. St Hugh’s looks beautiful (the site is incredibly well kept), has fabulous facilities and the kids seem well balanced. What’s not to like?

Not for: With an average of 15 in a class, more rumbustious, knee-scuffer types might benefit from a bigger pond to swim in.

Want to see for yourself? Be my guest! The next Open Morning is on Fri 10 May from 9.30am – 12.30am. Book here

St Hugh’s School, Carswell Manor, Faringdon; Oxfordshire, SN7 8PT. Tel 01367 870700. st-hughs.co.uk.

St Hugh’s School, Faringdon

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