O U R V I E W

Pupils look after each other, often linking arms when walking, and form teachers lend an ear when required There’s a visiting counsellor (shared with senior school) Parents are kept in the loop and school is planning talks for them on eg mental health and resilience. There’s a nutritional element too, with a focus on linksbetween food and mental health. Leadership opportunities are so common that the school wasn’t able to meet our requirement of providing pupils to chat to who didn’t have one (aimed at avoiding only ever meeting the Perfect Peters). Houses provide ‘healthy competition’, eg tug of war, spelling bee, maths challenges, fun runs and fundraising for local charities. Low-level misdemeanours lead to loss of golden time for littluns – ‘my friend lost a whole two minutes on Friday,’ said one boy, shaking his head with the shame of it – and ‘refs’ (reflection time) for older ones, with detentions thereafter. School sweats the small stuff when it comes to manners, kindness and uniform, but it doesn’t feel draconian.

Majority of families are local, with around 10 overseas pupils from eg USA, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brazil and Spain Plenty of money floating around, say parents, though not exclusively – one told us she was holding down ‘three jobs to send our child there’ Lots of old girls and boys among the parent body. Pupils we met were great company –chatty, articulate and polite, with a twinkle in their eye. Perhaps not the best place for quieter types, reckoned some.