Lancing College
We’re ensured that one could view the ocean from Lancing College, yet on the day we visited it was so foggy we could hardly view the roof of the famed chapel. Like Ardingly, Lancing was founded in the 1850’s by priest Nathaniel Woodard, who wanted his schools to deliver ‘ sound principle and solid understanding, firmly based in the Christian faith ‘. The principal entry requirements are that the student likes Lancing and that Lancing likes them. Principal Jonathan Gillespie (who could pass for Martin Clunes’s younger brother) is satisfied with his college’s Value Added record (78.3 % A *-B grades at A-level) and of leavers’ college attendences – Bristol, Durham, Exeter, UCL et al. There is excellent foreign diversity here – pupils hail from 28 nations, and a quarter of scholars are international boarders. For a relatively modest school, Lancing has terrific amenities. The upgraded art block has a photography room, a sculpture space, a massive DT workshop – lovely floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking open countryside too. Moms and dads enjoy the idea that the school is contained and secure on this large 550-acre premises beside the South Downs, very unique from their metropolitan neighbour, Brighton College, down the road. Music is, we are told, ‘truly incredible’ – there are 2 directors of music, one for the chapel and one for the school. School-issued iPads for everyone too. And, best of all, there’s an on-site farm, where pupils learn competencies like sausage-making and coppicing.
Windlesham House School
Head Richard Foster and his wife Rachel manage a well excellent nation prep: a family-orientated institution filled with positive energy. Senior schools state that Windlesham House students hit the ground running when they arrive, and we aren’t disappointed – here, they jump from rugby coaching with Sean Fitzpatrick to writing workshops with Carol Ann Duffy. A quarter of last year’s graduates received scholarship grants – a school record – and the cross-country runners were Sussex winners. Awards at the IAPS National Athletics Championships in Birmingham too. About 200 learners are full-boarders and weekends are enjoyable, with movie nights and roller discos. Lots of modernisation in the last few years and a brand-new sports hall and indoor pool are on the list for 2014. Last year’s release of Les Miserables was the 1st in a prep – Helena Bonham Carter noted herself ‘incredibly amazed’.
Brighton College
We presented Richard Cairns our Best Head of a Public School honour last year – an easy decision since it seems this individual makes no mistakes. Learners adore him, staff revere him and even Michael Gove calls his leadership ‘visionary’. Record results at GCSE and A-level (96.8 per cent A *-B) again last year; each student who took Chinese (Mandarin) at GCSE received an A * (it’s mandatory for everybody up till Year 9); and there was the greatest amount of Oxbridge offers too. Mr Cairns has an excellent expression about wishing his pupils to be ‘a first-rate form of themselves, not a 2nd-level form of somebody else’ – it’s about commemorating the individual. You want proof? Among the finalists in the sixth form’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ competition were a 1st XV rugby stalwart and an English National Schools’ bronze medallist shot-putter. A painter had an artwork recognized for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition; a dancer won a National Ballet grant; and a lower-sixth learner was runner-up in the BBC’s Young Apprentice. The Brighton College 1st XV rugby squad has been undefeated in Sussex for six years, and girls’ cricket is extraordinarily formidable – the under-15 squad are the countrywide indoor champions. Girls participate in the boys’ first XI cricket team too – ‘one of the essential concepts of the college, that thinks inclusion should be based upon merit, not gender,’ we’re informed. There is huge want for places, so they’re constructing a 5th boarding house to keep up.
