Age range. 2–13.
Number of pupils. 82 boys and 80 girls, with a range of day, flexi, weekly and full boarders.
Fees per term (2024-2025). Day pupils: £2,750–£6,995. Boarders: £8,400 (weekly), £10,010 (full), £11,667 (international).
Perrott Hill is an award-winning day and boarding school set in 28 acres of beautiful grounds in the heart of the countryside, near Crewkerne on the Somerset/Dorset border. It is served by excellent road and rail networks, being around two and a half hours from London.
The school has repeatedly been recognised across the sector with numerous awards. It won the Belonging and Inclusion Initiative 2024 and was a finalist for Small Independent School of the Year 2023. It was Highly Commended for Outstanding Pastoral Care 2023 and Creative Learning through Play 2023 with Muddy Stilettos, as well as Finalist for Best Prep School 2022 at the Tatler Awards, shortlisted for Prep School of the Year 2022 at TES awards and Finalist Supporting Junior Boards 2022 at BSA Awards.
Perrott Hill is a thriving country preparatory school where children are nurtured and encouraged in all areas, whether in the classroom, on the sports field, on the stage and beyond. Staff are dedicated and highly qualified. Sports facilities include an all-weather pitch, purpose-built sports hall, games fields, outdoor swimming pool and a four-hole pitch and putt course. There is a theatre, an eco-build music school, Tinker Lab and extensive Forest School.
The award-winning Nursery and Pre-Prep are housed within the converted stable courtyard next to the main school buildings, which gives the younger children their own safe, secure environment while allowing them to take advantage of the grounds and facilities of the Prep School. There is an emphasis on outdoor learning including weekly on-site Forest School sessions, and all children in Reception to Year 8 swim every week.
Music, drama and art are taught within the timetable alongside core curriculum subjects. The choir and orchestra perform regularly at concerts such as ‘The Beaminster Festival’ and school events such as ‘The Perrott Promenade’, and there are drama productions throughout the school year. Teaching is largely class-based until Year 5 and subject-based in the middle and upper school, where all lessons are taught by specialist teachers. French, Music, IT and PE, however, are taught by specialists from Nursery upwards.
Sport is played every day, and matches take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays as well as on Saturdays for Years 5–8. Emphasis is placed upon skills and teamwork, and games played include rugby, football, hockey, netball, cricket, tennis, athletics, rounders and swimming. The school takes part in national events, such as the National Small Schools Rugby Sevens. Optional extras include fencing, pinhole photography, carpentry, archery, karate, riding, ballet, speech and drama, cookery and golf. The school was highlighted as ‘great for extracurricular’ in The Week’s Independent Schools Guide 2019.
Perrott Hill combines extremely high standards of academic and pastoral care and provides a ‘home from home’ for its pupils. The boarding Team is a dedicated and talented group of residential boarding staff. The school has an enviable scholarship record, with 82 scholarships across the past five years, including an art scholarship to Harrow and a rugby scholarship to Millfield. Leavers’ destinations include Blundell’s, Bryanston, Canford, Downside, Eton, Harrow, King’s Bruton, King’s College Taunton, Marlborough, Millfield, Milton Abbey, Queen’s College Taunton, Sherborne, Sherborne Girls, Taunton School, Radley and Winchester. The school offers 9+ and 11+ scholarships to internal and external candidates who can demonstrate significant potential in one or more of the following areas: academic, music, sport, art and drama.
The combination of countryside, space, a family atmosphere and a forward-looking academic programme creates an ideal environment for children to thrive both academically and in their leisure pursuits. Parents are encouraged to attend one of the school’s Open Mornings which take place termly, and individual tours are available throughout the year.