Wellington Prep

If you have a sociable, all-round child who would relish boarding life, Wellington College is one of the best-known names in it. A co-educational boarding and day school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, it sits in a 400-acre campus near the Surrey border, with around 1,180 pupils aged thirteen to eighteen, most of them boarding, which makes it the largest co-educational boarding school in the south-east. It was founded in 1853 as a national monument to the first Duke of Wellington, and Queen Victoria laid its foundation stone.

Five words sit at the centre of College life: kindness, courage, respect, integrity and responsibility, and pupils are asked to live by them. The Good Schools Guide is admiring, calling Wellington the pinnacle of what modern boarding is all about, a school of extraordinary facilities and confident, curious youngsters whose reputation for pastoral care stands up to scrutiny. As one pupil put it, Wellington is not just famous for pastoral care, it is true. Sport is taken seriously and widely enjoyed, with pupils cheerfully claiming they are really good at everything, and the arts are just as central, with hundreds taking music or drama lessons and a strong tradition of house performances.

It suits a sociable, all-round child who will make the most of full boarding, a broad academic offer and a packed life beyond lessons. The College has been led by the Master, James Dahl, since 2019, and a child who throws themselves into things will find plenty here to throw themselves into.