The Best South-West Of England Schools

Main image: Bredon School

Our latest regional focus takes us to the West Country, where we’re putting schools in the counties of Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire, Dorset, Devon, Wiltshire and Cornwall under the spotlight.

Families thinking about moving to the South West – or staying put and choosing a boarding school in the area – are spoilt for choice. And while one of the defining areas of this part of the UK is open space (there’s the scenic Cotswolds, the dramatic cliffs of the Jurassic Coast, the rolling Devon moors and some of Britain’s best beaches), it’s certainly no backwater. Decisively modern Bristol is as globally minded a place as they come, and honey-hued Bath is the only UK city to be a designated Unesco World Heritage Site in its entirety.

Read on to find out more about some of our favourite schools in the South West and why their location matters, and then check out our dedicated south-west England schools guide.

SOMERSET

Hazlegrove Prep School, Yeovil

As you trundle up the approach to Hazlegrove, sheep and cattle causing Somerset-style traffic jams immediately set the tone for what’s to come here. This picture-perfect country prep is an idyllic place for children to grow up, with views of Glastonbury Tor stretching out across the campus’s 200 acres. Hazelgrove could be said to have it all: beautiful buildings and grounds, top-notch facilities, endless opportunities and a wonderfully caring ethos.

When pupils aren’t swotting up in the classroom, the real focus of life here is outside – meaning there’s a big emphasis on wellbeing and eco-initiatives. There’s timetabled forest school and regular lessons in the outdoor classroom in the woods, and pretty much every sporting facility under the sun (including a swimming pool for kayaking lessons). Children beetle about, tinkering with their plants in the greenhouses, cuddling the school’s guinea pigs and rabbits and getting stuck into clubs such as kite-flying, beekeeping, woodland activities and whittling. Hazlegrove Farmers meet weekly to tend to the veg patches and herb garden and explore ways to make the school more self-sufficient, and we love the wellbeing garden, which looks out over the pitches and into the woodland beyond – a lovely spot for children to take time out in in the middle of a busy day and soak up their school’s beautiful setting.

HOW TO GET THERE: Hazelgrove may be rural, but it’s definitely not remote. The A303 is right on its doorstep; Sherborne is a 15-minute drive away in one direction, and Castle Cary, from where trains run to London in under two hours, is a 15-minute drive in the other. A minibus service brings pupils in from Sherborne, Shepton Mallet and Warminster, and Bristol Airport is 35 miles away.

Wells Cathedral School and Wells Cathedral Prep School, Wells

With their school set in the heart of medieval Wells (one of the smallest cities in England), pupils here get to enjoy the pulse of local life – popping into the shops and cafés on the high street on the weekends – yet have some of the best bits of the British countryside right on their doorstep. The dramatic gorges and historic woodland in the nearby Mendips open up countless opportunities for rock climbing and hill climbing, and there’s also caving in Cheddar Gorge and kayaking or sailing on Cheddar reservoir.

Wells itself is packed with historic landmarks including the cathedral and pretty Vicar’s Close, thought to be the oldest residential street in Europe. The school’s status as a specialist music school lends it an extra-special quality when it comes to community engagement. Pupils regularly volunteer and perform in nursing homes and primary schools, and even run a community music group. Wells is renowned for its array of festivals held throughout the year – from literature to food – and the school’s musicians have been known to perform on the Avalon Café Stage at Glastonbury Festival (founder Michael Eavis is an Old Wellensian), which is just down the road.

HOW TO GET THERE: Bath and Castle Cary train stations are both within easy reach (a 45- minute and 30-minute drive respectively), and the journey time to London is about 90 minutes. Bristol Airport is 18 miles away.

Kingswood School and Kingswood Prep School, Bath

Just a 10-minute walk from the centre of Georgian Bath, Kingswood School offers the ultimate blend of city and country living. It’s perched above the history-packed World Heritage city, with masses of space on the doorstep and knockout sports facilities including a swimming pool on site, as well as more pitches a short walk away (Kingswood is well known for its sporting prowess). Prep-school pupils have access to a secret garden, forest school and an adventure playground – wellies are essential and muddy knees encouraged. Pupils can join the school at nine months old, enjoying a seamless transition through the school and staying on the same 123-acre campus all the way through to 18.

The proximity to Bath adds an extra dimension to learning, with history and English lessons brought to life via jaunts into the city. At weekends, boarders can pop into town for shopping trips, and then there’s the surrounding Somerset countryside, which is perfect for long walks or high-adrenaline whitewater rafting.

HOW TO GET THERE: Bath is brilliantly connected, and its mainline rail station is a 15-minute drive from the school gates (a minibus service picks pupils up from the station and drops them on campus). The M4 is about 20 minutes away, and a number of school-bus routes collect pupils from the surrounding area.

and Taunton Prep School, Taunton

Located in a leafy residential pocket of Taunton – Somerset’s county town, which is famed for its laidback charm – Taunton School offers families a proper all-through education and seamless progression between the pre-prep, prep and senior schools. A stone’s throw from Somerset County Cricket Club (in the evenings, you can see the floodlights in the distance), it’s got a formidable cricket reputation and is regularly named as one of the UK’s best schools for the sport (Somerset pro and old boy Tom Abell acts as a brilliant role model for pupils aspiring for sporting success).

But the location in town doesn’t come at the expense of green space. The school is just 15 miles from the coast and bordered by the stunning Quantock Hills (an Area of Outstanding Beauty), which provide a perfect backdrop for CCF training – Taunton School has the largest contingent in the South West.

HOW TO GET THERE: The school is just under two hours from London Paddington, and 30 minutes to Bristol by train. Day pupils can take advantage of a number of bus routes that take in the likes of Exeter, Glastonbury, Sidmouth and Yeovil.

BRISTOL

Badminton School and Badminton Junior School

Within walking distance of the Bristol Downs yet just down the road from the buzz of the unofficial capital of the West Country, Badminton School has a real best-of-both-worlds city location. Importantly, its compact and leafy campus creates a close-knit community, yet it certainly doesn’t lack facilities – what really sets this Bristol school apart from others in the city is the fact that all sports facilities are on site, so there’s no time wasted schlepping around in search of green space.

Badminton is an incredibly outward-looking school, and we love the efforts made by pupils to form strong links with the local community. Girls whizz off to lectures at the university, host science outreach projects with local schools, help train sixth-formers at the nearby Bristol Free School in presentation skills and even take part in penpal schemes with a neighbouring care home.

HOW TO GET THERE: With Bristol just down the road (Bristol Temple Meads station is a 15-minute drive from the school gates), Badminton is superbly well connected. From here, trains connect to London in 1.5 hours. About a third of boarders come from overseas, making the international airport 10 miles away a huge asset.

Clifton College and Clifton College Prep School

Flush with stunning historic buildings, state-of-the-art facilities and one of the most atmospheric school libraries we’ve seen, Clifton College – set right in the heart of one of Bristol’s coolest neighbourhoods – is a brilliant all-rounder. And despite being moments away from Clifton Village’s independent shops and restaurants, it’s just across the river from the National Trust-owned Leigh Woods, home to some of the South West’s most beautiful ancient woodland and the perfect escape from big-city living.

There’s no shortage of sports facilities on site (including the hallowed ground of the Close, where the top fixtures are played), but one of Clifton’s biggest assets is Beggar’s Bush, its 90-acre off-site ground with provision for practically every sport under the sun. Muddy-kneed younger pupils head over regularly to make the most of extensive forest-school facilities, and later this year they’ll cut the ribbon on a jaw-dropping new sports complex. Built to the very highest environmental standards, it will be open to the wider Bristol community too, just like Clifton’s professional-standard Redgrave Theatre (drama is a big deal here, and the school has close ties to the Bristol Old Vic). Back outside, CCF is huge, and pupils enthusiastically throw themselves into the weekly outdoor-pursuits programme, which includes lessons in everything from survival skills to bouldering.

HOW TO GET THERE: Clifton College is easily accessible by both rail and road. It’s just 10 minutes’ drive to Bristol Temple Meads station (from where trains head north towards Manchester and east towards Oxford and London). Bristol Airport is eight miles away.

DEVON

Exeter School and Exeter Junior School, Exeter

With its incredibly accessible central city location, Exeter School’s 25-acre site is an appealing blend of heritage and modernity, and packed with facilities including an indoor pool, a slew of Astros and even a cricket pavilion. And with a junior school on the same site, younger pupils get access to senior-standard facilities (there’s also a pre-prep on the outskirts of Exminster, making this a compelling all-through option), with the majority moving seamlessly to the next stage when they reach Year 7. They make the most of every inch of green space; there’s gardening club for the junior school and polytunnels for pupils to learn about nature. Then there are all the opportunities in the surrounding area, including hikes on the moors (the Ten Tors Expedition is popular with older pupils, which involves them spending two days traversing Dartmoor) and even flights over the Boscombe Downs for CCF cadets in the RAF section, with a flight simulator on campus for pupils to hone their skills on.

Partnerships are an important focus, and pupils work with businesses along the south-west coast, including local sailing clubs (we love the ‘get stuck in’ mentality here). There’s lots of facility-sharing with local schools too, and a strong sense of community among pupils across all age groups.

HOW TO GET THERE: An easy 10-minute walk from central Exeter with Dartmoor as its backdrop, Exeter School’s location offers the best of both worlds. The train station is close by, and a school-bus service covers Okehampton, Torquay and Axminster. Many pupils are local and walk to school.

DORSET

Canford, Wimborne

It’s hard not to melt at the sight of Canford campus, set just outside the idyllic Dorset village of Canford Magna and with the willow-fringed River Stour meandering through its grounds. At its centre sits a Charles Barry-designed castle surrounded by 250 acres of Capability Brown parkland, complete with an 18th-century arboretum and a quaint Norman church hidden away. It’s no wonder that Canford is often ranked among the most beautiful schools in the UK.

The school’s proximity to the south coast is a real bonus, with geography field trips heading off to the nearby Jurassic Coast, and CCF expeditions based in the New Forest and the Isle of Purbeck. It’s a proper full-boarding school, with more than 70 per cent of pupils here seven days a week, making the most of weekends at the beach or day trips into Bournemouth. It’s easy to see why there’s growing interest from London families, who can take advantage of the fleet of school buses ferrying pupils to and from the capital for exeats and half-term.

Despite the magnificent setting, what strikes us the most is how refreshingly grounded this place is. Just a mile down the road is Bourne Academy, Canford’s sponsor school (with both pupils and staff from both schools reaping the benefits of the partnership), and Canford regularly opens its top-notch facilities to the local community, with pupils volunteering over 8,000 hours a year with local and regional organisations.

HOW TO GET THERE: Poole station is six miles away, with trains running direct to London in under 2.5 hours. Oxford and Exeter are both under two hours’ drive. School buses collect day pupils from the likes of the New Forest and Dorchester, and both Southampton and Bournemouth airports are within easy reach.

Clayesmore School and Clayesmore Prep School, Blandford Forum

An all-through school in the truest sense of the word, Clayesmore sits in over 60 acres of Dorset countryside, just outside the picturesque village of Iwerne Minster. It’s a wonderfully grounded place, where pupils of all ages mix en route to chapel, the theatre or sports lessons, and prep pupils get to enjoy fantastic, senior-standard facilities. With more than 95 per cent of pupils moving straight up from the prep to the senior school, there’s no stress about exams, and each and every child is known by the whole school community, which is very strong one, with villagers popping in to use the café and parents heavily involved in all aspects of school life.

One thing that really sets Clayesmore apart is LEX, an innovative co-curricular Saturday programme designed to equip pupils with the skills they need for life beyond school. Packed with trips, lectures, expeditions and opportunities to master new skills and head out into the community for charity work, it’s a brilliant way to broaden horizons and help pupils look beyond their (very lovely) Dorset bubble.

HOW TO GET THERE: A school minibus covers towns and villages within roughly a 30-minute radius of the school, including Sandbanks, Salisbury, Sherborne and Shaftesbury. The nearest station, Gillingham Dorset, runs services to Waterloo in two hours.

Bryanston School and Bryanston Prep School, Blandford Forum

With the grown-up atmosphere of a university campus but a relaxed, purposeful ethos underpinned by a rock-solid pastoral-care system, perennially oversubscribed Bryanston offers a compelling all-through option to families based not just in the South West, but all across the globe too. And you can’t dispute the splendour of the senior school. The jaw-dropping Norman Shaw-designed main building – modelled on a Loire Valley château, no less – is reached via a long, meandering drive, past a clutch of stables (pupils can practise their showjumping in the grounds and head out on hacks through the Dorset countryside) and through rugged woodland. The prep, meanwhile, feels like a picture-book family home, tucked away behind a walled garden complete with raised vegetable beds and clucking hens. Lessons are frequently taken outside, with pupils cartwheeling on the lawn between lessons and relishing the real sense of freedom and fresh air.

The River Stour runs parallel to Bryanston’s 400 acres, with a state-of-the art-boathouse on its banks, and compulsory outdoor education for all ages encourages pupils to try something new. Through the Pioneering programme, senior pupils get involved in projects and activities within the community, from running riding classes for the disabled to helping maintain local woodlands and pathways and working as classroom assistants in neighbouring primary schools.

HOW TO GET THERE: Salisbury, the nearest city, is a 40-minute drive from the school, with trains running from there to London Waterloo in just 1.5 hours. School buses run from Dorchester, Bournemouth and Ringwood, with more routes in the pipeline this year.

Port Regis School, Shaftesbury

The historic, turreted exterior of Motcombe Park – Port Regis’s spectacular red-brick home – might at first glance look like a prep school stuck in the past, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Set in the heart of rolling Dorset countryside, it is the absolute opposite of a sleepy country school (shiny facilities make it much more akin to a big-hitting senior), and, led by a head who has brought a new energy into the place, it brims with innovation and warmth.

The school itself provides a spectacular backdrop to an education steeped in outdoorsiness. Wellies are a firm fixture on the uniform list; Port Regis Plus sessions (the brilliant Saturday-morning programme) feature den-building, gardening and campfire cooking. The school’s honey comes from its own beehives, and there are chickens and sheep roaming the grounds for children to play with and feed. A dedicated ecology hut has solar-powered CCTV directed into a bird box, and pupils are heartily encouraged to cycle around the grounds (everyone is welcome to bring in their own wheels, be it a bike, skateboard or even a unicycle). Pupils are an important part of the wider community around here too, mucking in by selling poppies in nearby Gillingham and helping clear the churchyard in Motcombe – and they’re currently gearing up for an art exhibition with local schools at a gallery in Tisbury.

HOW TO GET THERE: The beautiful Dorset market town of Shaftesbury is just two miles away, while the nearest mainline train station, Gillingham, runs services to London in two hours. Bournemouth Airport is an hour’s drive from the school.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Bredon School, Tewkesbury

Home to a working farm (and farm shop run by the pupils), forest and bushcraft school, a mountain-biking track and a clay-pigeon shoot, Bredon is a seriously active and outdoorsy place – and it uses every corner of its rural Gloucestershire/Worcestershire location to full effect. It’s all set against the beautiful backdrop of Pull Court, a Grade-II-listed Victorian building ringed by grounds landscaped by Capability Brown, with the banks of the River Severn giving the campus even more of an edge. The school has its own launch on the water for activities such as paddleboarding, kayaking and fishing.

This dyslexia-specialist school is well aware of the benefits of getting out and about at every opportunity, and the breadth of education pathways offered here is testament to that. Pupils can take agricultural studies at GCSE or environmental studies for A-level; an outstanding metalwork and engineering department has helped win places on prestigious apprenticeships; and CCF is a huge part of school life (Bredon has its own unit under the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers.

HOW TO GET THERE: Located on the borders of Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, Bredon is 15 minutes from the M5. From here London is about two hours’ drive, while Birmingham and Bristol airports are about an hour away. Minibuses shuttle day pupils to and from local train stations.

Beaudesert Park School, Stroud

Being late to school thanks to cows on the road is an acceptable excuse at Beaudesert, nestled in the rolling hills of the Cotswolds and set just beyond the National Trust-protected Minchinhampton Common, with its free-roaming cows and ponies and swarms of butterflies in the summer. There’s the real feeling of being part of a big family country home here. Little wonder that this school is just as popular with relocating city-dwellers as it is with Gloucestershire locals.

Pupils from nursery upwards get stuck into forest school from the get-go, with tracks and trails wending their way through the grounds’ woodland, a dedicated den-building area and a storytelling teepee. Sports lessons and matches take place on pitches located a short jog across the common (giving pupils an extra blast of fresh country air), and there are masses of them – a few years ago, Saturday lessons were scrapped in favour of sports-focused weekends. The icing on the cake of this proper country education? Beaudesert’s brilliant tree-climbing policy, with lessons to teach the basics (and key safety points) before “tree-climbing licences” are awarded, giving children the freedom to scramble up some of the 8,000 trees on campus.

HOW TO GET THERE: Despite feeling delightfully off the beaten track, Beaudesert is within easy reach of some of the Cotswolds’ most popular towns and villages, including Cirencester, Tetbury and Stroud (from where trains run to London in around 90 minutes). The busy transport hubs of Cheltenham, Bristol and Bath are a little further afield. A school-bus service shuttles pupils between Beaudesert and a number of local villages, with routes adapting according to demand.

Dean Close School and Dean Close Prep School, Cheltenham

Spreading out over 50 acres just west of central Cheltenham, Dean Close has the biggest single site in town, meaning pupils from nursery to sixth form benefit from a wonderfully rural campus while living and working within walking distance from the beautiful Regency spa town – which also happens to be one of the most culturally exciting spots in the South West. It’s renowned for its roster of prestigious festivals throughout the year, and its location on the fringes of the Cotswolds makes it popular with visiting parents too.

With all pupils sharing the same site, everyone gets to enjoy the school’s senior-standard facilities, including a smart indoor pool, concert hall and professional-standard theatre. The prep school also educates the choristers of Tewkesbury Abbey as part and parcel of its offering, making it an important part of the local community around here.

HOW TO GET THERE: Cheltenham Spa rail station is a short walk from the school. From here, trains run to London in two hours. Day pupils can take advantage of a local bus service shared with a handful of other local schools.

WILTSHIRE

Dauntsey’s, Devizes

There’s a real emphasis on an adventurous education at Dauntsey’s, where, the school tells us, location is a ‘very compelling factor’ for parents. Just a stone’s throw from Devizes, in the bucolic Vale of Pewsey, the school takes full advantage of its 150 acres of Wiltshire countryside through its co-curricular programme – whether that’s beekeeping club (at Dauntsey’s own apiary), cross-country runs or orienteering, with a dedicated head of adventure education on hand to help ping pupils out of their comfort zone and teach them invaluable life skills (all year groups have the opportunity to hike, camp and explore the local area, while there are epic trips further afield to the likes of Bhutan and Mount Kilimanjaro). There’s a more surprising asset for pupils at a landlocked school like this one: the Jolie Brise. One of the world’s most famous tall ships, it has been maintained and run by Dauntsey’s pupils for over four decades, crossing the Atlantic multiple times and even sailing inside the Arctic Circle – and it’s all part of the experience that makes Dauntsey’s quite so special.

Flexi boarding appeals to both local pupils and those from further afield (with Salisbury Plain nearby, the school’s location is a solid choice for forces families), and there’s no shortage of quaint villages and country pubs close by for parents stopping in for weekend visits.

HOW TO GET THERE: With Bath, Salisbury and Swindon just 40 minutes away, and London 100 miles by road (there are three train stations within easy reach of the school), access to Dauntsey’s is relatively straightforward. There are also 15 bus routes for day pupils living in the surrounding towns and villages.

Godolphin and Godolphin Prep, Salisbury

An exciting new chapter is on the horizon for this school, one of the oldest girls’ boarding schools in the country – from September 2025, it will welcome boys across all year groups. The move will be a boon for families in the area (and much further afield – about 60 per cent of pupils board in some capacity) with both sons and daughters, and will mean many more children can take advantage of the refreshingly down-to-earth community here. An added bonus is the automatic transfer between the prep and senior schools, making Godolphin all-through in the truest sense of the word.

Overlooking the Wiltshire cathedral city of Salisbury, it's brilliantly located and easily reached. And although the suburban campus is compact, it packs a punch, with facilities including an indoor pool and bumper multi-use sports pitch. Getting active is high on the agenda here; pupils have a glittering reputation in CCF and DofE, and are keen participants in the annual Ten Tors challenge, which takes place a few hours away in Dartmoor.

HOW TO GET THERE: Salisbury train station is a short walk from the school. From here, it’s 90 minutes to London. Bournemouth Airport is approximately 40 minutes’ drive away, making the school easily accessible for international boarders.

Marlborough College, Marlborough

Backing on to gorgeous Wiltshire countryside, Marlborough College has 286 acres of land at its disposal. Yet with the achingly smart town of Marlborough on the doorstep – and the school’s boarding houses, playing fields and a handful of facilities spread out across both sides of the high street – pupils really do get the best of both worlds. Beyond the campus walls, they can make the most of opportunities to fish on the nearby River Kennett or play golf on the Marlborough Downs (co-curricular is huge, with a strong outdoorsy tradition) and lend a hand in the local community too: twice a week, they might help run an activity course, go litter-picking or head out to local primary schools.

And that isn’t the only special thing about Marlborough’s location. The Wiltshire landscape in which it sits has World Heritage designation – and one of the county’s most beguiling archaeological treasures, the Marlborough Mound, can be found right in the heart of the school’s campus. The 4,000-year-old Neolithic mound was once the site of a prominent Norman royal castle, and local folklore claims it is the burial place of Merlin. Today, it plays a ceremonial role as the centrepiece for an annual welcome event for new Year 9 pupils and a leavers’ reception for the upper sixth.

HOW TO GET THERE: The school is located less than half an hour south of the M4. Pewsey and Swindon train stations are both within easy reach, and London is under an hour away by train.

Pinewood School, Shrivenham

Set on the top of a hill overlooking the Wiltshire and Oxfordshire countryside, Pinewood is a school that really shines outdoors and is a real hit among city-dwelling families looking for a traditional prep-school experience. Its 84 acres form the backbone of its brilliant Skills co-curricular programme, which allows pupils to try their hand at more than 40 different activities, from mountain biking and pond-dipping to clay-pigeon shooting, bushcraft and golf (there’s a nine-hole course on site), and pre-prep children have their own Squirrel Classroom complete with a mud kitchen, fire pit and raised beds. There’s even a special community woodland on site shared with local villagers, with footpaths, wildlife trails, horse paddocks and more than 6,000 sapling trees.

Pinewood leads the way in eco and sustainability efforts too, boosted by the opening of its own kitchen garden earlier this year. Set in the campus’s original Victorian walled garden, it’s home to a 30-foot polytunnel, raised beds and fruit trees where pupils grow and harvest seasonal produce to supply the school kitchen. There’s an annual pre-prep potato-growing contest (with the results ending up on children’s plates, giving them a taste of farm-to-fork eating), and opportunities to learn about sowing, potting, harvesting and horticulture. Next up is the arrival of a clutch of beehives, with plans for the honey to be used in candles sold by pupils as part of the Pinewood Young Entrepreneurs programme.

HOW TO GET THERE: From the nearest train station, Swindon, it’s under an hour to London. Oxford and Bristol are within easy reach, and an extensive school-bus network scoops pupils up from several different directions.

Sandroyd School, Tollard Royal

Judging by the length of this Wiltshire prep’s driveway, this is a school that really does make the most of its rural setting. Sandroyd sits in the middle of storybook countryside, with ponies and sheep grazing on the lawns and bluebell woods for children to let off steam in at breaktime. It’s squirrelled away on the beautiful (and enormous) Rushmore Estate, so there’s always time for pupils here to play and make the most of their childhood, whether that’s riding, cycling, playing with the animals in the pet corner or charging around the adventure playground in the woods.

One of Sandroyd’s unique selling points is its provision for horse-mad children. As a registered Pony Club centre and licensed riding school, it’s heaven for budding equestrians. Pupils are welcome to bring their ponies in from home (or sign up for stable management to help care for one of the school’s), and can spend their free time out on hacks in Rushmore Park or honing their skills on the cross-country course.

HOW TO GET THERE: Set on a mammoth 1,000-acre estate, Sandroyd is deliciously rural. The nearest train station, Tisbury, runs services to London in 90 minutes, while a handful of school-minibus routes are laid on according to demand, taking in the likes of Tisbury, Salisbury, Ringwood and Blandford.

St Mary’s Calne, Calne

With its compact campus in the centre of the historic market town of Calne, St Mary’s offers a nurturing atmosphere, rock-solid pastoral care (the horizontal boarding structure promotes strong friendship) and tiptop academics, all underscored by a refreshingly laidback ethos. And the location is a big asset too. Within touching distance of the Cherhill White Horse, one of Wiltshire’s best-loved landmarks, it’s also close to the lovely market towns of Devizes, Marlborough, Corsham and Malmsbury, which are packed with independent shops and smart gastropubs and are popular with parents popping in to watch their daughters in matches or pick them up for exeats. On weekends, older pupils can head a little further afield for shopping trips in Bath and Bristol.

St Mary’s Calne is known for its extraordinarily high quality of art, and the landscape around here regularly provides inspiration for young artists. Each year, pupils take part in an ‘en plein air’ workshop, heading out to sketch and paint in some of the most beautiful locations in the area, including the Wiltshire Downs and Lacock (its abbey and timber-framed houses have popped up in Downton Abbey and Harry Potter films). And last year, the school hosted a two-day sculpture workshop for local primary-school pupils.

HOW TO GET THERE: Just 15 minutes’ drive from Chippenham, St Mary’s Calne has great travel links and is within easy reach of Bath, Oxford and Bristol. London is just over an hour away by train, and the nearest airport, Bristol, is an hour’s drive away.

CORNWALL

Truro School and Truro School Prep, Truro

Surrounded by 40 acres of sports fields and green open spaces overlooking Truro (the prep has its own site next Truro Golf Club, a few miles across the city), this all-through school lives up to its ‘to be rather than seen to be’ ethos. And as locations go, this one is epic. The Cornish coastline is just down the road, meaning many pupils grab their surfboards at the end of the day to head straight to the beach – and there’s nothing unusual about parents arriving for pick-up in their wetsuits. Biology and geology lessons take on a new dimension, with classes taken out to the beaches; prep-school pupils get stuck into kayaking and bushcraft, and water sports are a popular weekend activity for boarders. The school’s proximity to the South West Coastal Path is another boon, and pupils have had much success in the annual Ten Tors event on Dartmoor.

The maritime landscape surrounding the school instils a real sense of environmental stewardship in pupils – and through regular beach clean-ups and coastal projects, they develop a deep-seated respect for the sea and a commitment to preserving it for future generations.

HOW TO GET THERE: Day pupils arrive by train and bus from all over the county, with many taking advantage of the brilliant school-bus network that covers a big swathe of Cornwall. Trains to London from Truro take just over four hours, and Newquay Airport is 30 minutes’ drive away.

While it’s impossible to list all of the top schools in the South West here, we’ve included a few more of our favourites that are well worth adding to your list…

Blundell’s School

Bristol Grammar School

Cheltenham Ladies’ College

Chafyn Grove School

Cheltenham College

Downside School

Hatherop Castle

King’s College, Taunton

King Edward’s School, Bath

Leehurst Swan

Leweston School

Millfield

Milton Abbey School

Monkton Senior School

Prior Park College

Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital, Bristol

Rendcomb College

Salisbury Cathedral School

Sherborne School

Sherborne Girls

Sidcot School

Stonar School

Warminster School

West Buckland School

Westonbirt School

Wellington School

Wycliffe School

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The best schools in the south-west of England

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