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Main image: Clifton College Prep

ÍÑ¿ã°É has come a long way since Pink Floyd implored teachers to ‘leave them kids alone’. These days, pupils are rarely treated as ‘just another brick in the wall’, and the ethos of nurturing the individual holistically now informs much of the best practice we see in schools – outside the classroom, as well as inside. Indeed, a rich co-curricular offering has been shown to have a virtuous effect on academic performance, as well as boosting self-esteem and wellbeing, developing social and leadership skills and fostering creativity and lifelong passions. Which is why so many prep schools pour as much effort into their activities as they do into their academics, knowing they will help to shape their pupils into confident, curious and capable young people ready for the next stage of their education and life beyond.

Here, in Part One of our focus on the best co-curricular in preps, we’re looking at the schools that do things a bit differently, those that have bespoke offerings and the ones that use nature and the outdoors to inspire and challenge.

Something a bit different
Piquing curiosity is key to getting children on board with activities, so the richer a school's co-curricular programme, the better the engagement. At Ibstock Place Prep School, as well as everything from fencing to oracy, there’s a super-impressive dance programme of ballet, tap, modern, jazz and street dance. There are weekly after-school clubs, and pupils also attend dance festivals (and they’re good – this year, they placed second at the Richmond Dance Festival). L’École de Battersea has a longstanding tradition in fencing. Its unique in-school club has been a part of its community for 17 years, and many pupils join the elite squad where they train and compete in inter-school and even world championships.

Walhampton recently introduced a triathlon club to keep pupils moving. Those who prefer the water can join the sailing club (not only is the school conveniently located near the Solent, it also has its own lake), while riding lessons and stable management are all part of its enrichment programme. Taunton Prep School takes swimming to the next level with its long-distance club that sees pupils swimming across the English Channel every year. This is just one of more than 60 clubs (including everything from pistol shooting to sign language) on offer to make school exciting and gently push pupils out of their comfort zone.

Water sports are all part of the fun at Lancing Prep Worthing’s annual Third Generation Day event, so named because pupils will want to tell their grandchildren about it. It gives them a chance to try everything from circus school to playing Quidditch and is just one of several events that everyone gets involved in – we also love the sound of Strictly Come Historic Dancing and The Bannister Mile. Harry Potter is used as a springboard of interest at Chard Prep School too, which has just launched a Hogwarts Wishes and Wizards Magical-Themed Day, with potion-making in science, origami-frog crafting in art, Quidditch games in PE, a buffet lunch of dragon-blood pasta and a visit from Bailey the Owl from the Barn Owl Society. ‘These activities allow students to expand their imagination and develop a love of learning in a way that is both educational and fun,’ the school says.


Image: Radnor House Prep

From British-sign-language club to chess squad, curve stitching to Zentangle art club, the co-curricular at Bancroft’s Prep School covers pretty much every niche. There’s even a club for budding entrepreneurs, who recently designed Top Trumps-style, Bancroft’s-themed trading cards that sold out in half an hour. At Bute House there’s a similarly wide range of activities – crochet, knitting, quilting, photography, Lego, chess, STEM club and the exciting-sounding Green Goblins club, where they build race cars for Goodwood. Pupils at Holmewood House School are keen engineers too, with members of its green-power club recently racing an electric car they’d built themselves, also at Goodwood. The young race team threw themselves into the challenge, following complicated instructions, problem-solving, collaborating as a team and never giving up, resulting in a race-ready car that competed against those of much older teams. And risk-taking and problem-solving are all part and parcel of Radnor House Prep’s STEAM department, where pupils learn a mix of traditional crafts and cutting-edge technology to create a unique project every year.

Tailoring clubs to suit everyone is something Kingswood Prep School has approached with impressive imagination. Whether it’s bookworm club – the quietest club in the school – or cheerleading (the liveliest), with everything from portraiture painting, mini authors’ club and tri-golf in between, every child can find something to spark their interest and inspire them. It’s a similar story at Bromsgrove Prep School, where the ever-expanding raft of activities includes the usual suspects as well as the more novel, such as graffiti-art club, paper quilling, lacemaking, animation and the much-anticipated flight school, which will start in the summer term. Stonemasonry caught our eye at Cranleigh Prep, which also offers its pupils almost every musical instrument under the sun, from the bagpipes to the marimba.


Image: Kingswood Prep

When it comes to doing things a bit differently, Holme Grange deserves a shout-out for its Opening of Parliament ceremony at the start of each year, when initiatives are tabled – from organising talent shows at local care homes to promoting sustainability projects. Pupils are given real agency over events and activities, and the sense of community engagement is impressive.

The bespoke approach
Some schools create their own enrichment programmes to incentivise pupils and teach them soft skills, such as critical thinking, teamwork and empathy. Saint Ronan’s Airey Neave Award, named after the Old Ronian who famously escaped from Colditz, became a politician and was later assassinated in the car park of the House of Commons, sees Years 5 and 6 face three challenges each half term that embody Neave’s impressive character. If they do well in them, Year 5s are presented with a bronze award and Year 6s a silver at the end of the summer term. The coveted gold can be earned in Year 8.

Clayesmore Prep School has a programme dedicated to the school’s founder, Lex Devine, which sees pupils developing life skills in a variety of fields: the outdoors, where they learn life-saving, sailing and riding; the arts and creativity, where they experiment with, say, making rocket racers and creating ceramics, props and costumes; problem-solving with Mindstorm robots; sport and physical activity; and life and employability skills, from cooking, to editing the school newspaper to learning Japanese. The Dove Diploma at Godstowe School, also named after a founder, is designed to develop girls’ leadership skills through a range of activities such as public speaking, outdoor challenges, community service and creative projects.

Years 7 and 8 at Cumnor House Sussex follow a bespoke curriculum called Kudos. They can perform Shakespeare in an outdoor theatre, visit the European Space Centre and even take part in ‘Race the Sunset’, where they’re dropped off miles from school and have to find their way back before the sun goes down. At , Year 3 upwards take part in the Junior Duke Award, which features 40 activities including ballet, beekeeping, riding, golf, swimming, cooking, chess, choir, darts and gardening.


Image: Framlingham College Prep

Encouraging children to try different sports, develop new skills and unearth their passions is what the activities programme at Moulsford Prep School is all about, with kayaking, parkour, Curious Historians, debating, night running, Cosmic Yoga and inventors’ club all laid on to stretch bodies, minds and imaginations. The Moulsford Award can be gained by winning merits in a breadth of activities, with a platinum award up for grabs for the most outstanding pupils. Gresham’s Prep School has a whole host of bespoke programmes, from special-interest groups such as robotics and shooting to the Gresham’s Challenge scheme, which is similar to DofE, and the entrepreneurship programme KidsMBA. Tower House School offers a wide range of options too, from its one-year entrepreneurial Tower Project to the soon-to-be-launched THS Art Fair, where every pupil will submit a piece, with the boys also playing a key role in the curation.

Pinewood School has designed its SKILLS programme around six activity strands, each with a different focus: service and society; knowledge and understanding; imagination and creativity; leisure and activity; life skills and acquisition; and surroundings and adventure. It’s truly bespoke with so many choices – clay-pigeon shooting, block printing, animal husbandry among many others – that everyone can find something they’re passionate about. And being able to choose their own options means pupils learn the art of self-determination too, alongside resilience and commitment in honouring those choices by attending each week.

The great outdoors
‘We have a strong belief that nature is one of life’s greatest teachers,’ says head of King’s Hawford Tom Butt. And study after study backs this up, showing that exposure to green space can reduce behavioural problems, give children a cognitive boost and improve academic achievement. As well as integrating outdoor learning into the academic curriculum, the school also offers irresistible-sounding clubs such as Nature Detectives, Welly Walking, katakanuing and outward bounds club. ‘These hands-on experiences impart valuable skills while connecting children to the world around them,’ says Mr Butt.

At Repton Prep, the Adventure Programme is a pillar of learning right from the get-go, with pre-prep going to an actual forest for forest school and older children having Repton’s 55-acre site at their disposal, complete with outdoor classroom, low-ropes course in the woods, adventure trail and even a lake for water sports. King’s School Rochester immerses pupils in nature from pre-prep too, using the school’s beautiful woodland area to teach them to respect and understand nature; as they get older, the space becomes an adventure land where they can develop their survival skills.


Image: Repton Prep

With Mount Kelly Prep’s proximity to Dartmoor, adventure activities abound – everything from kayaking and climbing to orienteering is on the doorstep. Pupils can also put their endurance and teamwork to the test on the school’s Shackleton expeditions, where caving, abseiling, rock climbing, archery and more challenge them mentally and physically, nurturing an adventurous spirit and a deep connection to nature. The natural surroundings at Bryanston Prep also offer manifold experiences including kayaking, climbing and orienteering. Younger children have a wonderful on-site forest school to explore and discover nature in, and the school’s strong equestrian roots mean resident ponies are on hand for riding lessons.

As one of only a handful of independent schools in Cornwall, Truro School Prep makes the most of its stunning location by offering a raft of exciting and unique co-curricular activities, including surfing, beach cleans, kayaking, sailing and coastal walks. Sustainability is also at the heart of its co-curricular offerings with clubs including bushcraft, eco and gardening, as well as the new Ballerion Award scheme that encourages awareness and responsibility for the natural environment through fun, adventure and exploration. Bilton Grange, meanwhile, runs the BG Adventurers essential life-skills club, in which pupils learn in a hands-on environment through everything from camp-outs to night navigation. It also has clubs dedicated to beekeeping, caring for the school hens, conservation and growing vegetables in the organic garden.


Image: Bilton Grange

At Edgbaston High School, gardening club happens on the impressive allotment, which has its own apple orchard, extensive pond area, large glasshouse and sheds. Here the girls might test out their engineering skills to create a water-storage system and D&T skills to build raised beds. They also learn about managing the land and enjoy the fruits of their labour when the garden is filled with windfall apples, a harvest of vegetables and a vast array of flowers, including the most extraordinarily coloured dahlias. Pupils at Winterfold House also grow their own plants in Greenfingers club with the help of one of the school gardeners. The yields are used to plant up areas around the school and also in a local care home for the elderly, as well as being sold at school events – profits are reinvested into the scheme and pupils work in various business roles such as marketing and budgeting. Dulwich Cranbrook Prep runs an enterprise project, which this year was in partnership with a local fruit farmer and saw Year 4s harvest apples on the school site and produce 101 bottles of their very own Dulwich apple juice. They will shortly be moving on to the marketing and sales phase by designing a label for the bottles before selling them, with all proceeds going to charity.

As well as a market garden where pupils grow their own produce and sell it to the local community (managing the honesty box themselves), at The Downs Malvern there’s also a smallholding with pigs, sheep, guinea fowl, quail, chickens and bees. Its pupil-designed garden installation at the 2024 Royal Horticultural Society Spring Show won Best Wildlife Garden, and the pupils are planning something even more exciting this year. And at , pupils learn how to prepare animals for local agriculture shows – the school is currently the holder of the best Old Spot pig in the country. It’s all part of its rural-studies programme where children work on the school farm, learning about caring for animals, farm management and the environment and sustainability. Spring lambs are an annual highlight for the pupils of Hall Grove School – the children have been feeding 18 this year. They also learn gardening in the school’s beautiful walled garden, and in the summer the lake becomes an active hub for budding biologists and adventurers alike. The 62 acres of beautiful Oxfordshire countryside are the perfect setting for outdoor learning at , where woodland adventures and experiencing nature are woven into every day. As the school says: ‘Childhood should be filled with adventure, discovery and joy.’ We couldn’t agree more.

Watch out for Part Two of our deep dive into co-curricular at prep schools, when we’ll be focusing on the best all-rounders, character-building initiatives and the preps that take a global approach.