Somerhill
“The ‘best of both worlds’, the ‘ideal mix’, the ‘place I always dreamt of finding’. These are just some of the comments we often hear from our parents and visitors.”
Somerhill is a beautifully unique independent prep school, set within a 400-year-old Jacobean mansion and surrounded by 150 acres of glorious parkland. We make the most of our amazing setting and oodles of outdoor space, with our happy (sometimes muddy) but always joyful children exploring every inch and learning outside. This is a fundamental aspect of Somerhill, where you can really see, first hand, development, learning, collaboration, and teamwork happening every day. Or you can just close your eyes and listen to the laughter of our children.
Our philosophy is straightforward; happy children want to learn, and this is a ‘get stuck into everything’ kind of place, where becoming good at something becomes catching. A good score at cricket can help your maths, winning a music competition can encourage you to audition for the school play, put your name forward to be a prefect or put your hand up in class. Amazing people with self-confidence are what we are proud to develop amazing people with self-confidence here at Somerhill, and with over 100 extracurricular clubs and activities each week, plus more than 700 sporting fixtures and 400 music lessons and ensembles, we provide endless opportunities for our pupils!
But perhaps our most endearing quality is our unique structure. We have one way of living but two ways of learning. We are all together in the classroom, girls and boys from the ages of 2 – 7. At this crucial age, playing and learning are often synonymous, and the environment is one of uninhibited development.
From ages 7 – 13, we split our classroom learning into boys and girls separately. It is now universally accepted that boys and girls learn differently, at a different pace and in different ways. Therefore, we structure our beautifully unique school accordingly. But the moment classes finish – at break, at lunch and during games, sports and activities, we are all together. From morning drop-off to the end-of-day pick-up, we are a community of happy, joyful, and confident learners, where every day, ‘we grow amazing people’.
Each year, we send more pupils to grammar schools than any other local school, and 2025 saw a record number of scholarship places awarded to our pupils — a testament to our academically ambitious approach, delivered with pastoral care firmly at the heart of everything we do.
At Somerhill, we host four open mornings in October, January, March and May each year, or you can book a private tour via our friendly and helpful Admissions Team.