WHAT? WHERE?

Found at the end of a winding driveway amid blooming rhododendrons, Handcross Park is set within 52 acres of stunning Sussex countryside. Located between Haywards Heath, Horsham and Crawley, it’s one of the UK’s larger rural preps, with 415 pupils (including 56 boarders). There’s a palpable sense of happiness here thanks to the school’s nurturing feel and focus on each child as an individual.

Handcross Park is part of the Brighton College family of schools, albeit with its own governing body, and around 30% of Year 8 pupils move on to the prestigious college. Pupils are able to experience the facilities and life at Brighton with shared activities across both schools. These include; competitive and team building sports events and watching all the amazing drama performances.

The campus is sited around a beautiful main building, once a private home, with a series of sympathetically designed chalet style buildings dotted about the place. The school’s trophy cabinet is heaving with accolades and, next month, they’re hoping to add ‘Boarding School of the Year’ having been shortlisted by The Tes Awards 2024.

Last year, their Head of Digital Learning was a finalist in the Global Ed Tech Awards for most inspirational senior member of staff. The school was named Prep School of the Year 2019 by the Independent Schools of the Year Awards. But that’s not all, they won Best Prep for Innovation in 2020 and pastoral care in 2021 by The Week Independent Schools Guide and Best Prep School for Boarding in 2022 by the Week Independent Schools Guide.

It’s not been long since Muddy last visited Handcross Park but since then there’s a new head in post and work underway to extend boarding capabilities – a clear strength – more on this later!

FACILITIES

Starting with the youngest pupils, nursery and pre-prep have their own purpose-built space within a gorgeous walled ‘secret garden’ complete with adventure playground and blossom trees. The building itself is deceptively spacious – it feels small and cosy but opens up to house nursery, reception and years 1 and 2 plus a library and a double height space for informal performances and assemblies. The day I visit the children and teachers are busy preparing for a music concert with parents due to attend.

In October 2023, the school unveiled the Owton Building, a state-of-the-art dedicated English Building. This houses three English classrooms and an ‘Immersive Classroom’, with floor-to-ceiling projections to create a fully interactive space for an entirely modern take on learning. The children are bursting with activity and purpose and benefit from a high staff to child ratio and plenty of individual attention.

Outdoor space is plentiful, not only the required free-flow for EYFS but also the lovely walled garden playground, a set of raised beds for growing and a gate in the wall that leads out into two Forest School sites deep in the surrounding woodland. The older children can run on the fields during lunch break.

The main building houses the lower school, and each year has two interchangeable classrooms plus a main library space. You can also find the Chapel and Small Hall that looks out to a beautiful Lavendar lined terrace and grounds.

Children have class and visiting teachers until Year 5, after which they move across to the upper school and have subject-specific classrooms and teachers to ease the transition to senior school.

The upper school building houses a huge sports hall packed with kit – including a climbing wall – that doubles up as a performance space. It also features welcoming classrooms, an IT suite, two fully kitted-out science labs and a thriving languages corridor where pupils continue learning Mandarin and Spanish (which they start in pre-prep) plus French and Latin, taught by a language teacher who speaks an eye-watering nine languages.

A dedicated music block has practice rooms for peripatetic teaching for the 70% or so of pupils who study instruments, as well as a larger space for music and drama. Art, textiles and DT are taught in another chalet-style block that’s packed full of high-quality work from pupils, regularly rotated to act as inspo. Behind the art classroom sits a beautiful and tranquil wellbeing garden with a distinctly Eastern feel.

Sports-wise, there’s an indoor heated swimming pool, Astroturf, hard courts, acres of pitches and a pavilion which is used for match teas (drop by on Wednesdays a slice of Victoria sponge) and drama performances, and a golf course.

SPORT

Whether through the curriculum or clubs and activities, children can play pretty much any sport you can think of, not to mention take advantage of the onsite pool. The equestrian team uses the local stables. The sports facilities mean sporty children will be happy here, and there are opportunities aplenty to compete too. Less sporty children are encouraged with skill-level appropriate teams so everyone gets the chance to play competitively.

CREATIVE ARTS

In addition to weekly music and drama lessons, pupils can study for LAMDA examinations as well as musical instruments and pass rates are 100%. There are performances each term in both drama and music as well as opportunities to get involved backstage for those less keen on taking a starring role, plus plenty of ensembles and groups for musical types. A Handcross girl was recently accepted to the Royal College of Music and pupils learn from 12 visiting music teachers. Fancy trying the harp or the cello? It’s all on offer here.

Within the art, design and technology block pupils have access to heaps of equipment including a pottery wheel and kiln, sewing machines for textiles and cameras for photography, which teachers say is very popular, and a range of tools for woodwork and DT.

CLUBS AND ACTIVITIES

There’s no shortage of lunchtime and after school clubs for children to try – there’s currently more than 100 on offer! These are wide ranging and include ceramics, debating, gymnastics, crochet, dog walking (yes really) and looking after the bees – surely something for every child.

ACADEMICS

Handcross Park is selective from nursery and all children are assessed (age-appropriately) before being offered a place. The school has a 100% success rate at Common Entrance and sends pupils to a range of destinations as well as Brighton College, including local haunts Hurst, Lancing College, Ardingly College and Eastbourne as well as further afield to the prestigious heights of Eton, Winchester, Charterhouse and Westminster.

There’s also a high success rate preparing students for scholarships and work begins as early as year 5 in some cases, to get pupils ready to impress their chosen destination. As a Google Reference school, Handcross Park is recognised by the tech giant for its outstanding use of tech and all pupils from year 3 upwards have their own Chromebooks.

The new head, Jonnie Besley, is launching a programme inspired by the Duke of Edinburgh awards with bronze for year 6, silver for year 7 and gold for year 8. Divided into three sections – academic, community and participation – the children will build a portfolio outside the classroom celebrating their successes and preparing them for the challenges of senior school (plus it’s pretty handy for those interviews and scholarship entries). Each level of the award will culminate in a residential trip with year 7 hiking in Snowdonia and year 8 tackling outdoor adventure The Great Escape in Shropshire. In future years, these trips may head abroad.

BOARDING

An investment of £1.5 million is being made in the boarding facilities at Handcross Park and construction work is currently underway to create three additional dorms and bathrooms in the eaves of the main house. Once complete in August, this will increase boarding capacity from 56 to 70 beds. Existing dorms and bathrooms are also getting a refresh and new residential staff have been recruited.

As well as attracting new weekly and full boarding pupils, flexi boarding will be available for those who’d like to spend a couple of nights at school. This will no doubt prove popular given that pupils describe boarding as ‘like a sleepover with friends’. From previous Muddy visits, we know there’s a cosy common room, with gorgeous views over the site and inviting-looking squishy sofas, which is well used for movie nights, games and chilling out. Boys and girls dorms, on separate floors, are personalised to make them feel like a home from home.

PASTORAL CARE

Pupils are encouraged to report any worries to any Handcross Park adult. There’s a team of people on hand to help including the deputy head responsible for pastoral care, a mental health lead, the school nurse, two visiting counsellors, a play therapist and an art therapist. In terms of space, there’s a wellbeing room and garden and staff meet regularly to discuss any children they are particularly concerned about. Staff started using CPOMs StudentSafe software in September, an effective and intuitive tracking system to centralise information about each young child.

THE HEAD

New to Handcross Park, Jonnie Besley took over the reins in September 2023. Relishing the role, he’s clear about the school’s strengths – the link with Brighton College was a big draw for him and he’s focused on identifying any areas that could be improved – starting with the boarding offering. The new awards programme is his project and he’s keen to ramp up outdoor learning, which underlines his commitment to a holistic education for the youngsters in his care.

His approach to change is gentle though and he’s working with staff who’ve been in post much longer than him to understand the school and what makes it tick. In his previous role, he was Headmaster of Abberley Hall School in Worcestershire, named Tatler UK Prep School of the Year 2022 during his tenure. Off to a confident start, expect more great things from Handcross Park with him at the helm.

QUIRKS

Fancy taking the goats for a walk? There are three to choose from at Handcross Park. And if your child likes animals, there’s also a resident therapy dog and a number of other regular four legged friends who visit regularly, a range of weird and wonderful creatives living in one of the science labs plus the chance to spot deer in the grounds (I saw one during my visit).

In pre prep, there’s a brilliant tradition where those with something to celebrate get to dash across the walled garden on a space hopper while everyone claps and cheers and a car horn is sounded, which sounds exhilarating and is hugely popular with the youngest members of Handcross Park.

WORD ON THE GROUND

Pupils rave about the opportunities they are offered at Handcross Park and the support they receive, and seem very aware of their privilege without being apologetic about it. They love the spacious, rural site and say they have every opportunity to make the most of it.

FEES

Nursery sessions are £39.65 for the morning and £28.25 for the afternoon, with the lunchtime session priced at £14.55. Pre-prep starts at £3,940 a term in Reception and caps at £4,295 per term in year 2. For prep, day pupils start at £5,315 in year 3 and cap out at £7,800 per term in year 8. Boarding starts at £6,680 a term for weekly boarding and £7,350 for full boarding in year 3, topping out at £9,170 for weekly boarding in year 8 and £10,160 for full boarding. Flexi boarding in years 5 and 6 is £796 per term.

MOBILE PHONE POLICY

Phones aren’t allowed in lessons or around school. However, boarders can use brick phones, a landline phone and numerous Skype tablets to keep in touch with home at set times when in the Boarding House.

TRANSPORT

Minibuses serve the local area quite extensively, and there’s a weekly bus service to and from London, which takes children home on a Friday and delivers them back to school on a Monday morning.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: Handcross Park is a broad church, with the space, facilities and support for children with all manner of strengths and aptitudes. It’s a genuinely happy place to be.

Not for: It’s academically selective so pupils need to be able to keep up.

Dare to disagree? Keep an eye on the website for the next Open Morning.

Handcross Park School, London Road, Handcross, Haywards Heath, RH17 6HF, 01444 400525

Handcross Park School, Handcross

You may also like