Address: Dunhurst, Alton Road, Steep, Petersfield GU32 2DG
Website: bedales.org.uk
Founded: 1905 (Bedales,1893)
Number of Pupils: 200
Head Teacher: Colin Baty
Religious Affiliation: Non-denominational
Entrance Procedure: 8+. Selection by assessment/residential assessment and interview.
Contact: 01730 711733, jjarman@bedales.org.uk
School Visits: Open days. See here for more information: www.bedales.org.uk/opendays
The Curriculum
The academic curriculum offers challenge through innovative teaching that inspires the pupil and focuses on the individual. Confidence grows as the children grow, and with it their desire to question and discuss. Our distinctive approach to learning helps children excel academically. Learning through doing lies at the heart of our educational ethos. The vast majority of pupils at Dunhurst will go on to Bedales.
Games & The Arts
Dunhurst competes in many sports including football, hockey, tennis, cricket and netball. Excellent facilities include floodlit astroturf, floodlit tennis and netball pitches and indoor swimming pool. The creative and performing arts, sport, the outdoor work programme and the diverse wealth of activities on offer ensure that every pupil can develop new interests and skills important to them.
Pastoral Care
At Dunhurst it is a priority to give boys and girls the opportunity and confidence to communicate – to nurture individuality, to develop self-confidence and to thereby produce articulate, enquiring, interesting young men and women. In the first three years, much of the pastoral care of the ‘Groups’ is the responsibility of the class teachers who see the children for approximately half of their timetable. In the ‘Blocks’, the eleven and twelve year olds have a personal tutor who guides them through their academic progress and monitors their general welfare in weekly tutorials.
The system of house staff, tutors, teachers and school counsellors is extremely effective; however, the school has found that some pupils prefer to talk to fellow pupils. Our Peer Listening scheme offers yet another way for pupils to express any concerns and encourages them to find their own solutions.
Head Teacher’s Philosophy
‘Central to a Dunhurst education is the setting – as stimulating as it is picturesque. Sitting within a 120 acre estate, we are surrounded by the beautiful landscape of the rolling South Downs, which we take every opportunity to explore. Our curriculum is broad, and our commitment to encouraging creativity unswerving – a consequence, in part, of the close relationships we foster between our pupils and the adults who care for and teach them. I firmly believe that young people should be encouraged to aim as high as they can whilst also enjoying their childhood, and benefitting from as many opportunities and experiences as possible. I actively encourage muddy knees!’ – Colin Baty
Outstanding Characterstics
- Innovation in the curriculum with high academic expectations
- Strong relationships: students and staff on first-name terms, high level of pastoral care
- Excellent facilities include floodlit astroturf, floodlit tennis and netball pitches and indoor swimming pool
- Emphasis on learning through doing, the Bedales estate boasts a working farm and Outdoor Work is part of the curriculum
- Located in an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) South Downs National Park
- Flexi-boarding available, just 1 hour from London
