Top UK Prep Schools in the Countryside

If you're currently living amongst the hustle of city life, the thought of moving your child away from the urban buzz to a serene countryside school might sound quite different. But it's more than just a change of scenery; it's an opportunity for your child to experience an education immersed in nature. 

A UK prep school in the countryside can offer several advantages for younger children. Children love being in nature, and countryside prep schools usually have big outdoor areas where they can explore and connect with their natural environment. Schools in rural areas may take advantage of their surroundings for field trips, forest schools, nature walks, and outdoor education programmes.

Countryside schools often include practical learning in their lessons. This is especially good for younger children who learn best through playing and exploring. Things like playing in muddy puddles, going on nature walks, and doing outdoor activities become important ways they learn. 

Families looking to provide their children with a more tranquil and less hectic lifestyle may choose countryside schools to escape the stresses of city life. Away from the noise and distractions of urban life, countryside schools can provide a quieter and more focused learning environment. 

Also, living in a more rural setting exposes younger children to practical life skills, such as gardening, caring for animals, and understanding where food comes from. These experiences can contribute to a well-rounded education that goes beyond traditional classroom learning.

Read more: What You Need to Know About 4+ and 7+ UK Pre-prep, Prep School Assessments in the UK

To help you narrow down that shortlist of prep schools in the countryside, we recommend you take a close look at these schools…

Bryanston Prep

There are several reasons why Bryanston Prep is such a gem in the Dorset school scene. Families will find a small nurturing school with a beautiful countryside campus, a dynamic curriculum, small class sizes and access to some outstanding facilities at one of the UK’s top senior schools in the UK.

Set within over 30 acres of Dorset countryside, this Pre-prep and Prep school enrols just 120 boys and girls aged three to 13 years (Nursery to Year 8). Previously an all-girls’ school, Bryanston Prep is now fully co-ed with an even number of girls and boys across most year groups. The school offers boarding to a small number of around 20 students. Typical of a small prep, there’s a close-knit community with a friendly and nurturing environment that will appeal to many families with young children.

Outdoor learning is part of daily life here. The school takes full advantage of its beautiful rural setting (also home to several horses) by taking learning outdoors, whether story-making, art, den building in the Forest School , orienteering or investigating a maths problem. It’s very much a school that wants ‘children to be children’. There's a strong tradition for horse riding here too, and around 70% of students take lessons.

Bryanston Headmaster Simon Ridley told us:

"We make the most of our location at every opportunity. Situated in 30 acres, we have our own Forest School, adventure playground with 'safe' trees to climb and stables with 13 ponies. Our Life Skills programme includes many opportunities for exploration and risk taking within the safety of the school site, and we also then use the many outdoor facilities at the senior school including a mountain biking trail, climbing tower, kayaking on the river.

"At such a young age, we understand the importance for our children to discover outdoor passions, explore, win, fail and get a bit muddy!"

Why we like it

• A focus on personalised care and support that covers the academic progress and wellbeing of every child.
• A beautiful countryside campus with plenty of space and outdoor activities.
• Access to some impressive facilities for music, drama, D&T and sport at Bryanston School.

Read our full review of Bryanston Prep.

Casterton Sedbergh Preparatory School

Set in the stunning county of Cumbria, this small and friendly full boarding school is like a breath of fresh air for outdoorsy, sporty students. Casterton Sedbergh Preparatory School (and its sister Sedbergh School) is an unpretentious, happy school that is renowned for its pastoral care and sporting excellence. The prep school offers the “breathing space for its pupils to enjoy childhood” (whether that’s caring for the school chickens, goats and rabbits or guided reading in the Secret Garden).

There are 180 day and boarding students in the prep school and 550 in the senior school, and around 20% are international students. With 95% of students boarding at Sedbergh, it offers a full and very real English boarding experience where students eat lunch and dinner together in their house dining room, and they enter house challenges together. It all helps to create a tight-knit, cross-year community where students are supported and well-known by staff they get to know well.

The majority of boarders in Years 3 to 8 at Casterton are full or weekly, but there is also the option of Tri-Boarding (any three nights during the week) and Flexi-Boarding (occasional one-offs to a regular one or two nights per week).

Why we like it

• It’s part of an all-through school.
• A country school with plenty of space and outdoor activities.
• There’s a wide choice of boarding options.

Read our full review of Casterton, Sedbergh Preparatory School.

Fettes Prep

Students looking for an excellent education within the stunning surrounds of the Scottish capital should seriously consider a boarding life in the turreted (and superbly equipped) campus of Fettes College.

With its distinct uniform (the girls wear tartan skirts and the boys wear pink and brown-striped blazers), Fettes has a rather lovely traditional feel to it. There’s a close-knit, caring community here, helped in part by a well-established house system; while in the minority, day students are given that sense of belonging by being assigned to a boarding house and having their own study area too.

Fettes is a full boarding school, and there are currently no options for flexi or weekly boarding. There’s a huge boarding community here, and students stay in 10 boarding houses: two for Juniors (housing around 70 students), four for Senior girls, four for Senior boys (total of 550 students), and a Sixth Form house (100 students) with en-suite study bedrooms.

Why we like it

• It’s an all-through school so an easy transition to day or boarding in the senior school.
• Its 90 acre woodland campus on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
• Nearly everyone boards here, and it’s full-time, so there’s no mass exit of students at weekends and in the evenings.

Read our full review of Fettes Prep.

Wycliffe Prep School

Wycliffe is committed to creating a nurturing and inclusive community for all its students and pairs a flexible curriculum with a diverse extra-curricular programme. Located in the Cotswolds, this co-ed day and boarding school is home to around 700 boys and girls aged 3 to 18 years; the Prep and Senior Schools have separate campuses within half a mile of each other, but they share facilities and teachers.

This is a small school that thrives on having a strong sense of family amongst both day and boarding students; seniors ‘buddy’ younger students, day students can join boarders for daily supper at 5.30pm, and there are houses with common rooms where all students can socialise and work. As well as having one third international students, Wycliffe is a popular choice for military families from the UK; the school is easily accessible from several major Army and RAF bases across the South West, and families pay only 10% of fees thanks to a Forces Bursary from the government.
 
There are 65 boarders from Years 3 to 8, mostly coming from HM Forces families and around 15 from overseas. In the senior school, there are 220 boarders, with a high percentage of coming from Forces Families from Year 3 through to Year 13 (33%).

Why we like it

• There is a range of boarding options including full boarding, day boarding and flexi-boarding.
• Popular with military families, who receive significantly discounted fees.
• It’s an all-through school so an easy transition to day or boarding in the senior school.

Read our full review of Wycliffe Prep.

Clayesmore School

Students can board from Year 3 at Clayesmore, a rural day and boarding school in North Dorset with a Prep, Senior and Sixth Form. It is a school with plenty of wide-open space, which is used extensively to offer an holistic education that is delivered in the fresh air as much as in the classroom. 

Clayesmore is a dynamic, forward-thinking school that clearly challenges itself to keep learning relevant. In the last few years, it has replaced the traditional Saturday school with an innovative programme covering the Great Outdoors; Arts, Creativity and Culture; Enterprise/Employability; Academic Extension; and Service/Leadership.

The Prep boarding home for around 70 students in Years 3-8 has a strong focus on creating that home away from home atmosphere for the school’s youngest boarders. One boarding house at Clayesmore is in the former village rectory where students enjoy a wonderful garden with a small football pitch. Another is a purpose-built boarding house by the lake where there’s a wonderful community spirit with 'family' groups of girls and regular Crumpet Frumpet Fridays. Forces families who receive the CEA get an additional 22% (Prep) and 15% (Senior) discount off the full boarding fees.

Why we like it

• The huge outdoor classroom by the lake that is used increasingly for forest school, bushcraft, sport and outdoor lessons.
• Popular with military families, who receive significantly discounted fees.
• It’s an all-through school so an easy transition to day or boarding in the senior school.

Read our full review of Clayesmore School.

Port Regis

Port Regis is a countryside prep with a flexible boarding programme from Year 3 that offers excellent preparation for admission to leading senior schools in the UK.

Boarding is very popular at Port Regis, with around 75% of students choosing full, flexi or occasional boarding and almost 100% choose to board by their final year. The school’s flexible boarding programme is perfectly suited to the demands of modern working life; most boarders stay for the week and return home at weekends to enjoy that perfect balance of school-family life and many students take up the 'local boarding' package of two nights a week which is included in the fees for Year 3.

The school has created a real ‘home away from home’ atmosphere in its four boarding houses – two houses for 7-11 year-olds in the main Mansion building, and two purpose-built single sex houses for 11-13 year-olds. In each house, houseparents, house mothers (matrons) and big ‘brothers and sisters’ (gap year students known affectionately as ‘gappies’) are there to offer support, guidance, and join in the fun! There are some excellent facilities (everything from table football to cinema rooms), a close-knit community where students can be awarded 'dorm winner' for the tidiest dorms and 'star of the week', and a busy programme of evening and weekend activities.

Why we like it

• Students can start by boarding one or two nights a week, and as they move through the school the percentage of boarders increases significantly.
• Resident Gap students are like big brothers and sisters to young boarders.
• Parents from overseas can book to stay in one of two cottages in the school grounds to make visiting their child even easier.

Read our full review of Port Regis.