Thank you for your interest in Berkhamsted School. We have some exciting developments ahead!

In recent years, our Prep School has been growing. When this growth concludes (circa 2023) the Prep School is projected to have 360 pupils in Years 3 – 6 on the Doctors Commons Road Site. Ten years ago, the site hosted more than 450 children aged 3 -11 before we moved our Pre-Prep offering to its current site on the Haresfoot campus. This provided our youngest with an open spacious environment at the Pre-Prep and has allowed us to develop the Prep site appropriately to meet the needs of this key stage, providing subject specific classroom facilities, enabling the latest pedagogical practice, with space for co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. The transition between the Prep School and Berkhamsted Senior Schools, is a continual focus for Berkhamsted; maximising the use of the Senior School facilities, for Sport, Chapel Services, Outdoor Education, Drama and plays an integral part in preparing our young people for the next stage of their educational journey. We would like to further improve the experience of our Prep School children many of whom come from the lovely, green, and spacious environment of our Pre-Prep at Haresfoot.

As a result, we will be changing the shape of our Prep School in two ways in the coming years:

• First, we will be seeking to re-landscape the area between the Prep buildings and the King’s Road to provide more dedicated outdoor play areas for the children, and a greater sense of space on the campus. An artist’s impression of our outline plans is shown below. Please bear in mind that consultation, planning permission, tender and implementation are all necessary before this will be ready for the children… it will take us a little while which we hope to complete in 2022/23

• Secondly, we will be limiting the number of pupils in Year 5 and Year 6 to four forms (currently we offer 5 forms in these age groups) from 2023 onwards, with a maximum of 22 pupils in each form. The Prep School will therefore have 80-88 children in each of the year groups which will reduce the maximum size of the school to about 335 pupils – and give these children a little more space too.

One of the effects of this change is that the Year 5 entry point in 2023 will reduce to a very small number. We are therefore reaching out to parents of potential entrants into Year 3 and Year 4 in 2022, because these will be the first two-year groups affected by the reduction in the size of the intake in Year 5 from 2023. Ensuring you can consider the options for your child’s entry point to Berkhamsted School is important to us.

These actions are intended to make sure we can continue to provide for, and develop, each child as an individual, and provide them with a school experience which combines outstanding development of character and intellect, sector leading pastoral care and a day-to-day school environment which is equally excellent. These changes will help us to invest further in our pupils’ quality of experience.

Please do not hesitate to contact our admissions department should you have any further questions on 01442 358001 or at admissions@berkhamsted.com.