Thorngrove School

Thorngrove School was founded in 1988 by Nick and Connie Broughton, the Founders and is an IAPS co-educational day preparatory school for children aged 2½ to 13 years. The purpose-built facilities are set in former farmland in the village of Highclere, 5 miles south of Newbury and 12 miles north of Andover. The school started with just 15 children, and due to its success and unique atmosphere the school flourished and grew in size year on year. There are currently 251 pupils at Thorngrove today. 

Thorngrove is set in 25 acres of beautiful Hampshire countryside. There is an extensive range of sports pitches within the grounds. In addition to this, there is an astro, two further hard courts and an all-weather cricket net facility. The purpose-built teaching spaces provide an excellent learning environment with specialist areas for Music, DT, Science, Art and PE.

Thorngrove’s IT provision is excellent and all pupils from Year 3–8 benefit from their own Chromebook to support their learning and enhance their skills for the 21st Century. We are committed to ongoing development and have recently added a fantastic canopied area for Forest School and a new play area for the Lower School pupils. During the Autumn term, there will also be the addition of a new ‘break-out’ classroom, which will be used for drama, ballet classes and parents’ match teas among other things. To further develop our provision for the Performing Arts, the School is looking into the development of a Performing Arts Centre for Music, Drama and Dance.

Thorngrove offers a unique environment where children can grow and learn independently. We value our intimate and friendly community and the benefit that brings; we are proud of our small class sizes and the individual attention we can offer to each of our pupils.  Children are currently prepared for Common Entrance at 13+, from where their paths lead to a wide range of senior day and boarding schools.

Thorngrove has a relaxed yet purposeful atmosphere, where working relationships between staff and pupils flourish. We are forward-thinking in our approach – providing children with the skills they need to succeed, supported through technology, whilst at the same time remaining true to traditional values.

Pupil progress is tracked continuously, and communication with parents plays an important part in this process. Above all, our aim is that all pupils reach their potential in terms of confidence, creativity and achievement; allowing them to thrive in the 21st Century.

The most recent ISI inspection report (March 2020) judged the school to be ‘Excellent’ in all areas.