A leading independent prep school in Somerset, offering excellence in education for 2-13 year olds
We are delighted to announce that in recognition of our commitment to welcoming international boarders to Perrott Hill we have won the BSA Supporting Excellence Award 2024 for Belonging and Inclusion Initiative Award.
This award represents our ongoing efforts to work directly with agents, and schools to increase our international community welcoming pupils from far and wide to the beautiful Somerset countryside.
Our most recent endeavours include extending our immersion programme with schools in Beijing and welcoming a group of fifteen children in January 2024 aged between nine and thirteen. The groups are staying with us for the remainder of the academic year, and we hope to repeat the model in years to come.
We earned a place on the shortlist for this years’ BSA awards alongside two of the most reputable boarding schools – Millfield and Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate. Perrott Hill is a small rural school with an average roll of 185 pupils within the stunning 28-acre site and it is renowned for its nurturing family atmosphere and strong sense of community.
Mr McCullough, Headmaster at Perrott Hill, “We are especially proud to win this category as it recognises the hard work that has gone in behind the scenes and acknowledges the way in which staff, pupils, parents and the wider community have supported our Beijinger pupils and teachers and helped to integrate them successfully into life at Perrott Hill”.
After welcoming fifteen children from Beijing to Perrott Hill Prep School at the start of the Spring Term, the group has gone from strength to strength and returned for the Summer Term, with equal amounts of energy and enthusiasm.
The children who are aged between nine and thirteen have travelled to the UK, many for the first time, to join the Perrott Hill community as boarders for two terms. The small rural school in Somerset has an average roll of 185 pupils within the stunning 28-acre site and is renowned for its nurturing family atmosphere.
Whether they are local children or from further afield, boarding at Perrott Hill is an extremely popular choice. Most day pupils opt to board at the school at some point, with the offer of flexi, regular and weekly boarding, and an extensive activities schedule, which means that the full boarders from the UK, China and Europe establish friendship groups very quickly.
It is common for our international pupils to be found staying with local families over weekends as they form friendships and adapt to living in the community. The school is fully aware of the benefits of having a strong diverse community and has recently worked hard with agents and direct contacts to build a full and sustainable international programme of which the children from China are a key component.
Perrott Hill has a reputation for excellence in providing a well-rounded education, and international pupils are encouraged to participate in everything from the Easter Service to the Lunar New Year celebrations, from Art and Orchestral Community events to House Poetry Recitation Competitions.
All the pupils have excelled in their spoken English and comprehension which is a key indicator of the success of the programme.
Alex McCullough, Headmaster of Perrott Hill, said: “We are delighted at the success of the programme and the level of integration and progress made by our new pupils. Witnessing our children from Beijing chairing debates and taking on solo performances in theatre performances in their first term was extremely satisfying and a credit to all those involved. Our hope is that we will continue to provide similar experiences for other Chinese pupils in the coming years so that future cohorts of pupils will benefit similarly from the benefits of attending Perrott Hill, a quintessentially English prep school.”
The House Poetry Recitations last Friday were truly impressive, with excellent performances of some classic, new and personal poems. All the pupils effectively used intonation, emphasis, tone and their own style to deliver the poems, featuring winning recitations of ‘Nick the Naughty Nicker’, ‘The Dragon in the Cellar’, ‘Boogy Woogy Buggy’ and ‘Not Now Nigel’. Everyone who performed should be very proud, so with very little between it, Mendips were announced the winning house. Congratulations Mendips!
We are delighted to receive the news that Ralphs’ entry for the
BBC 500 Words Story Competition has been selected by the judging
panel to go through to the second round. Over 100,000 children take
part in the competition each year so this is a superb achievement.
Ralph’s tale The Knight is a skilfully crafted traditional quest tale, but
with a surprise twist ending. We wish Ralph every success as The Knight
enters the next level of the contest.
The following is an extract from the final paragraphs of the story:
Finally, with a mighty stab the knight struck the queen’s heart. She staggered
back, her eyes wide with disbelief. The knight took advantage of her weakness
and plunged his sword deep into her chest. The evil queen fell to the ground,
her life’s breath leaving her body. The castle fell silent. The knight stood over
the queen’s motionless body, panting heavily. He had done it! He had finally
slayed the evil queen! As he turned to leave the castle, he knew that the
world would be a safer place without her. He had fulfilled his destiny.
The judging panel includes award-winning and best-selling authors Frank
Cottrell-Boyce, Francesca Simon, Charlie Higson, former children’s
laureate, Malorie Blackman and TV legend, children’s author and World
Book Day ambassador, Sir Lenny Henry
BBC 500 Word Competition
Perrott Hill is delighted to welcome fifteen Chinese Children to Somerset, who will be joining the Prep School for the remaining two terms of this academic year. The children arrived at Heathrow on Sunday 7th January 2024 and were ready for lessons to start on Monday morning.
The Children will be joining classes across Years’ 5, 6, 7 and 8, and are excited to be integrating into every aspect of school life. They will be boarding at the school, along with our other International and British pupils, taking part in academic lessons, creative arts and our extensive range of extra-curricular activities becoming part of Perrott Hill community.
Alex McCullough, Headmaster of Perrott Hill said: “we are delighted to be able to welcome the children to Perrott Hill and local our community. We are excited by the prospect of integrating the children, and equally benefitting from the diversity and cultural awareness that this affords our existing pupils. Our ambition is that this proves to be a successful partnership and something that the school can build on in the future.”
Perrott Hill is a full boarding school and has students a mix of nationalities, creating a rich community of cultures and experiences. Perrott Hill is part of the Stirling Education group which owns schools worldwide and supports internationally accredited programmes of education for more than 20,000 students.
We are absolutely delighted to share some recent sporting success, with an outstanding seven pupils being selected to join Somerset County teams, in recognition of their hard work and talent.
A huge congratulations to Freddie and Dexter (U10), Daisie, Luca, and James (U12), and to Art (U13) all of whom have been selected for Development Squads with the Somerset Cricket Pathway 2023-24.
Oscar has also impressed with his Hockey skills and has been selected for the U13 Boys Somerset County Hockey Squad 2023-24.
This is an amazing result for all the children and we will follow their progress keenly whilst wishing them every success.
Organised by Art Academy London and created by the developer Hines, this community art project is based on the values of community, wellness, creativity, and sustainability.
Artwork by Perrott Hill’s Captain of Art, Art Littler Pepper, alongside works from local students and community groups have been used to adorns the hoarding of a proposed development in Central London.
Art’s drawings of a starling and dragonfly, inspired by his late grannie, depict the biodiversity the new development will bring to the area. Graffiti artists from Lawless Studio used carbon-absorbing paint, meaning the painting will help improve air quality.
We are delighted that Art’s work has been showcased in this way!
We are delighted to announced that we are finalists for Small Independent School of the Year.
The winners of each category will be announced at an awards ceremony being held on the 10th October.
A huge congratulations to everyone who took part in the Four Hills Challenge, just before the summer.
We are delighted to have been informed, that the total fundraising amount for Marie Curie UK exceeded £3100. This is a truly incredible total, and everyone involved should be extremely proud. We will be welcoming a representative of Marie Curie into school, later this month, to thank the children and explain the importance of the money raised.
