It is my great privilege and honour to be the Headmaster of Hazlegrove, and a pleasure to welcome you to this wonderful school. The values and charms of a country boarding prep school are as prevalent today as they have ever been, and Hazlegrove is at the forefront of this. We provide an environment where children can be children, enjoy the great outdoors, and develop a profound sense of curiosity, creativity and confidence.

Amidst our glorious 200 acres of grounds, we are blessed with many wonderful facilities such as our state-of the art Teaching and Learning centre, sports hall, indoor swimming pool, art and DT facilities, and theatre. These undoubtedly help put Hazlegrove into the leading category of schools in the UK. We are a day and boarding school in which a family ethos is at its very core. As a parent of boarding children, I am more than aware of the faith you invest in entrusting us to look after your children. We pride ourselves in our outstanding pastoral care, applying a proactive rather than reactive approach, in which every member of staff, whatever their role, is involved.

We also pride ourselves in our all-round excellence, and our pupils achieve awards in a variety of different disciplines to a range of the top senior schools in the country. However, learning goes well beyond the classroom. Our greatest desire is to provide as many opportunities and experiences for each child, so that they can discover their own unique skills and talents and develop into curious and passionate learners.

...we want our children to become kind, confident and self-assured young people...

We believe that every child is a human being with immeasurable potential and it is our goal at Hazlegrove to find and nurture that potential. Integral to our nurturing environment is our “no-phone” policy, which has always been adhered to at Hazlegrove, both by our pupils and as importantly by our staff. We do, of course, promote and educate the use of technology through our curriculum, but we also recognise that separation from a personal phone use plays a key part in protecting our children from the pitfalls of social media and addictive behaviour patterns.

We want to ensure that they have the social, emotional and academic foundations to go on to thrive at senior school and beyond, equipped with a strong sense of the '3Cs': Curiosity, Creativity and Confidence. Ultimately, we want our children to become kind, confident and self-assured young people, in the backdrop of this unique, nurturing and inspirational school.

My wife Amanda and I look forward to welcoming you to Hazlegrove soon in order to show you this exciting school and share with you our vision and aims.

Ed Benbow
Headmaster


More about Ed and Amanda

Ed and Amanda live on-site at Hazlegrove with their children, Eli and Freddie, and two lively cocker spaniels, Pickle and Muffin. Both Ed and Amanda are passionate about the family boarding ethos that is central to Hazlegrove’s philosophy having both attended full boarding schools. They play an active part in the boarding community, working alongside the gaps and boarding staff to ensure children thrive and that parents feel a valued part of our school community. They fully immerse themselves in as many areas of the School as possible and are actively involved with all children from Nursery to Year 8, sharing a common desire to ignite the fire in every child.

It’s a place where children work and play hard, but where they also as importantly have bucketloads of fun and stay children until they leave at 13.

Good Schools Guide

Where Next