Grimwade House

I am writing to inform you that from September 2025, we have decided to repurpose the Grimwade House building and no longer offer a boarding option at the Prep School. This has been a difficult decision, due to the history of the House, but it follows extensive research and discussion with the Governing Council about continuing to invest in and improve areas of the College that are important to pupils, staff, and parents. Below I summarise the key points that have led to this decision and the College’s strategy moving forward.

The Grimwade House building

The current Grimwade House building, while adequate for boarding, does not meet the expectations of the modern boarder and does not match the beautiful boarding environments of Robert Pearce, Rowe, Trotman, and Young Houses. A considerable amount of investment would need to be made (c.£750,000) in order to bring Grimwade House up to the same standard as our other boarding accommodation. Ahead of this investment a detailed strategic analysis was conducted to assess whether this investment was viable for the future of the College.

Prep School Boarding

At present the cost of running Grimwade House as a Prep School boarding house is c.£145,000pa, while the income from boarding is only c.£138,000pa. The boarding house therefore makes a slight loss every year, which the College had been willing to absorb while attempts were made to recruit more 11-13 aged boarders. With the introduction of VAT on fees alongside other financial pressures, the long-term sustainability of this deficit was rightly questioned by the Governing Council and therefore extensive research into the long-term viability of under 13 boarding was conducted. Nationally, Prep School aged boarding has continued to be in steady decline over the last five years and there is no evidence to show a resurgence. While Senior School boarding in UK schools has increased to 10% above pre-COVID levels, Prep School boarding remains 20% lower than it was in 2018. Therefore, it is unlikely we will ever be able to make Prep School boarding financially viable.

At present there are only eight boarders in Grimwade House, five of whom are due to progress to the Senior School in September 2025. The College has found it increasingly difficult to recruit Prep School aged boarders and hence the numbers have remained low despite considerable efforts in recruitment.

Sixth Form Centre

The College has long held the ambition to develop a state-of-the-art Sixth Form Centre. Vacating the Grimwade building provides a fantastic opportunity to develop a state-of-the-art Sixth Form Centre at the heart of the College campus, for a fraction of the cost of a new building on green space. It also allows the Sixth Form pupils to use the current Sixth Form Learning Centre until the new building is completed, preventing any disruption to our Sixth Form provision.

Architects have already been briefed to propose a suitable environment for our Sixth Form students that is befitting a school of our stature. We envisage a building that has elements of tradition and history combined with an ultra- modern and stylish interior aligned to the College’s ethos of a modern approach combined with a prestigious history.

The Sixth Form Centre will contain a new Higher Education and Careers department space, providing all students with access to fantastic materials and guidance to shape their educational and career paths. The building will also contain everything to support Sixth Form students at the College, including study spaces and a common room where they can socialise and nurture friendships. We will share concept drawings with the College community as these come through.

Prep School Common Room and Extended Day Provision

The Year 7 and 8 experience in the Prep School is an integral part of our offer at the College and we intend to enhance this further by creating a common room space for our older pupils in part of the Grimwade building. This space will be a bridge between the Prep School and Senior School House system and will give our oldest Prep School pupils a place to socialise, relax, and study. Concept designs and drawings of what can be done within the Grimwade building will be shared with the community as they are prepared.

Recognising the need for parents to be able to commute, work, and manage school life, the College will be offering an extended day provision to pupils in the Prep School which will run from 07:00am until 19:30pm. This is likely to be housed within the Grimwade building and will enable our children to arrive early and remain at school in a homely environment, enjoy the company of their friends, eat breakfast or supper, and complete homework before being collected from school.

Other Opportunities

Redesigning the space within Grimwade will also enable us to review the utilisation of other areas across the campus, including the Medical Centre and Learning Support. We are hopeful that through innovative planning we may also be able to develop a one-way drop off system that can alleviate some of the traffic within the campus.

This is a bitter-sweet time for the College. We are saddened that Prep School aged boarding has declined nationally and despite concerted efforts numbers in Grimwade have remained low. However, as a modern school we look to the future and are excited by the prospects of development in this area. We look forward to sharing designs and concept drawings as our plans evolve.

Yours sincerely,

Mr John Maguire
College Headmaster

The Development Team are working on fitting ways to celebrate the 112 year history of Grimwade. Details of which, will be shared in due course.