A MESSAGE FROM THE HEADMASTER

The time spent at prep school from 7 to 13 years are arguably the most important in a child’s education and development. Boys learn skills and habits, values and standards, which stay with them for the rest of their lives. The aim of our dedicated staff is to provide a warm and supportive environment in which a boy can flourish and grow both academically and personally, and where every boy feels he is valued. The wide range of opportunities available gives everyone the experience of life in a community while still developing individual talents.

Caldicott combines the best of modern facilities with the proven values of a traditional education - good manners, high academic expectations, competitive team sports, healthy food served at the table, time to play with friends and time to develop confidence in their own abilities. All boys are challenged and made to feel proud of their achievements.

Caldicott prepares boys for Scholarship or Common Entrance to the major public schools and our record is outstanding. Most of our boys go on to Eton, Harrow, Radley, St Edward's, Winchester and Wellington, although boys do also move on to a wide range of other senior schools each year.

Everyone at Caldicott is proud of the school and I hope that when you have read this online prospectus you will want to see it for yourselves. A prospectus gives you a glimpse of a place but you need to visit a school to give you that special feeling of knowing whether or not this is the right environment for your son.

Antonia and I look forward to welcoming you to Caldicott.

Academic Work at Caldicott Caldicott has an enviable reputation for its academic results. This section aims to show this. The menu on the left shows work from each subject, with the specific subject menus changing. Examination results for most years from 1979 are also available. A very quiet cheer at the end of the 2006 CE examinations

Sport & Games

Although Caldicott has a national reputation for its rugby - we have won the National Prep School Sevens at Rosslyn Park more times than any other school - sport at Caldicott is not just for the gifted. A large number of teams are fielded in each sport, and every boy represents a school team each year. Personal achievement is most valued. For example, recently a rugby ball (made into a trophy) signed by Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio and Jason Leonard, three of the country's greatest forwards, was awarded to the most impressive forward in the school. It actually went, not to a boy in the 1st XV, but to J-J Gibbs - and he wasn't even nine years old! As important as the sporting prowess, good manners both on the field and on the touchline are regarded as essential.

In our extensive grounds there are 8 rugby pitches and 4 cricket pitches, one of which is artificial. Main Square is acknowledged as one of the best prep school wickets in the country. There are three tennis courts, based on astroturf, and this astro is also useful for other sports' practices, and hockey matches. There are excellent facilities for athletics in the summer, and we regularly win medals at the National Prep Schools Athletics Finals and win Sports Awards to major Public Schools.

There is a large sports' hall. All boys get one lesson of PE weekly, and the hall is always full of boys using sport for recreation, as well as more formal practices in the winter months.

Badminton, chess, croquet, golf, handball, judo, soccer and table tennis are played recreationally during the year, most with occasional matches.

The pictures below show rugby Captain E Allen playing against Pinedene, a South African school, on 27 September 2006. The picture on the right shows some of the juniors at Judo training.

Heading for a try	Judo training for day boys

A Varied Section

This section is designed to deal with those various aspects of Caldicott life which do not fit obviously into the more structured sections. It deals with those activities which are not, perhaps, strictly academic, sporting or administrative, but which perhaps define more accurately the essence of a school.

Many of these are light-hearted - we are dealing with young children, after all! - and it is the life of the school which I hope you will see here.

The Local Area - Burnham Beeches

A Fact from the Past

Caldicott's address is shown as in Crown Lane, Farnham Royal. In fact this is not true - we are a short walk from Farnham Common, and actually around a mile from Farnham Royal. However, when we moved here in 1938, the then Headmaster thought that Farnham Common sounded too, well, common, so he arranged for our address to be changed to Farnham Royal! In fact Farnham Common is actually an even nicer and more interesting place than Farnham Royal!

Thanks so much for permission from the City of London to use this map showing Burnham Beeches, across the road from the school. The arrow showing Caldicott is not, of course, in the original, which can be seen, along with City of London's excellent website, here (will open in a new window).

A fantastic facility - a winter walk in Burnham Beeches

Just popped out - for an English lesson in the snow

Academic

There are 36 full-time teaching staff in the school, giving a pupil-teacher ratio of rather less than 1:7. Boys are prepared for entry to the major schools, either through Common Entrance or by a Scholarship.

Caldicott is divided into three sections:

The Junior School consists of the first two years at Caldicott (years 3 and 4). Mrs Dawkins, the Head of the Junior School, takes a short daily assembly in which boys are reminded about various academic commitments, and applauded for their successes. The boys are placed in mixed ability forms but are taught English and Mathematics in sets. This enables each boy to progress at his best pace, neither overwhelmed nor unchallenged, and movement between these sets is easy, according to current need. Although the Junior School operates separately for much of the day and has its own Chapel Service, it forms an integral part of the main school, joining in the weekly school Assembly and House meetings, and having some lessons taken by specialist staff from the upper part of the school. Their classrooms are along a ground floor corridor. The day starts at 8.30am and finishes at 4.30pm.

The 3rd and 4th Forms make up the Middle School. There are three forms in each year. The structure is: 3rd Form Forms by English Set for Maths Autumn - 0830-1630 Spring/Summer - 0830-1805 for three days 4th Form Set for Maths, French & Latin 0830-1805 Note that the school also works on Saturday from 0830 until 1250. The Middle School as an entity was developed in September 2005 to smooth the transition from the Junior School, and takes up the upper floor of the Academic Block. Each class has its own form room, but they increasingly move from room to room for different lessons.

In the Senior School the Form structure is: 5th Form - 3 forms - Two Common Entrance & one Scholarship 6th Form - 4 forms - Three Common Entrance & one Scholarship The work consolidates and intensifies as these important examinations draw near. The Common Entrance and Scholarship curricula are very different, and it is vital to match the boy to the most appropriate course and senior school. The most popular schools are here. Having come from Eton College, the Headmaster is particularly well-placed to advise on choice of school, and is readily available to speak to parents. Field trips, both at home and abroad, help to broaden their experience, and there are also occasional social dances with local girls' schools.

Beyond the Academic

There are many activities. The boarders, of course, have a chance to follow up their academic work: many staff are in their classrooms in the evening to take boys through material they might have missed, need to practise, or to develop and extend what has been done in the lessons, and there are workshops to consolidate the material before examinations. Day boys frequently choose to stay for some of the activities, and despite the fact that the day is long, they always arrive bright, cheerful and early next morning, ready for yet another day!

Of course, a lot of boys enjoy sport, and there is plenty of opportunity for recreational games and for serious practice: for example there are cricket sessions not just in the Summer Term, but throughout the year. In the sports section you may have read about the breadth of these activities.

It is not all sporting, however. There are board games available, chess is popular, the computer room is open until 8pm, and there are very regular productions of plays, which take place in the state-of-the-art new Centenary Hall, as do the equally regular music productions and the annual Declamation and Public Speaking competition.

Of course, children need to relax and unwind as much as adults, and the Junior, Middle and Senior School each has its own Common Room where they can just sit and read, chat, listen to music, or even watch TV on occasions! In their final year there are also supervised dances where the boys host girls from local schools after a formal meal. These, as is usual for Caldicott, are done properly, and our boys do make very polite hosts!

The Adventure Playground	Tuition in Origami
Cooking with the Headmaster's wife	The boarders at Chelsea Football Club