Cothill House A GSG School

What The Good Schools Guide says

Headmaster

Since September 2023, George May, previously senior housemaster at Radley College. He was educated at Aysgarth Prep school and Eton College, and has a degree in architectural history from Edinburgh, after which he gained a place at the London Academy for Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), performing on stage, radio, film and TV as well as touring Europe and America before joining Radley in 2006. No wonder he’s known for getting stuck into school music and drama and he’s also closely involved in sport and supporting youngsters through the confirmation process.

He is married to Emi-Lou, a children’s picture book writer and food and nutrition teacher, with whom he has three daughters, a son and two dogs, Peppa and Chilli. A Newcastle United fan, he enjoys spending family time on Northumberland’s wild moorlands and beaches, as well north Cornwall. He cites surfing, skiing, good food and plein-air painting as his main hobbies.

Entrance

Academically quite broad; socially quite narrow. It has recently begun offering custom-made bursaries from year 5 for 'talented, deserving' boys. In exceptional circumstances, year 4 bursaries are available. A 20 per cent Forces discount comes in handy for many families. Boys typically enter in year 4 or 5, but can join at (almost) any age and, frankly, any term (although the school recommends September or April). All children are assessed via a gentle and informal process ensuring they will thrive at Cothill and enjoy all that is on offer.

Fifty per cent of parents live or work in London, 30 per cent hail from elsewhere in the UK (a good chunk local), 20 per cent from abroad, mainly China, Thailand, Spain, Nigeria and Russia. EAL available for non-native English speakers, but boys still must be fluent before arriving – though even here, the very occasional exception is made.

Exit

Recent destinations include Stowe, Radley, Abingdon, St Edward's, Eton, Cheltenham, Uppingham, Harrow, Mill Hill, King's Canterbury, Milton Abbey, Shiplake, Winchester and Tonbridge. Strong scholarship record – three in 2022. Some grumbles from parents that the school is overly fixated on trad boys' boarding schools at the expense of excellent co-ed options. No one leaves at 11. The school’s superb and phenomenally informative website publishes over seven years of leavers’ destinations.

Our view

Plonked deep in the heart of the British private school heartland: nine other independent schools reside within a 10-minute drive – and that’s without entering nearby Oxford. So what makes Cothill stand out? It’s traditional, but never stuffy. Posh, but down to earth. Low profile locally, but well known to the cognoscenti. Proudly full-boarding, but surprisingly flexible. ‘There’s no hierarchy in the school,’ a beaming parent told us, ‘and that includes among the staff.’

We arrived at break to find ourselves in a sea of tousle-haired mini Prince Harrys – mainly British, but with a good mix of international pupils: sparkling-eyed, chatty, polite… a bit muddy. They struck us as unspoilt boys who, we hear, agonise over how best to spend their weekly stipend of £1.10 at the school grub shop and are quick to help one another. Main building is a large country house with later additions nestled in 26 acres of grounds, playing fields and woodland. Cothill Fen conservation area is on the doorstep. Sports and leisure facilities include a 15-metre indoor pool, six all-weather tennis courts, a nine-hole golf course, and a somewhat shabby, albeit well used squash-court-cum-table-tennis room. A new sports hall is in the making, due to be completed in 2023.

Cothill takes in a slightly wider ability range than some similar schools, but do not mistake this breadth for a lack of academic excellence. Boys are set for maths and English from the start – no pussyfooting around this. A scholarship stream firms up from year seven. Small class sizes throughout. The head takes quite a lot of trouble to hire inspirational teachers who are not too precious to muck in. ‘We’re looking for role models – that’s more important than their qualifications on paper.' Parents gushed to us about the teachers, calling them ‘amazing’ and ‘approachable’.

The recently refurbished science area stands out among mostly standard classrooms. Head of science is reputed to have once been the youngest member of the Magic Circle, and there’s certainly some hands-on, if not sleight of hand, teaching. This includes quite a bit of dissecting: ‘Boys like to bring in things that they’ve shot,’ he explains in passing. Superb computing facilities are on offer, but no hand-held devices allowed except Kindles, no mobile phones, and no social networking. ‘We don’t communicate with the boys by email; we go and find them,’ smiles the head. Boys in the top two years have Chromebooks for school work which they carry from lesson to lesson. SEN support two or three times per week is available for learning difficulties, but also provides maths acceleration for the clever-clogs.

We admired the way excellence is accommodated and nurtured here, even if this sometimes requires bending the school norms. At the time of our visit, two gifted pupil musicians were allowed to miss Saturday school in order to be taught at a London music college. Similarly, the school carves out time for a hotshot tennis player to receive 17 hours of extracurricular tennis training every week.

Sport runs like a wick through the flame of the Cothill experience. There are games of some kind, at every level, every day. When asked what sort of boy might not be suited to Cothill, the school replied, ‘a boy for whom playing sport is a chore'. The range of sport on offer is immense. If the main games, rugby, football, hockey and cricket, are not your thing, then perhaps golf, polo or the climbing wall? Tennis is a particular strength with the LTA supporting provision and five Oxfordshire-area coaches teaching at the school. As well as having its own nine-hole golf course, the school is forging a relationship with a private golf course. Rock-climbing teacher visits every Thursday. Ski team is the current IAPS champion.

Superb after-supper activity programme offers fun, from cooking to canasta. The school now employs a head of outdoor activities (and boasts the slightly cringeworthy strapline ‘HQ for boys’ adventures’). New, flash electronic scoreboard doubles as a screen for outdoor film nights. Tree Tops, an enormous elevated adventure playground, provides fun, especially for the younger ages.

All this outdoors activity does not come at the expense of more refined pursuits. Some 80 per cent of boys learn an instrument, from bagpipes to bassoon, taught by 19 visiting music teachers (early morning practice runs from 7-7.45am). All the main classical instruments are on offer at a high standard, but rock and jazz deserve a special shout out – nice to see them given respect, rehearsal time and performance opportunities. The Rockhill Music Festival – Cothill’s version of Glastonbury – rounds out the summer term. Plenty of art, pottery and DT – all open on weekends. Woodwork still taught by former copper and permanent fixture ‘PC’. Boys ‘can make literally anything’, our guides assured us gravely. Junior, middle and senior plays are part of the lesson timetable, so all boys are involved. Two poetry competitions each year.

The star draw though has to be Sauveterre, Cothill’s unique French château outpost near Toulouse, where all year 7 boys spend a whole term immersing themselves in French language, culture, food and sunshine. Parents evangelise about the benefits of this, not only where tipping the balance at CE is concerned but in terms of an unforgettable life experience.

Boarders

Years 4 and 5 may now go home after games on Saturday and return on Monday morning if they wish. School doesn’t see this as a dilution of the boarding ethos, but rather an expansion: 'We want to make it easier for those full boarding families who aren’t quite ready.' Boarding accommodation for ages 8 to 12 is based in the main school building, with the youngest children under the direct care of the head and his wife and a houseparent. Dorm rooms compete for a coveted weekly tidiness award. Year 8 now reside regally in Bowlers, a swish outpost across the games field where boys say they develop a bit of independence. Even in this new facility, boys sleep in (roomy) dorms of up to 12 beds. ’Tis the Cothill way! Twenty minutes’ reading time for all each night; reading prefects may read to the younger boys. Homesickness – usually brief if it occurs at all – is dealt with sensitively and boys may phone home whenever they like. Mental health issues are addressed by the school counsellor (unusual to find in a prep school) and Cothill has been able to support boys with a range of challenges.

The last word

Cothill is something of leap of faith and might not suit families keen on the more bureaucratic trappings of 21st-century school life. Health and safety are observed, but not worshipped, and much is accomplished on trust. For those it suits, the school provides a magical five years and a superb underpinning for all future education.

Special Education Needs

Cothill has an exceptional SEN department with two full-time and three part-time staff. Provision is made for boys who have mild to moderate learning problems in English and the school also provides both extension and support classes in maths. Touch typing has been a recent school-wide enhancement and is routinely taught to all boys in year 5 in preparation for their year 6 pre-tests and as an essential skill for life.

Leavers' destinations