Our next Open Afternoon is Friday 7th February 3.30-5pm. To book a place, please click here
EMBRACE NATURE 🌳 EMBRACE LEARNING 🌳 EMBRACE CHILDHOOD
Discover Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School in this short video (3 mins)
SENIOR SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP DESTINATIONS
In the last 10 years, our boys and girls have continued their education – many with awards and exhibitions – at: Lancing College, Brighton College, Hurst, Winchester, Sherborne, Roedean and Christ's Hospital, among others. We believe that while striving for excellence and exam success is important, it is the character of the pupils leaving us that sets them apart and, often, makes them the first choice of many senior schools.
Sompting Abbotts welcomed Mr Chris Gunn as Headmaster in September 2023, taking the mantle from our former head Mr Stuart Douch (2013-2023).
Headmaster Mr Chris Gunn
Video: A day in the Nursery and Pre-Prep: 1 min 30 sec.
Video: Parent feedback: 1 min 30 sec.
Scholarship success
Recent Scholarship winners to Brighton, Lancing and Winchester Colleges. In the last 10 years, 95% of children entered for a scholarship have achieved their goal.
Small class advantage
Small classes (average 15) help lead to higher confidence and academic achievement because each child receives the attention they need.
Sports and fitness
Sports offered include rugby, football, cricket, netball, hockey, tennis, athletics and gymnastics, golf, squash, modern dance, archery, fencing, orienteering, mountain biking and shooting.
Experiential learning
With 30 acres of grounds, our children are spoilt for space in our 30-acre semi-wooded site. From Nursery to Year 8, we support the Forest School ethos and its focus on fresh air and child-centred education.
Transformative technology
Technology is empowering our children – from the Pre-Prep to Year 8 – to be digitally-skilled, more creative and more connected.
Performing and creative arts
The Arts are a big and bright part of school life. Pupils have many opportunities to immerse themselves in drama, music, art, dance, and debating and school performances.
There is no charge for before- and after-school care
Parents can leave their Pre-Prep child (under 8s) in our care from 8am - 4.30pm and Prep-age child (8 - 13) from 7.30am to 6pm.
Sompting Abbotts Nursery and Pre-School
The nursery is close to Worthing, Steyning and Hove. It accepts the 30 hours Free Entitlement for all eligible 2, 3 and 4 year olds.
Our policy is to keep to our maximum class size limit to ensure our pupils receive the individualised education we provide. Year groups that are full operate a waiting list. Please contact us regarding availability.
Ellie, Toby, Annabelle and Rosalind in Year 8 all began with us in the Pre-Prep. They talk here about their experience of learning at Sompting Abbotts (video: 1 min)
“The pupils’ personal development is excellent: a reflection of the school’s small, close-knit community. Pupils are confident, articulate and listen well to one another. They are courteous and well-behaved and have a sense of their own self-worth, encouraged by the celebration of each individual’s talents, progress and behaviour.”
Sompting Abbotts shortlisted as ‘Small Independent School of the Year 2024’
Sompting Abbotts was shortlisted for 'Small Independent School of the Year', competing against 2,600+ UK schools.
Headmaster Christopher Gunn says: "We’re delighted to have been recognised. Our strength lies in our small size: the individualised teaching of our small classes (average 15 or less) and the fact that our school community feels and acts like one big family."
The school's success follows that it saw in 2021 and 2023, when it was twice selected as a finalist in the ‘Independent School of the Year for Environmental Achievement’ category.
If children lose contact with the natural world, they won't fight for it. It's why learning about nature, sustainability and climate change is a key part of everyday life at Sompting Abbotts.
Children are introduced to French at our school through music and song from age 2 and formally from age 5 (and Latin from Year 6). By Year 8, many are working at GCSE-level French.
Sompting Abbotts places strong emphasis on the performing arts to boost pupils’ confidence and communication skills through regular drama performances and musical recitals.
Our thanks to Sussex aerial video production company Airview for this beautiful footage of the school and grounds from the air.
Sompting Abbotts is a historic West Sussex prep school within easy reach of Worthing, Steyning, Hove and Shoreham-by-Sea. It was founded in 1921 and has been run by three generations of the Sinclair family. It accepts boys and girls aged 2 to 13 years.
Rosalind (third from right) won a scholarship to Lancing College
“I’ve loads of amazing memories of Sompting Abbotts. When I was little, I called it ‘the castle on the hill’.
I'll never forget playing outside during breaks, making dens in the woods, rolling down the grassy slopes in summer, and sledding down them when it snowed.
I loved how we hung out together, across year groups. The school felt like like one big, safe family.
Now I've tons of friends at Lancing College from other schools. But nobody talks about their last school with the same special memories as we do about Sompting Abbotts!”
“Sompting Abbotts is the kind of place you’d imagine in a story book …
The grounds are amazing and the building is quirky, just like the staff and the students. Everyone feels a part and is respected. We've loved the school and found it supportive in every way. If your child is sporty, academic, creative or a combination they will find their place and activities to enjoy. We haven't found any other place quite like it, it really is special.”
At Sompting Abbotts, we adopt a school-wide ethos that embodies our commitment to the environment. Its principles – 'Embrace Nature; Embrace Learning; Embrace Childhood' – are threaded through our teaching, influencing every child's journey from Pre-Prep to Upper Prep. Our 30-acre grounds and woodland in the South Downs National Park are at its roots.