A very warm welcome to Bedford School Admissions. Our role is to support you on your admissions journey and give you an insight into Bedford and the people who shape it.
Years of experience at Bedford have taught me that for our admissions approach to be effective, it must be about partnership and trust. We want what is right for your son, and we work closely and honestly with families, feeder schools and international agents.
If you have any questions along your admissions journey, please do not hesitate to contact either me or one of the very experienced members of our team.
The teenage years are exciting and full of boldness, creativity and fun; they are also as fragile as they are pivotal. Whilst constantly aiming to inspire (high-quality teaching, strong relationships and a wonderful environment combine to achieve this), Bedford School also provides a safe framework from which such energy can thrive.
We believe that being a boys’ school certainly helps us to provide the security and structure that boys need during the teenage years to pursue their interests and passions for life.
Academic results are very strong and over three-quarters of our leaver applicants will go to a Russell Group or Times Top 30 university at the end of their time with us. A number of others will pursue their interests in the art, drama or musical worlds, or on to overseas universities or into high-level apprenticeships with global firms.
We believe, however, that academic results themselves only matter in so far as choice over the next stage is concerned; far more important is the curiosity, ingenuity and sense of fun which academic, and other, interests inspire – and therefore the sort of man each boy becomes. Furthermore, good manners, consideration for others, an ability to communicate effectively in both formal and informal settings are even more important today than they have ever been, in a world that is becoming increasingly competitive.
A boy’s story is the best that is ever told.
We believe this is true at Bedford Prep School and we work hard to allow the boys the physical space and intellectual freedom to create their own stories and develop their own talents to the full.
We want our boys to embrace each new chapter, whether it involves the thrill of scientific discovery, creating inspirational music or painting a masterpiece, unlocking the secrets of a new language, solving a complex mathematical conundrum, playing heroically on the sports field or writing their own exciting adventure stories.
We are open-minded, as long as they try their hardest – and we will fully support them in their endeavours.
A tour around the estate will reveal a school that buzzes with activity, where boys are stimulated by passionate, first-class teaching by teachers who care deeply about their pupils and their adventures in learning.
As well as being busy, we’re ambitious for our boys in the provision we make for them to develop and enjoy new experiences.
Each experience allows them to explore, succeed and excel. Each fresh page they turn gives them the confidence and ability to embrace the challenges of an exciting, diverse, fast-changing world.
Here at Bedford Prep School, we strive to instil in the boys a sense of awe and wonder at the world, and of joy in their own achievements and those of others. We feel school should be a place where boys are allowed to thoroughly enjoy their childhood, make friends for life, and get the occasional muddy knee.
I would be delighted to show you around our school, so you too can meet the Bedford boys and listen to their unfolding stories.
Ian Silk Headmaster
The former Head of Games, Guy Fletcher, was the reason I applied to Bedford School. Bringing (as I did) the Tonbridge 1st XI for the annual two-day cricket match to Bedford, Guy was not only the first at the ground in the morning, ready to welcome us with a huge energy, beaming smile, full of laughter and cheer, coffee, all we needed, but also first in the nets to throw balls at his boys, attending to their needs, tough on them when he needed to be, listening, cajoling, hugely respected, greatly loved. He cared deeply, about them, about winning, yes, but more about doing things the right way, teaching boys how to grow up, to be good men, to ask a lot of themselves, but also to show respect to those around them and to stand tall if things were not going so well. He asked a lot of himself, too. He loved sport, but he valued academic work, music, art, drama and all other interests as equals, as coherent strands in purposeful lives, and he was first to support everything away from the pitch, encouraging his boys to take an interest, to stretch their minds, to give life a go in all its richness. He was finally great fun, wonderful company after the game, full of insight into life’s quirkiness and making the most of every minute given to him. If the rest of Bedford School is like Guy, I thought, then it must be a great place. I now know that it is.
Do please come to visit – it would be our privilege to host you, and I very much look forward to meeting you.
