This is a small school in a lovely location not too far from Goodwood and like many Independent schools the house has a fascinating history; notably the summer palace of Stephen Langton (c1150–1228), the Archbishop of Canterbury who attended the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 and who died within the building in 1228. A memorial can be found in nearby St Mary's Church. The current version of Slindon House was constructed later in the time of Queen Elizabeth I by the Kempe family, who were staunch Catholics, and for over 300 years mass was held in a secret chapel, hidden within the house.

There are currently 93 boys in the school and although there is scope for 95, the Head would like to see a limit of 85 in order to allow the staff to focus on delivering that individualised support for the boys. The maximum class size is 9 but more often than not there will only be 6 or 7 in a class and fewer still at GCSE and A Level.

The size of the school, together with the well trained staff mean that they are able to offer a ‘bespoke’ curriculum for most of the children and aim to allow each student to leave with some kind of academic or vocational qualification to springboard them onto the next step. Only 11 boarders in a school of 93.

The introduction of the new uniform together with a House system means that the school feels more and more like a mainstream school but just has specialist provision.

The school offers a mainstream curriculum, which from September 2020 will also include MFL, as well as BTEC courses in Horticulture (they have their own vegetable gardens and a few animals – 2 Llamas!), and Motor Mechanics. There is a lot of emphasis on life skills and the school works hard to be flexible in terms of the curriculum provision. They also have good links with Chichester University, and send their 6^th Formers to Chichester College for some courses.

What kind of child will do well here?

This is very much a school for children who would ‘sink’ elsewhere. Many of the children have complex needs but often related to ASD and the ensuing anxiety that can come from that.