Frewen College

Welcome to Frewen College - a unique dyslexia school in East Sussex for young people between the ages of 7 and 19. Our students have Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) such as dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia, and Speech, Language and Communication needs. Frewen is based in East Sussex and our roots go back over 100 years. We believe we are the oldest dyslexia school in the country, and possibly the world.

Our day and boarding dyslexia-friendly school has a friendly, "family" feel, and the pupils are courteous and cheerful. In a recent Ofsted Inspection, inspectors judged the pupils’ behaviour to be "outstanding", and commented on the school’s "highly appropriate focus on the pupils’ specific learning difficulties".

SpLD can affect children of all abilities, and we are committed to ensuring that every Frewen pupil achieves the highest level of success possible. Each child’s needs are thoroughly assessed, and individual support provided, in small classes, supplemented where appropriate with one-to-one tuition or therapy, the setting of ambitious but achievable expectations, the careful tracking of progress and the provision of quality feedback.

Pupils joining Frewen College from other schools may have been working as hard as, or harder than, their peers, but they have been held back and made to feel under-valued because their Specific Learning Difficulties have either not been recognised, or have not been properly addressed.

Our team has immense experience in helping children with a range of educational needs. All our classroom staff, including Teaching Assistants, have specialist dyslexia training, and our therapists and counsellors provide additional one to one support on site where required.

The school is divided into three parts: the Prep School, the Senior School, and the Sixth Form, which we run in conjunction with our partner establishment Bexhill College. This means we can provide ‘all through’ education from age 7 upwards, and can admit appropriate pupils at any stage of their school career. We have students from throughout the UK and some international students too.

Our location is quite simply outstanding and provides a safe and calm but enriching environment for our pupils. We are based in the beautiful Wealden countryside, on the borders of Kent and Sussex, just on the outskirts of the historic village of Northiam. The school is based in and around a Grade 1 listed Jacobean mansion that was the family home of the Frewen family for over 300 years.

Frewen College dyslexic school for dyslexic children aged 7-19. The Preparatory School is based in a Grade 2 listed Queen Anne farmhouse, and even the Art and Design block has its own Grade 2* listing. These historic buildings are supplemented by a number of modern purpose-built facilities.

The school is set in listed gardens that were originally laid out in 1681, and include the oldest walled gardens in Sussex. They incorporate an arboretum (with the Lady Jane Frewen bluebell walk), a Jacobean bowling green and a topiary chess garden, and are opened each year under the National Garden Scheme, and for the local Hospice.

Beyond the gardens our pupils benefit from 60 acres of playing fields and grounds, and we have secure access to another 100 acres of ancient deer park for cross-country runs, orienteering and nature rambles.

Although benefiting from a rural location, uniquely we are within just an hour of London, Gatwick Airport and the Channel Tunnel, and able to access Eurostar services at Ashford International Station. We are the closest Dyslexia Specialist Provision school to the Continent.

The large towns of Hastings, Ashford and Tunbridge Wells are all close by, together with the historic small towns of Rye, Battle and Tenterden.