Aldro strives to ensure that each pupil is happy, encouraging them to value each other and be supportive of each other. This Christian ethos underpins the school – making the children part of a caring, happy extended family is key to Aldro’s success. Our Form Tutors and all our staff play an essential role in supporting the pastoral programme, which is a fundamental part of life at Aldro.
The Headmaster, Assistant Heads Academic and Pastoral and the Form Tutors monitor each child’s academic and personal progress, believing that personal growth and academic development come from a happy, caring environment where children are encouraged and feel valued. For the boarders, the Housemaster and Matrons also provide an extra level of care and attention, enhancing the family atmosphere that surrounds the school.
We are often told that Aldro pupils are easily recognised at their senior schools by their maturity and self-confidence and we regularly hear great reports of their success in academic life, sport, music, art and drama. A large number of our pupils go on to achieve significant positions of responsibility. As a prep school, our job is to prepare our pupils for the next stage, so this positive feedback tells us that we must be getting things right.
Family Friendly Boarding
Boarding has always been one of Aldro's great strengths and has helped to ensure that the school has a thriving family atmosphere and a commitment to an amazing breadth of education from which all the pupils benefit. It is also one of the reasons why Aldro pupils who move on to boarding schools at 13 have settled in so quickly and gone on to thrive so spectacularly.
The team is led by the Housemaster, Mr Simon Nixon and Housemistress Miss Charlotte Barrett. They are assisted by House Tutors; Mr Gilbert Watson, Mr Chris Rose, Sir James King, Mrs Loren Fenwick, Mr James Streatfeild. Matrons, Miss Sarah Allen and Mrs Emma Stovold complete the team.
Boarding at Aldro is 'preparatory'
Aldro is a 'preparatory' school, so we are always trying to ensure that we are preparing our pupils for their future schools and beyond. When pupils board they become much more independent, able to take responsibility for themselves and their work. These are vital skills that they will need at their next school, and experience of boarding at Prep School makes the transition to Senior School boarding much easier.
Boarding at Aldro is family friendly
We offer a number of different options to suit the needs of different families; this could be full time or part time boarding. At Aldro we take pride in the stable and secure environment that our boarding house provides and we certainly don’t see boarding as a ‘sleepover’ for pupils. For different year groups a different level of commitment will be expected to enable us to provide a great boarding experience for them. We have ‘trial boarding’ times for pupils in a particular year to sample boarding.
Boarding at Aldro is in a caring community
The boarders are extremely well looked after by the Housemaster and his team of house tutors and matrons. They are on hand to help the pupils and offer them care and support whenever necessary, and this is one of the reasons why our pupils adjust to boarding so readily.
Boarding at Aldro is for work...
Boarders have structured, supervised work times in the evenings. This not only helps them to be properly prepared for their lessons, tests and exams, but also enables them to begin to learn the essential skill of taking the initiative with their work.
Aldro offers opportunities for full time and part time boarding. At the heart of the boarding house are our full time boarders and they are well provided for throughout the week and at weekends, with plenty of exciting options available on Sundays. To pace the term, every two or three weeks we have an ‘exeat’ weekend when all the boys are away from the school.
The family friendly and relaxed atmosphere makes life in the Boarding House enjoyable for all. Aldro's wonderful array of activities and opportunities for pupils are vividly shown in our Boarding photo albums.
In the evenings after supper the pupils have ‘Mars’ time when they are able to study, revise, do music practice or read. After that there is a range of activities run for the pupils by the Duty Staff and the Student Masters which could be anything from:
…and many more!
At the weekend the borders enjoyed a wide range of excursions and activities including outings to Chessington World of Adventures, West Wittering Beach. The Goodwood Revival, Wildwood, ice skating in Winchester, the London Eye and a riverboat cruise and a trip to watch Southampton FC to name a few.
Boarders have also been to the Harry Potter Studio Tour, T20 cricket and have spent a summer’s evening on Southsea beach swimming in the sea and eating fish and chips.
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