Our Boarding
Boarding at Highfield is one of the most valued and distinctive parts of school life. It is always completely optional, but for many families it becomes one of the most rewarding choices they make. Our flexible, contemporary boarding provision is designed to suit modern family life, without diluting the strong sense of community and care that boarding here is built on.
We offer genuine full boarding alongside weekly and flexi options, and roughly a third of our boarders choose each. Families who want a proper full boarding option have increasingly fewer places to find that locally, particularly at prep school age. At Highfield, full boarding remains a real, well-established choice.
Our boarding numbers grow steadily through the year, typically starting around 80 in September and reaching close to 130 by the summer term, as more families discover what boarding offers once they try it.
Around 80% of our boarders are British, with the remainder from overseas. That balance matters to us. It means Highfield feels like a genuinely British boarding school, the experience many of our families are specifically choosing, while still being a place where children from different countries are a valued part of everyday life.
Parents consistently tell us boarding is one of the greatest strengths of a Highfield education. They value it as a gentle, supportive bridge between home and senior school, helping children grow in confidence, independence and resilience while remaining close to a familiar community. Children tell us something a little different, but just as powerful, they talk about friendship, fun and laughter.
Living in one big family surrounded by all your favourite people to have one massive sleepover every night.
Boarder
The approach to boarding is excellent and there’s a great balance of freedom and guidance.
Available from Year 4 to Year 8, full boarding gives children the complete week, including Saturday and Sunday nights, and full immersion in the boarding community. About a third of our boarders choose this option, drawing on a rich programme of evening and weekend activities and the deeper friendships that come from being together for longer.
Available from Year 3 to Year 8, and chosen by around a third of our boarders, weekly boarding means arriving Monday morning and returning home Saturday, spending the school week fully immersed in the life of the boarding house. Weekly boarding gives children the rhythm of boarding life, while still keeping weekends at home for family time.
Flexi boarding is a gentle and flexible introduction to boarding, allowing children to enjoy the benefits of being part of the boarding community while fitting around family life and outside commitments. It is ideal for children who are ready for a regular routine but who still need flexibility.
- Years 3–6: minimum one night per week
- Years 7-8: minimum two nights per week
Families choose set nights termly, helping children settle into a routine and feel secure in the house. This is where our third group of boarders sit, and where many full and weekly boarders started out.
Trying boarding should feel exciting rather than daunting. That is why we offer trial nights, giving children the opportunity to experience boarding in a relaxed way before making a longer-term commitment. Often, one night is all it takes for a child to realise how much they enjoy it.
Where is Highfield Boarding School located?
Highfield School is an independent school set within 175 acres in the South Downs National Park, on the borders of Hampshire, Surrey and West Sussex, offering boarding and day places for Prep-age children.
Do you have a catchment area?
We don’t have a fixed catchment area. Families choose Highfield from across Hampshire, Surrey and West Sussex, including Liphook, Haslemere, Hindhead, Midhurst, Godalming, Petworth, Petersfield, Farnham and Alton. We also welcome families from London as well as international boarders from countries such as Spain, France and China.
Is boarding compulsory at Highfield School?
No. Boarding at Highfield is always completely optional, with day, weekly and flexi options available alongside full boarding, so families can choose whatever suits them. That said, if your child is likely to move on to a senior school with boarding, we’d recommend trying boarding at Highfield first, as it gives them a gentle, familiar introduction before making that transition.
What boarding options does Highfield offer?
Highfield offers full boarding, weekly boarding and flexi boarding, with roughly a third of boarders choosing each option, plus trial nights for children who want to experience boarding before committing.
What age can my child start boarding at Highfield?
Full boarding is available from Year 4 to Year 8, while weekly and flexi boarding are available from Year 3 to Year 8, with flexi boarders in Years 3–6 boarding a minimum of one night a week and those in Years 7–8 a minimum of two nights a week.
How many children board at Highfield?
Boarding numbers grow through the year, typically starting around 80 children in September and reaching close to 130 by the summer term.
Does my child get their own bed and space when boarding?
Yes. Highfield does not hot-bed, so every boarder has their own bed and personal space regardless of how many nights they board, and dorms are structured so each child shares with at least one chosen friend.
What happens at weekends for boarders?
All children in Year 5 and above attend school on Saturday morning for academic extension lessons, followed by sports fixtures in the afternoon. Sundays offer a relaxed pace with on-site or off-site activities, and exeat weekends are held throughout the year for full boarders to go home.
How many exeat weekends are there each term?
There are four exeat weekends in the autumn term, two before and two after half term, and the same pattern in the spring term, while the summer term has one exeat weekend after half term.
I do not live locally, what are my options?
Families who live more than 20 miles away from the school often choose to weekly or full board at Highfield School. We offer a chaperoned train service into London for those families who require it. Contact admissions to discuss your specific requirements.
What we’re up to…
Young musicians from St Bart’s, Beacon Hill, Camelsdale, Liphook Juniors and Highfield came together yesterday as one orchestra, rehearsing and performing alongside professional musicians from the Royal Military School of Music. 🎶 With music specially arranged for every child’s level, they spent the day in sectionals and rehearsals before performing The Traitors theme, March of the Toreadors and Pirates of the Caribbean. It was wonderful to see them adapt so quickly to playing alongside musicians from other schools, many of whom they had only just met. The progress they made in just one day was remarkable! It’s all part of a collaboration between Highfield and @haslemerefest, which will culminate in the young musicians performing at a special Gala Concert at the Haslemere Festival next year. A HUGE thank you to our Director of Music, Jessica Harman, for bringing the day together, to Captain Ben James and the RMSM band, to our sectional leaders Matt Gunner, Helen Downham and Sarah Craven, and to everyone behind the scenes who made it such a success. 👏 #schoolorchestra #royalmilitaryschoolofmusic #youngmusicians #militarymusic #musiceducation #armymusic
It’s been a busy few weeks of sport, with football, hockey and netball fixtures all underway! ⚽🏑 We’ve loved watching our pupils rise to every challenge, whether that’s switching positions mid-match or picking themselves up after conceding a goal. A great example came when the girls U13s 1st team travelled to Bede’s for their IAPS qualifier. 1-0 down after 4 mins in their opening game, they regrouped and answered back with 3 goals to take the victory! They battled their way to the quarter final, where a draw against @edgeboroughschool went to shuffles, ending in a narrow 2-1 loss. Our footballers showed the same spirit at the 7-a-side tournament. After a semi-final defeat to @twyfordschool on penalties, they bounced back to win their play-off and finish 3rd out of 12 teams! 🥉 Win or lose, our teams keep showing what it means to adapt and keep going! #independentschool #highfieldschool #adaptability #teamspirit #resilience Independent school, prep school in Liphook, independent school near Surrey, independent school sport
What happens when life doesn’t go to plan? Suzannah Cryer, our Head, shares how changes in her own journey led her to new paths and why being able to pivot matters so much in this ever changing world. It’s a skill we nurture at Highfield every day, helping our children feel confident when things change and willing to find another way forward. ➡️ #independentschool #highfieldschool #adapting #embracechange #growthmindset Independent school Liphook, prep school Hampshire, boarding school Surrey, Hampshire independent school
What did Year 2 love most about their trip to RHS Garden Wisley? We’ll let them tell you! As part of their Fabulous Forests topic, the children had a chance to explore the vast gardens, take part in a woodland workshop and even discover some of the tallest and widest trees growing there! With so much to spark their imaginations, it was a chance to see how the natural world can inspire their own creativity. Swipe to see their favourite moments… 🌳 “My favourite thing was having a go at planting. My plant pot is on my windowsill at home.” 🌱 “My favourite thing was looking at the water fountain. It was beautiful.” ⛲ “I have two favourite things: collecting the spiky pine cones and counting all the vegetables… AND having my lunch!” “I loved going into the greenhouse. It was like being in a jungle.” 🌿 “I liked making the tree bark patterns appear on my paper!” 🌳 We also discovered a Highfield connection: the workshop leader’s wife plays lacrosse with our Head of Girls’ Games and PE, Ashleigh Gloster. What a small world!
“Whoever you are… whatever you do… however you feel… be YOU!” 💛 Year 2 brought Karl Newson’s Be You! to life in their assembly this week, with a lovely reminder that there really is only one you. They even put their creativity to work, making their own colourful animal masks, each one as wonderfully unique as the person who made it. 🎨 #highfieldschool #independentschool #creativelearning #liphook #beyou Liphook independent school, prep school, pre-prep school, boarding school, Hampshire independent school
A camp out is the perfect test of creative thinking! Using only what the woodland could offer, Year 7 sparked fires with flint and steel, whittled with sheath knives and cooked sausages over the fires they’d built themselves. 🔥 Once the tents were up and the hammocks were out, a blindfolded woodland course put their teamwork to the test. The day ended under clear skies, with plenty of campers choosing to sleep out under the stars. Smoky jumpers all round and a wonderful opportunity to the children thrive outside the classroom. #independentschool #highfieldschool #outdooreducation #creativethinking #nature Liphook independent school, prep school, pre-prep school, boarding school, Hampshire independent school
Last week we welcomed families to our Early Years Open Morning, which began with a woodland walk through the Highfield grounds before little feet made their way to our Forest School area. There, Mrs Snagg, our Nursery Manager, and Mrs Hunter, out Head of Pre-Prep and EYFS, helped the children make their own clay snails. 🐌 The children also got busy potion-making with forest finds and oranges, which proved particularly popular! Thank you to all the families who joined us. It was a joy to share a little of what Early Years life at Highfield is all about 🍂 #independentschool #highfieldschool #openmorning #earlyyears #forestschool Liphook independent school, pre-prep school, boarding school, Hampshire independent school
Creativity is everywhere at Highfield. It’s turning a fallen branch into something new at Forest School or stepping onto stage for the very first time. Sometimes it’s finding a different way to solve a problem. Have an idea and wondering ‘what if…?’ We want children and young people to have plenty of space for that kind of thinking. To wonder, try things out and have ideas of their own. Because as AI becomes part of everyday life, creativity and human connection will matter more than ever! #independentschool #creativity #creativethinking #essentialskills Liphook independent school, pre-prep school, prep school life, boarding school, Surrey independent school, Hampshire independent school
Every year on the 26th September, European Day of Languages is celebrated… and there’s plenty for us to celebrate at Highfield. 🎉 French and Spanish are a core part of life here, but our languages often stretch well beyond those. We are also delighted to be a multi-cultural school which welcomes so many pupils from around the world, exposing our British cohort to range of new languages and cultures through close friendships. This year’s theme is ‘Languages unite!’, so our languages team have been looking at just how far languages reach across the curriculum. The video doesn’t capture every subject involved (we’d have needed a rather longer film!), but hopefully gives a good flavour of just how much languages connect with other areas of school life. And yes, we know Mandarin isn’t European. But as it’s taught in Middle Prep, we couldn’t resist sneaking it in! 🤭 #independentschool #europeandayoflanguages #multicultural #languageteachers #crosscurricular
It’s been a busy week for Year 2 who have been learning beyond the classroom in our beautiful grounds 🪵 One science task had them peering beneath leaves and logs, investigating minibeasts, habitats and microhabitats. Elsewhere, there was more hands-on work… sawing through logs with their teacher, ready for next week’s exciting Little Red Riding Hood task (more to come on that!) Two very different lessons, but one shared skill throughout: working together towards a goal. #independentschool #outdoorlearning #workingtogether #forestschool #nature
There’s been some serious campaigning going on in Pre-Prep! Our Year 3 House Captain hopefuls have been putting their speeches together, ready to convince their fellow pupils why they would make the perfect leader. And tucked inside one of those persuasive speeches was this little gem: “Working together as a team will lead us to victory and we can rise as one.” Spoken like a true captain! Because while one person might lead the way, it’s everyone around them who makes a team what it is. 🤝 #independentschool #highfieldschool #workingtogether #leadershipskills #democracy
We’re joining forces with @haslemerefest to bring pupils from local schools together for Haslemere Festival Youth Music 2027. 🎻 Children who play an orchestral instrument or recorder, from pre-Grade 1 through to Grade 8, are invited to take part. It starts here at Highfield on 6th October with an orchestral play day alongside musicians from the Royal Military School of Music, before the children work towards a gala performance at Haslemere Hall next May. We want all children to have the chance to make music with others and experience what it means to be part of an orchestra. For some, it will be the first time they hear their own part become part of something bigger. 🔗 Read more about our partnership with Haslemere Festival via the link in our bio. Schools interested in taking part can contact Jessica Harman at jharman@highfieldschool.com. #IndependentSchool #HighfieldSchool #HaslemereFestival #MakingMusicTogether #YouthOrchestra
Nothing like easing yourself gently into a new school year… by heading straight off to Belgium! Year 8 certainly didn’t hang about this term. Their first few days took them from the battlefields of the Somme to the Last Post at the Menin Gate, with time spent walking through trenches and searching memorials for familiar family names. Being there together gave the children a very real introduction to the stories of the soldiers who fought there. At the Somme, they took on the roles of members of the Pals Battalions, discovering what it meant for friends to sign up and serve side by side – something that felt particularly powerful while travelling and working together as a year group themselves. At Tyne Cot, Bruno and Tabby laid a wreath on behalf of Highfield in the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world: a poignant way to bring that part of the trip to a close. A day at Parc Astérix was also on the itinerary… and even the staff were persuaded onto a rollercoaster or two! Quite a way to start their final year at Highfield. 👏 #IndependentSchool #SchoolTrip #History #Belgium #WorkingTogether
Our Open Morning on Friday was a great success and our Year 7s did a brilliant job showing families around Highfield. Thank you to everyone who joined us! 🍂 Now we’re heading into the forest for our Early Years Open Morning this Friday. What might your little one discover among the trees? Come and explore together, then warm up by the campfire while you get to know our fabulous Early Years team. 🔗 Book your place via the link in our bio
Today is Youth Mental Health Day, organised by @stem4org, a charity supporting teenage mental health. This year’s theme, #BuildFutureYou, is about helping young people look ahead with hope and feel supported as they think about their future. To mark the day, we asked our staff to share their own hopes for the future of young people. Swipe to see what they said. 👉 We’d love to hear your hopes too. Share in the comments below. 💙 #IndependentSchool #YouthMentalHealthDay #ChildrensWellbeing #FutureGeneration
A big day for Reception! 🏊♀️ Yesterday was their very first swimming lesson at Highfield, but first they had to master getting pool-ready. Which way round does a swimming costume go? And was it hat or goggles first? There was certainly lots to remember! Once in the water, they were off! We may just have some future swimming stars on our hands… 🌟 #IndependentSchool #BuildingConfidence #Reception #SchoolSwimming #YoungSwimmers
🎭 Auditions are under way for Year 5’s production of Shakespeare Rocks! Our pupils stepped up to read for their chosen roles today, developing their confidence and bringing each character to life through voice and expression. We’re excited to see this one come together Year 5! #IndependentSchool #Year5 #PerformingArts #SchoolProduction #ConfidenceThroughDrama
🏆 We’re Mind Champions! We’re incredibly proud to have won the Mind Champion Award at the School House Awards 2026, recognising our commitment to supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing. A huge well done to our wonderful pastoral team and every member of staff who helps make wellbeing part of everyday life at Highfield. Read more via the link in our bio. #IndependentSchool #SchoolHouseAwards2026 #ChildWellbeing #MentalHealth
This morning our Year 8 pupils heard from Martin Cosser – Charlie’s dad and the founder of @charliespromisecharity, a charity working to fight and prevent knife crime through youth education and community engagement. At Highfield, we want our pupils to grow up with the confidence to make safe, positive choices, and to know it’s always ok to speak up and ask for help when they need it. Today was a brilliant example of that in action. Thank you Martin, for sharing such an important and powerful message with our pupils! 💙 #HighfieldSchool #Safeguarding #KnifeCrimeAwareness #KeepingChildrenSafe #PositveChoices
Today, we have welcomed our children back through the doors, filling the school once again with the unmistakable energy of Highfield! With everyone together again, now feels like the perfect moment to share something very special: ONE, our new school film. A huge thanks to the exceptionally talented team @bobbicee @nathantheys @rojwhitelockphotography & @fin.bunce for bringing our story to life. 🎬 Discover the story behind ONE and watch the full film in our latest blog via the link in our bio.
We’re delighted to feature once again in this year’s Tatler Schools Guide! 👏 “As a truly independent, family-owned prep, Highfield puts its energy into understanding the aspirations of every single child.” A wonderful recognition of what makes Highfield so special. #HighfieldSchool #IndependentSchool #Liphook #TatlerSchoolsGuide2027 #TatlerSchools
Only a few more days until we welcome everyone back to Highfield! As we prepare to begin our next chapter as Highfield School, we’re also looking forward to opening our doors for our first Open Morning of the term. If you’re considering Highfield for your family, we’d love you to come and spend the morning with us. If you’re already part of our Highfield community and know someone who might love it here too, please spread the word and invite them along. 🔗Book your place via the link in our bio.
Ending the week on a high! We’re incredibly proud to be one of just five schools shortlisted in the Pastoral Care and Wellbeing category of the @talkeducation Awards for Innovation in Education 2026! 👏 To be recognised for something so central to who we are as a school, alongside others doing such important work in this area, is a wonderful honour. We’ll find out the result on Thursday 10 September, so until then, keep everything crossed for us. 🤞 Read more via the link in our bio. #HighfieldSchool #TalkEducation #TalkEducationAwards #PastoralCare #PupilWellbeing