Parents' Testimonials
"We are delighted with the way in which our son has enjoyed school since starting. We have seen a leap in his development both academically and socially. The school is nurturing his love for learning and is clearly providing a tool kit for lifelong development. We love the school." Matt and Gemma Sheppard "I am absolutely delighted with the progress my daughter has made this term. The pleasure she is gaining from the knowledge she has absorbed far surpasses my hopes for her at Colston Bassett. She has settled into the routine and teaching structure and can't wait to arrive each day. My heartfelt thanks and praise to all the teaching staff. I can only positively praise the school, it's teachers and the pupils - the best decision I've ever made." Miranda Brydon
"Being the parent of an older child who was very happy at her current school but not achieving her full potential academically, I struggled with the dilemma that moving her to Colston Bassett would address her academic needs, but may compromise her social development. I made several visits to the school before making my final decision, during which time the Headteacher and her team listened to my concerns and explained how the comprehensive and personalized teaching plan would meet my daughter’s needs. My daughter also spent a couple of mornings in the school, returning home full of confidence and enthusiasm and I would encourage prospective parents to let their older children visit and experience a typical ‘Colston Bassett day’. My daughter has flourished during the short time she has been at the school; the small class size has given her the opportunity to contribute fully to class discussion, which has in turn increased her confidence enormously. There is a strong emphasis on building solid foundations in reading, writing and numeracy skills and her individual needs and learning styles are addressed. My daughter is happy and challenged, socially she has made new friends of all ages and I am 100% sure the leap of faith I made was the correct decision. My daughter's recent comment sums up how happy we both are ‘Mummy thank you for moving me to Colston Bassett School - it's fantastic’."
Sue Timberlake
"We thought long and hard before deciding recently to enrol Felicity into the school, with a daily round trip of 28 miles to drop her off. Since then we have been immensely impressed with the professionalism of the staff and the friendliness of the other parents. Felicity has made some close friends already and her school work has dramatically improved. I think she did more supervised reading in her first week at the school than in an entire term at her previous school. She is now learning the violin and has joined the ballet class, as well as beginning to learn French. Colston Bassett School is such a friendly special place and Felicity really looks forward to going to school every day - which she has never done before! Well done."
Derek & Yvonne Eardley
"As parents of elder children with whom we had endured the tears and trauma usually associated with starting school, we anticipated our youngest child to have a similar experience when it was his turn. In addition to the usual concerns, we also felt that because of Guy's shyness and lack of confidence it would be especially difficult for him to settle. We are absolutely amazed at how different to our expectations his experience has been at Colston Bassett, our son has been enveloped in the warm, caring atmosphere created by both the staff and the children and as a result his confidence has increased enormously and he has settled into school quicker than we could have ever imagined.
In addition to this, our son has absorbed the positive, happy attitude to learning prevalent among the children, due in no small part to the skills of the staff. We are, in short, delighted."
Anthea and Kevin Mansworth
"Our son attended a great local school for half a term –we had compared league tables, met Headteachers and we thought we had found the best option available to us. How wrong we were! The six weeks in the school we had chosen left our son mostly un-challenged and slightly bemused. We heard about the open day at Colston Bassett and came along. Initially we may secretly have had reservations that being a start up venture our son might be disadvantaged by his peer groups size or that changing mid term might leave him floundering. Surely now he had started elsewhere it might be better to let him continue? Teachers and School Directors alike listened to our concerns and explained what they wanted to achieve. By the end of our visit our son solved it all for us anyway by asking 'How soon could he come to Colston Bassett?' It’s simply that kind of place. We made our decision almost on the spot to 'switch'. We’ve never looked back.
The modest group size and high ratio of teacher to child has helped him flourish. It’s not just the numbers though – our son now has what we feel is an idyllic school life from both an educational and experiential viewpoint. The staff team not only make learning enjoyable they also have the desire to work on all those other valuable areas of development such as good social skills. They walk in open countryside, they take time to sit and discuss things they’ve seen and more than anything they have fun together. Our son is enjoying learning, is taking pride in himself and his achievements and is happier than we could ever have hoped for. If you want school to really be the best days of your child's life we highly recommend you look at what Colston Bassett are offering – traditional values, innovative teaching methods, bespoke development and the opportunity for parents to be intrinsically involved in how the school moves forward.
Our final point is that we volunteered to provide these views as we want 'our' school to continue to blossom – we want other parents to look on this as a viable alternative for their children. We promise them they’ll be starting out on a journey that will surprise and delight them in a way they are simply not expecting – providing a unique experience for the adults and children alike!"
Ian Saunders and Amanda Kennett
