WHAT THE GOOD SCHOOLS GUIDE SAYS
HEAD Since 2023, Mrs Hilary Phillips BA BEd, previously head of lower school and a sixth form, housemistress at Benenden. Educated at Hereford Cathedral School and Exeter University, where she read French alongside education, Mrs Phillips’s career has taken in a spell teaching in Lisbon, as well as a range of independent schools the length and breadth of England and Wales. Her extensive experience of and belief in prep schools and girls’education, a recent brief foray into a senior school and, not least, her grey mare Corrie led her perhaps inexorably to Hanford. Extremely warm, jolly and game for a laugh – ‘zany’ said one mum – Mrs Phillips nonetheless knows exactly what she’s about and seems to be pulling off that difficult feat of sending girls off to the most suitable onward destination, scholarships in tow on occasion, not falling prey to the temptation of packing everyone off to Sherborne Girls whose foundation Hanford is now part of, while keeping pretty well all the eccentric traditions that modern health and safety rules allow. Neither has she let the obvious allure of ponies trotting through the timetable distract her from her focus on exacting and experiential learning, kindness, playing a full part in the local community nor indeed the continuing viability of this tiny rural school with just shy of 100 girls. Their assessment of her was considered: ‘a positive presence’, ‘a good teacher’ and ‘does stuff’, we were told. ‘What stuff?’ we asked. ‘Skateboarding’ was the response – stuff indeed. And the parents? ‘Well, she’s injected a firework into the place,’ said one and ‘She’s a bit like Mary Poppins, poking at flooded drains with an umbrella,’ another reflected. Married to Jeremy, a chartered (he adds) quantity surveyor and ‘the kindest sweetest man’, and mum to three grown children and three whippets, whose beds are in her office (the whippets’, that is).
ENTRA
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EXIT
Almost always at end of year 8 to a range of senior schools, many in the south west but some further afield: ‘Where is best,’ says head. Impressive range of academic and other awards for a non-selective school: in 2024, there were five academic awards – a mix of scholarships, exhibitions and subject commendations, an all-rounder scholarship to St Mary’s Calne and a
drama scholarship to Canford from a class of about 20. Conversations about next schools start early with a questionnaire to parents; the head makes it her business to get out and about to regional senior schools and to invite them in to see the ,Hanford magic for themselves, so that her advice to parents is always up to date and carefully tailored.
OUR VIEW
It would be tempting to think Hanford is all about ponies, particularly as we did not bother changing out of our jodhpurs on Mrs Phillips’s advice after a quick tour of the grounds on horseback: ‘No-one will look twice at you.’ Tempting but wrong: there is so much more to this school. All the subjects one might expect are on the curriculum including Latin, but not perhaps art appre(ciation), where girls were studying a close-up of brushwork projected onto the big screen in the blacked-out library. No setting until year 7 and then only in English and Maths; French from the start, but other languages celebrated on annual and vibrant languages day and indeed spoken by the international contingent. We loved the write-on tables in the classics classroom where, instead of having to retain case endings in heads, girls could jot them down to refer to.
English and a focus on literacy does not detract from Maths – a favourite subject for some and where personal bests (eg in times tables) are the thing to beat – and only the most reluctant scientist could fail to be enthused by setting magnesium alight and looking at the reflection of its blinding flame in the lab window we saw on our visit. Rigorous analysis of the causes of the English Civil War mapped on to a matrix on A3 paper looked more like GCSE work. Plenty of hands up generally but not at the expense of quieter girls who were kindly invited to contribute during lessons. Crosscurricular learning has pushed new fox-proof boundaries with A Poultry Affair, where meticulous research precedes the arrival of rescued battery hens and includes the knitting of chicken jackets to cover their poor featherless breasts, alongside accurate measuring of coops, ordering feeds and so on.
Learning support has a whole-school approach and is run by one full-time member of staff who can pull in additional resources, depending on numbers. The logistical challenges posed by an old building mean severe physical disability might be hard to accommodate but most learning needs are catered for; dyslexia, ‘maths anxiety’ heading into dyscalculia are the most prevalent, while autism training is cascaded down through all the teaching staff. Small pupil numbers mean support can be given on an individual basis – very helpful for ADD and ADHD diagnoses. Making the girls feel good about themselves is very much the name of the game and close collaboration with, for example, the art and riding staff is very effective in tackling dyspraxia and working memory away from the classroom. The fact that girls climb in through the window of the SEN room sited in the main building says much about attitudes to learning support; girls and their parents said so little about it that it seems seamless rather than sidelined.
The arts flourish at Hanford. We sat in on choir practice ready for open day: the threepart rendition of California Dreaming, with its seasonal words, would have made their – and visiting – mamas and papas proud. Nearly everyone learns an instrument; practice sessions are timetabled and the delightful music school was buzzing. The sight of a jodhpur-clad youngster studiously playing the piano sums Hanford up. Early performance is encouraged and the school takes its music beyond the gates to local churches and community events. Celebrated soprano Emma Kirkby is a Hanford girl and sang the role of Mary in the first ever performance of the school’s own nativity play, still staged today. Musical theatre big and ambitious here too: no mean feat to pull off Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as they did recently, but plenty of other smaller-scale productions such as form plays on offer too. Creative writing muscles also newly stretched, when no fewer than five older girls submitted pieces for an external theatre company production of the Shaftesbury Tales. Stand-out art takes place in the art barn – a beautiful light space stuffed with different materials (paint, clay, print, fabric, papier mâché) and the feel of a senior school facility; ‘gallery moments’ encourage girls to appraise their own work.
Sports punch above their weight for a small school: all girls will find something they enjoy and represent the school in a team. Optimum use is made of the school’s astro, tennis courts and grass pitches, where girls pelting across sunlit grass cradling lacrosse sticks or cross-country running were a joyful sight during our early autumn visit; hardier ones were also seen jumping into the compact outdoor pool. ‘We wait to be invited to other schools to use their facilities during winter months,’ the head remarked sagely. No sports day as such but an annual tetrathlon, where girls run, swim, ride and shoot under the benign gaze of families, who then picnic on the lawn; ‘Wonderfully bonkers,’ say parents. Recent county successes in netball and cross-country not to be eclipsed by the riding team who qualified for the national championships in 2024, and considerable individual success stories in Shetland pony racing: the winning duo are off to Hong Kong to compete.
Ah but the riding… All but one girl ride but everyone gets down and dirty in the stables. From complete beginners to nascent eventers and jockeys – there is something for everyone, a pony to do it on – and boy, they love it. Teaching and stable management are rigorous – no chucking of your reins at a waiting groom – and in time, ‘out rides’ up the twin steep hills around the school once the basics have been firmly established during ‘in rides’ in the indoor arena. Keener riders can bring their own mounts, to be shared with other girls. Universally acknowledged however is the truth that ponies and riding are much more than an indulgent addition to the curriculum: they encourage bravery, responsibility, kindness and core strength in all respects. Hanford girls spend tons of time outside, whether playing in the charmingly named chestnut and tumbledown play areas, doing serious horticulture in the extensive kitchen garden under the watchful eye of legendary head gardener Robert (‘No ponies on the lawn!’) or climbing trees. And all this in skirts and dresses – no uniform here apart from sports kit, but a dress code. ‘M&S and charity shops are fine but we love Subdued,’ admitted girls in response to our query about designer labels. ‘Handwork’ (aka textiles) is a Hanford hallmark, where the foundations of dress-making are taught from the get-go and whose culmination is the confection of a tailored dress to be worn at senior school interviews and parents’ day at the end of year 8 – gorgeous they looked too.
Hanford has done well to keep faith with the apparent eccentricities of its founders, the Canning family, who initially leased the eponymous golden Jacobean mansion not far from Blandford Forum in 1947. Their ideas about allowing girls to be children for as long as possible, taking risks on horseback and up trees, no uniform and the calming presence of animals, have contemporary resonance. Add in kindness and taking responsibility for your actions and you have a winning formula. Misdeeds, missteps and anything misspoken might eventually attract a SYR – a ‘serve you right’, which will result in a ‘suitable and creative punishment’, fairly doled out, say girls. They add that there are ‘tons of people to talk to’ if things go wrong. Parents love the school’s tiny numbers, which they reckon means not much goes unnoticed and that their daughters are truly known. Most are local, a few overseas but none are shiny corporate types – ‘It’s too scruffy,’ said one. Now approaching its 80th anniversary, Hanford passed out of family hands 20 years ago and as of 2024, has joined three other schools in the Sherborne Schools Group, which should assure its survival.
BOARDERS
Boarding is, according to the girls and their parents, one of the best things about Hanford. The majority will board during their time and any given week will see 50-60 sleep in. This means that junior dorms on the upper floors of the old house are quirky and huggermugger; communal spaces are cosy and homely, as are the staff who look after the girls. Year 8 have their own separate boarding house – Fan’s – and more privileges. That does not extend to mobile phones however – school is adamant and proud that it is mobile-free but equally that boarders have ample opportunity and privacy to phone home, in addition to the weekly letter written home on a Sunday. An emphasis on table manners – graded from ‘piglet’ to ‘royal guest’ via ‘boa constrictor’ – harks back to a bygone age. Everyone eats in the imposing dining room, where staff members serve food at long oak tables: no choice (curry and accompaniments so tasty when we visited that several girls requested seconds) but no complaints either. Garden produce does not have far to travel to the kitchen. Lessons keep year 6 and beyond busy on a Saturday morning; the rest of the weekend will be spent having good wholesome fun, mostly outside.
MONEY MATTERS
No scholarships; limited bursary provision for girls likely to make ‘significant academic progress’ and contribute generally to school life.
THE LAST WORD
Hanford either thrills or bemuses. It offers a beguiling way of prolonging childhood, while instilling solid academic and artistic foundations and a likely lifelong horse addiction to any small girl. ‘You just have to worry that nothing will match up afterwards,’ in one mother’s wistful words.
