The Elms has a long and proud history of supporting military families by delivering gold standard education through outstanding pastoral care and a broad, challenging and varied curriculum.

In addition to having a number of Forces pupils and parents, many staff, including the Headmaster, Head of Admissions, and boarding and teaching staff,  have military connections and experiences, so we understand the different pressures of life in the Armed Forces.

The safe and comforting environment of our small school means that children from forces families can focus on their learning and embracing their childhood. Their parents can be reassured that the small family environment of The Elms will nurture and care for their children in their ‘home away from home’. The experience we have gained from working with our existing forces families has prepared us to offer exemplary supportive pastoral care for children who may have parents on operations.

We apply a discount for military families using CEA to ensure that the parental contribution is equivalent to 10% of the school fees for full-time boarders in Years 3to 8.

“Deciding on boarding school for our daughter whilst on an overseas military posting was a massive decision for us, and her,  but sending her to The Elms has proven to be the best decision we have ever made. The pastoral care is exemplary, with houseparents, Matrons, Gap Students and even the headmaster and his family all living on site to give care and support 24 hours a day – it really is a home from home environment. The boarders most definitely have plenty of fun and there are not many schools where there is so much on offer out of the classroom, from horse hacks up the Malvern Hills to parading farm animals round the lawn ready to show. They are also extremely focused on stretching the children academically based on their real potential and work hard to prepare them suitably for the various different senior schools that they feed into. The Elms really does offer an exceptional learning experience and we are delighted we made the right decision and are part of the wonderful Elms Family. Great School + Happy Daughter = Happy Parents and a great formula for a successful time at Prep School “

Quote from a military family with a child in Year 7

A fully independent traditional prep school

The Elms is an independent co-educational prep school and we pride ourselves on sending our Year 8 leavers to the best suited senior school for them. We are able to do this as our staff know each individual child exceptionally well and we have excellent relationships with all of the leading senior schools, both locally and nationally. We have no ties to any senior school, so we are able to independently guide our families towards the school where their child would best succeed and flourish.

To view our Leavers’ destinations please visit our Destination Schools and Scholarship pages.

Location and Accessibility

We are surrounded by beautiful countryside and the idyllic Malvern Hills, and the pupils at The Elms enjoy a full, traditional prep school education. The days are long and full but with plenty of breaks in the learning, so the pupils get to roam around our wonderful site, climbing trees. walking staff dogs, playing in the stream, roller skating with their friends and endless (highly competitive) ball games on our extensive sports pitches. The pupils are not allowed screens in their free time. Instead they are encouraged to be outdoors and this allows our children to remain children for as long as possible.

Despite our rural location, we have excellent transport links with Colwall train station being less than 5 minutes away. The M50 is 15 minutes away and we are not far from Bristol and Birmingham airports, so wherever families are stationed we are easily accessible. We have daily return bus routes into school from the surrounding local areas and these can change, according to the needs of our families.

Bursaries

We apply a discount for personnel in HM Forces using CEA to ensure that the parental contribution is only 10% of the school fees for full-time boarders in Years 3 to 8.

For families not entitled to the CEA support, The Elms is delighted to offer bursarial support on a means-tested basis. If you would like further information, please contact the registrar: registrar@elmsschool.co.uk

Children’s Education Advisory Service

The Children’s Education Advisory Service (CEAS) provides information and advice to Forces families and eligible MoD civilians on all aspects of the education of their children in the UK. To enquire by email: RC-DCS-HQ-CEAS@mod.gov.uk

If you would like to request a prospectus or arrange a visit, we would love to hear from you. Please phone (01684) 540344 then Option 2, or email registrar@elmsschool.co.uk