Port Regis is highly regarded for its academic, sporting and extra-curricular successes, and these are clearly important aspects of what the school sets out to do. However, none of these could be achieved without happy and well-motivated children, and for Benedict Dunhill (Port Regis’ headmaster), this is the most fundamental aspect of the education the school provides. The school is extremely proud of its 100% Common Entrance success record and the high number of scholarships and awards won to senior schools every year.

However, on top of this academic success, the school aims to equip its children not only with these good grades and important academic skills, but also with qualities of character to see them through their lives beyond school. The school’s most significant goal is that Port Regis children should learn how to acquire a perspective on life, allowing them to feel at ease with themselves, their fellows, their teachers and their families. It focuses in particular on five values: hospitality, perseverance, reconciliation, generosity and respect. These values for life are put at the heart of everything that the school does.

Port Regis is located in 150 acres of magnificent parkland in the stunning Dorset countryside; a beautiful campus with superior buildings which are second to none in the prep school world. Extensive ancient woodland with nature trails sits alongside formal and kitchen gardens, lawns, several ponds and a lake, so that the children can enjoy the space and freedom of the grounds. There are also 35 acres of games pitches, a nine-hole (18 tees) golf course, hockey pitch (Astroturf), hard tennis and netball courts, a 25m indoor swimming pool, a rifle range and an indoor sports complex, which includes two sports halls. These outstanding facilities enable the school to find an interest for every child, and the school day allows plenty of opportunities for these to be pursued.

The school’s enviable campus attracts the best teaching staff from all over the country, encompassing the entire spectrum, from the wise and experienced to the newly qualified, each with their own teaching style. All children can find teachers in the school who make them tick, and they will come across them in the classroom, in hobbies or on the gamesfield. Children who join between the ages of three and nine are looked after by their form teacher. Once they join the C form (Year 6), children choose, with guidance, a member of staff to be their personal tutor. The tutor’s role is to encourage and assist his or her tutees in all aspects of school life so that parents can be confident that there is a dedicated adult who takes a personal interest in their child’s wellbeing at all times. The tutor is readily available to talk to parents about any matter, pastoral or academic. This system is closely modelled on a senior school system and is rare in prep schools, but the school believes it is the key to the happiness of the child and the success of the pastoral care at Port Regis.

The high standard of boarding provision is an impressively strong feature of the school, which explains why well over two thirds of the boys and girls choose to board (awarded ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted following their recent boarding inspection). Benedict and his wife, Elizabeth Dunhill, welcome visitors to the school at any time and very much enjoy showing parents around the school.