Hurstpierpoint College

Hurstpierpoint College is an independent school offering outstanding day and boarding education for boys and girls aged 4 to 18 years. Set in Sussex countryside just north of the Downs, its 140 campus provides superb academic, sporting and cultural facilities.

The core belief at Hurst is that education is all about pupils’ pursuit and achievement of personal bests - academic, extra-curricular and in their relationships with others. Through this Hurst pupils, properly guided and supported by the school, gain not only the best grades possible but also develop vital life skills, qualities and values.

In practice, this means that every child should have genuine access to all the opportunities at Hurst, whether sporting, creative, activity or community related. Every child has the chance to be in a team, properly coached, and with a good fixture card. The Senior School Choir of some 140 pupils. although not all future opera stars, greatly enjoy their music, learning new skills and developing an interest which will be stay with them for life. Over 20 different theatrical productions a year give every child the invaluable experience of being part of a cast or backstage team, experiencing all that brings. Every pupil in Year 10 tackles the Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award; through this experience they will develop other qualities and skills of immense value today and invaluable in later life.

Alongside this commitment to inclusion and real engagement, Hurst seeks to achieve true excellence. For instance, this year the Chamber Choir of 25 has sung at, amongst other venues, Winchester Cathedral, a large academic cohort are heading off to Oxford and other first rate universities, athletes have competed, not just regionally but also nationally (including a gold medallist at the Independent Schools Ski championships), the outstanding CCF corps numbers over 250, a Young Enterprise team swept the prizes locally and 20 Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award winners are to collect their awards this year at Buckingham Palace.

At the heart of everything that Hurst does is a belief that the pupils’ individual interests and development must come first and that this is more important than any trophy, newspaper headline or public plaudit for the College. Indeed, as a school, Hurst consciously does not place great value on garnering public tributes, preferring that parents and pupils act as its ambassadors.

In short, Hurst wants pupils to leave here aged 18 with the best grades that they can achieve, with a good sense of who they are and what they want from life together with the qualities, skills and values to achieve their goals. It is hoped that they will be decent people who will give to the lives of others. This is what drives education at Hurst and although it may not always seem particularly glamorous or sensational , it is, in Headmaster Tim Manly's view, what every school should be about.

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