WHAT? WHERE?

Fairstead House is a co-ed day school and nursery for children aged 1 to 11 years in the centre of Newmarket, Suffolk that was founded in 1950. There’s no question you’re in the famous horse racing town – the school is on the corner of Bury Road and Fordham Road, right next to The Gallops with the lovely sight of racehorses regularly trotting past the front gates.

With capacity for 140 pupils, it’s a small and nurturing school where every teacher knows every child, every pupil knows every other pupil (regardless of what year they’re in) and the Parents Association is extremely active. Class sizes are bijou – up to 20 children in each. All children also belong to one of three Houses named after the first Heads of the school, and within their House they are allocated a ‘family’, which has a member from each year group to further encourage students to mix outside their form. If it’s a cosy, friendly, family feel you’re after from a prep school, that also delivers academically and when it comes to co-curricular activities, you’ll love it here.

The buildings are a mixture of traditional residential and purpose-built structures, with the older children occupying the smaller classrooms in the original house and the youngest children given more space to move around in the larger modern rooms. This is a school where kids spend a lot of time out of their seats, exploring outside or learning through role play.

While the footprint of Fairstead House is undeniably small, the school uses the spaces it has inventively and outsources where necessary. Every inch of wall, ceiling space and even some windows are covered in colourful and vibrant artwork and displays, which gives the school a magical, playful and coherent feel throughout.

pupils of Faistead school jumping in winter

In 2022, Fairstead House became part of The King’s Ely Family of Schools and now has strong links with this all-through school in Ely. While Fairstead still retains its autonomy and identity, the partnership means there’s a clear pathway for students, for whom King’s Ely is the right choice of Senior School, making the transition from Year 6 to 7. They enjoy a special early assessment day (a test which they have to pass) with teachers from King’s Ely getting to know the children at Fairstead House before they make the move.

SPORT

There’s more space in this school than you’d initially think from the gated roadside entrance, but Fairstead House’s suburban setting means there aren’t acres of grounds or school fields to be found within. The outside space that the school does have is used well though and has recently been updated to include a large area of smart astroturf beside the nursery for PE, games, play time and after school clubs. The parking area out the front is often transformed to host events such as sports day for the nursery or special events (when I visited it was about to be used as a street party venue for the King’s Coronation). The large school dining room also doubles up as space for indoor PE and gymnastics, with retractable climbing apparatus along one wall.

Sport is a big part of life at Fairstead House and there are specialist coaches for a wide range of games including rugby, football, netball, hockey, rounders, athletics, cross country, tennis and cricket. The size of the student cohort means there are a lot of chances for every child to represent the school competitively. Regular fixtures are arranged with other prep schools in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk for Under 9s and Under 11s. House matches also take place each term for all year groups in football, rugby, netball, hockey, cricket and rounders.

The school makes the most of surrounding facilities too. Swimming takes place at a leisure centre down the road (weekly for children in Years 3 and 4), and sports fields are used in nearby Chippenham, Exning and Burwell. The school’s recent Sports Day took place at Newmarket Rugby Club. Plus, with its new links to King’s Ely, the Fairstead House children also have access to the amazing sports fields and facilities on offer a short minibus ride away.

CREATIVE ARTS

The creative arts are really strong here, especially music and drama. The Performing Arts Centre is amazingly well kitted out with everything from African drums to ukuleles lining the walls, as well as a lighting and audio rig, so kids can be introduced to the production side of the subject too.

performing arts centre at fairstead house

All pupils from Yearlings (age 2) to Year 6 have two music lessons a week, which is double most schools, and just over 75% of pupils from Year 1 up learn an instrument or take vocal studies, which is well above average. Pupils from Year 1 to Year 6 have a double year group class drama lesson each week too. Children from across the school regularly practise and perform together as part of the school orchestra, Chamber and Christmas Choirs, and Junior Choir.

Mrs Warburton, the Director of Music and Performing Arts, is clearly much-loved by the children and is very passionate about her subject, making sure every child has a chance to shine. With formal and informal performances taking place every term, you’ll get plenty of opportunities to see your kids tread the boards here.

The highlight of the school year is the KS2 school musical production. Recent performances have included extremely professional looking versions of Matilda, Annie Jr., and Peter Pan, with next year’s hotly anticipated Lion King sure to be a roaring success too. There are also plays performed throughout the year, and the school is active in the community, singing at local care homes, as well as at local fundraising events.

No surprise then that individual drama lessons (for kids in Reception and above) are popular here, with many resulting in LAMDA exams. Got a budding Harold Pinter or Laura Wade in your midst? In 2021, the Year 5s and 6s collaborated to write their own comical play – Nativity Goes Wrong, so all areas of drama craft are covered and encouraged here.

classroom full of art — Art as part of topic work hanging in a form classroom

When it comes to Art and DT, class teachers do an amazing job of incorporating these subjects into topic work. Every classroom is decked out in stunning displays of artwork, showcasing a broad range of subjects including history, languages, maths and phonics. A dedicated Art Classroom is planned from September 2023 to further enhance this already impressive aspect of the school curriculum.

OTHER FACILITIES

There’s a separate science lab in the main building, which I was impressed to see in a school this size. There’s no library currently, although there are plans afoot to create one in the coming months. It feels like the sort of school where you’d be encouraged to snuggle up in a corner with a good book, so this will be a very welcome addition. On the ground floor there’s a private SEN office, where children can have one-to-one or small group sessions led by the SENCO or qualified teaching assistants.

LITTLIES

two small children dressed as king and queen on thrones

The purpose-built nursery at Fairstead House opened in 2017 and is rated Outstanding by Ofsted. Unlike a lot of schools where the nursery is separate, Fairstead House has placed the youngest pupils right at the heart of the school with a good-sized gated playground that allows them to interact with older kids, but still be contained and safe.

The Fairstead experience can start early – with a room for babies from 12 months and separate neat and bright spaces for each of the different age groups (Foals, Yearlings, Ponies 1 and Ponies 2). It’s a popular nursery with parents keen to leave their bundles of joy in such a nurturing and family-orientated environment.

The nursery runs all year round from 7.30am to 6.00pm and children from Yearlings up really benefit from being part of the school with specialist lessons in Music, PE, Mandarin and Spanish!

ACADEMICS

Fairstead House isn’t selective, but new joiners are invited for a taster day that includes some form of assessment. The academic results here are solid and most children get their first choice of secondary school, which includes leading Cambridge independents such as The Perse, Stephen Perse Foundation, St Mary’s, King’s Ely, and Culford in Suffolk. Each year there’s a smattering of scholarships awarded too. While there is no formal streaming in subjects, the school does have an extension programme to provide challenge and stimulation for academically gifted students.

PASTORAL CARE

This is a huge selling point for Fairstead House. What it lacks in acreage it more than makes up for when it comes to its pastoral offering. The staff to pupil ratio is excellent, so no child ever goes unnoticed and there’s plenty of time and resource spent ensuring every need is met and each child is supported to reach their potential.

The school has a specialist wellbeing lead, Mrs Varma, for the children to speak to at any point, and the children are placed into small forms with a form teacher to look after their day-to-day pastoral needs. In the pre-prep each class also has a learning support assistant.

There’s a big emphasis on kindness and collaboration here and achievements both in and outside school are celebrated. There’s a weekly Celebration Assembly where children are awarded school certificates to celebrate core values such as effort, success, achievement and participation.

THE HEAD

Michael Radford joined Fairstead House in 2011 as Deputy Head and took over as Head in May 2022 after a stint as Acting Head for the school. Friendly, personable and down-to-earth, he’s popular with both kids and parents (although he freely admits he’s still trying to win over the toddlers in the youngest rooms of the nursery!). He’s very keen on making sure children remain children for longer and encouraging them to be imaginative and confident in their own skin – so he’s a brilliant fit for the school.

In his short time in the hot seat, he’s already successfully led the school through the aftermath of the pandemic as well as the merger with King’s Ely. He is also passionate about enriching learning through days out and residentials, and letting the children make memories outside the school grounds, so the Fairstead children enjoy a packed calendar of school trips.

He’s got plenty of ideas for the school in the pipeline, including expanding the nursery, opening a library and grander plans to extend the site and facilities in the longer term.

QUIRKS

The Parents’ Association is extremely active here. The family-friendly vibe extends to the parent-staff relationship and the PA regularly host well-attended events such as Easter egg hunts, trips out for the children, and seasonal parties, including an annual Summer Ball and the popular inflatable Summer Bounce which takes place after Sports Day! Parents are regularly invited into the school buildings as part of Careers Week, Science Week and for book sharing afternoons.

WRAPAROUND CARE

Working parents rejoice, because the wraparound care at Fairstead House is excellent. Breakfast Club starts at 7:30am with normal school drop off at 8:20am, while After School Care runs up until 6.00pm and costs just £9.75 with tea. There’s also holiday club to help ease the pressure of the long weeks of school holidays. There are plenty of co-curricular clubs on offer after school too, including yoga, football, archery, cross stitch, Go Noodle, puzzles and games, Lego, dance, cricket, multisports, creativity, drawing and mindfulness.

SEND

There’s a full-time SENDCO for one-to-one sessions at Fairstead House as well as SEN-qualified teaching assistants.

TRANSPORT

Most children arrive at Fairstead House by car where there’s a streamlined system in place for staff to meet children at the car, so there’s no need to find a parking space. The only difficulties arise when the racehorses decide to walk past the gates, bringing the whole of Newmarket to a temporary standstill!

The school also has minibuses that operate locally and from September 2023 there will be a minibus route to and from King’s Ely for any families with children at both King’s Ely and Fairstead House.

FEES

As expected for a school of this nature and offering. Reception, Years 1 and 2 cost £3,970 per term and Years 3 – 6 cost £4,425 per term.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

You’d be hard pressed to find a school with a happier, more family-centric vibe, where kids of all ages mix seamlessly and get along so beautifully. One parent describes the school as “idyllic” and as providing “a little bit of magic”, and, after my visit, I can see where they’re coming from. It’s the sort of place that I imagine the alumni rave about when they think back to their time there and where wonderful memories are made.

Fairstead House is extremely nurturing, and by praising and celebrating the kids’ achievements, encouraging every child to get stuck in and giving them a voice, pupils come out the other side confident and comfortable in their skin without tipping over into being precocious.

Good for: Children (and parents) who want to feel like part of a family, who would benefit from lots of interaction with staff and who believe that strong pastoral care and a nurturing environment leads to academic success. If you want your child to have exposure to every opportunity going, this is the place to be – the number of children means everyone is valuable when it comes to sport and performances.

Not for: Parents looking for lots of shiny on-site facilities and acres of grounds and playing fields. Competitive children might find Fairstead House too small to live out their first team sporting dreams.

Dare to disagree? As well as official Open Days in the autumn and summer terms, Fairstead House operates an “every day is an open day” policy. Contact the school office to arrange a tour. For more information on admissions click here.

Fairstead House School, Fordham Road, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 7AA. 01638 662318

Fairstead House School and Nursery, Newmarket

You may also like