Farnborough Hill

Farnborough Hill suits a girl who wants to be known by name rather than counted in a crowd, and who will put her hand up for things. It is an independent Catholic day school for girls aged 11 to 18, in its own grounds on Farnborough Road in north Hampshire. Most join in Year 7, with further entry at Year 9 and the Sixth Form. The faith side is practical rather than heavy: a chapel at the centre of the building, used for assemblies and Mass, a chaplain among the pastoral staff, and girls of all faiths and of none taken as they come.

The school opened in 1889 under the Religious of Christian Education and moved in 1927 into the Victorian house it still occupies, built in 1860 for the publisher Thomas Longman and bought in 1880 by the Empress Eugénie, widow of Napoleon III, who lived there until her death in 1920. Her Napoleonic bees survive through the Old House, and the bee is now the school badge; the girls keep a hive of their own. Term time is busy in the plain way of a day school, with a club list from Duke of Edinburgh to drama productions and book clubs.

Parents notice how closely the girls are watched over: four staff the school describes as 'eyes on' each girl, and the same form tutors kept through Years 7 and 8. The head talks about girls who leave with strong, well-informed opinions and a keen sense of justice, which rings true. It suits a girl who wants to be part of things without being the loudest in the room, and who will grow into her own opinions given someone to notice her.