Giggleswick School

Giggleswick suits a child who is happiest outdoors and who does better when the class is small enough that nobody can hide at the back. It is an independent, co-educational day and boarding school in Giggleswick, just outside Settle in North Yorkshire (BD24 0DE). The senior school takes pupils from 11 to 18, with Year 7 a main entry point; a prep school and pre-school sit alongside it. The campus covers some 215 acres on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, with full, weekly and occasional boarding.

Founded in 1512 by a chantry priest, James Carr, the school moved to its present hillside in 1869. What you notice first is the chapel: a copper-domed landmark given by the landowner Walter Morrison to mark Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, visible for miles across the valley. Giggleswick was the north of England's first co-educational independent school, taking girls from 1975. Daily life is deliberately busy: phones go in during the school day in Years 7 to 11, prep is supervised, and there are more than a hundred clubs. The theatre is named after an old boy, the broadcaster Richard Whiteley, and doubles as a venue for the local town.

The Good Schools Guide describes children who want the outdoors and academic ambition in one place, and one parent told them staff were 'amazing in terms of supporting him pastorally'. The school's own phrasing is plainer: pupils are 'known by name'. It suits a child who would rather be out on the fells than on a bus to somewhere bigger, who needs an adult to notice when something is off, and who will pick up an instrument or a hill walk if someone offers it.