Prior Park College

Prior Park is an independent Catholic co-educational school for eleven to eighteen, day and boarding, set in a beautiful fifty-seven acre site above Bath. Ralph Allen built the mansion at its centre in the 1730s and 1740s, and said he wanted it 'To see all Bath, and for all Bath to see'. Year 7 arrivals are called Lower 3 and are based in two houses of their own, with their own outdoor space.

The famous Palladian bridge in the valley below is not the school's. That belongs to the National Trust, and it is one of only four in the world. The school occupies the house above it however, listed at the highest grade, which has burned twice and was restored in the 1990s. Bishop Baines bought the estate in 1829 and opened the school in 1830. It has been under lay management since 1981 and co-educational since 1983.

Entry at eleven is a forty-five minute on-line test, fifty minutes of creative writing, a group problem-solving session with sixth formers on hand, and an interview. The school's own line is that 'no preparation is needed, and all candidates start on an equal footing'. It has been phone-free since 2023, with handsets given to tutors at the start of the day. The register records the school as Roman Catholic, and its admissions policy says it welcomes families of all faiths and none, with no faith requirement. One parent told the Good Schools Guide, 'I wanted my child to thrive, not be pushed, and it really does make a huge effort to get them excited about learning.' It suits a child who needs a school to take an interest in them.