Armed Forces Families

Fees for children of serving personnel in receipt of CEA

In our commitment to supporting the education of serving personnel, Aldro is proudly a '10%' school'. Eligible Military families in receipt of the Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) for their full boarding children will pay 10% of the full boarding fee in addition to the CEA allowance. Aldro's full boarding fee is therefore currently £1,500 per term (+CEA). Further details can be found below.

Day children of serving personnel are granted a 20% reduction in fees.

Fees & Bursaries

For further questions about fees and the Admissions process, please contact Mrs Tanya Richards at Admissions@aldro.org or 01483 813 535.

For further information about our Admissions process:

Admissions Process

A Personal welcome from the Head

I had only just turned eight when I was first dropped off by my parents to board at my own prep school. In all my recollections of that first day, the most prominent is the gift of a travel Connect 4 that my parents gave to me as they left, a simple game that to this day has deep associations for me with my feelings of the time. Although it was hard to say goodbye for the first time, it was only years later that I came to realise how much harder still it had been for my mother to say goodbye to me; we understand these are big decisions for parents.

In my final year at prep school, my parents were stationed 8,000 miles away. No mobile phones then, of course, just the ‘bluey’, which could take up to two weeks to reach them by means of the twice-weekly ‘Go-Zomie Bird’ out of RAF Brize Norton. That same 18-hour flight also carried me, as an unaccompanied minor, at the end of each term to join my family overseas. I know what it is like to live far from home at a young age.

As I look back at those precious early days at my own prep school, it is above all the nurture and encouragement I received, that I realise has so much to do with my current role as Head at Aldro. If, in some way, Aldro can give to our young boarders something of the warmth and welcome I experienced back then, I will draw a sense of deep personal pride in knowing that we are honouring the legacy of a caring school that supported me so richly in those early, formative years.

Thank you for considering Aldro for your children. Should you decide to entrust them to our care, it will not only be our privilege, but mine personally, to look after them for as long as they are with us.

Chris Carlier

Home from Home

We want all of our boarders to feel that Aldro is a homely, happy, stable and fun place to be. Our amazing boarding team work incredibly hard to ensure that every child is carefully supported in their transition to the school and given a high level of pastoral care, from little touches like making a favourite banana milkshake to a special spray of lavender on the pillow to help sweet dreams. We strive for an outstanding, home-from-home experience, with first class pastoral care, individualised support, and a strong sense of communication and partnership between home and the boarding team. We want every child to feel the warmth of the Aldro community from the moment they step into school.

A carousel of fun activities

A big part of delivering a brilliant boarding experience, is focusing on the fun of being with your friends. Every term, the boarding team create an enviable carousel of themed activities such as mid-week, ‘Wacky Wednesdays’, in addition to exciting excursions to roller discos, pool parties, slip and slide and wide games with s’mores on the bonfire. We are fortunate to have wonderful grounds and resources at our fingertips too, and there aren’t many prep schools whose boarders can spend summer evenings boating on their own lake!

At the weekend, trips are planned to theme parks, the beach, go-karting and even a trip to Twickenham to watch England play rugby. It’s non-stop fun and adventure. Inter-school fixtures take place on Saturday mornings and an extensive boarders programme starts at lunchtime, with fun activities alongside trips with a cultural focus every weekend.

Joining our boarding community

The boarding community at Aldro is busy and thriving and we run waiting lists on some nights for part-time boarders. We offer full, weekly and part-time boarding options that are designed to suit different family needs. We also run ‘Big Boarding Weekends’ when specific year groups can experience a super-charged, fun, boarding weekend together.

Find out more about Boarding at Aldro:

Boarding at Aldro

Our Boarding values

As a prep school, our job is to prepare our pupils for the next stage. A large part of that preparation is to make sure that pupils learn to reflect our school values of Kindness, Respect, Integrity, Humility and Service. These values are always evident in our boarding home and help to foster relationships between boarders, as well as between children and adults.

Transition to senior school

As an independent prep school, we pride ourselves in the quality of advice we provide to our parents regarding future school choices, as we help to inform decisions regarding the best fit senior school for each child. We enjoy strong relationships with over 60 senior schools.

Most of our boarders will stay at Aldro until the end of Year 8. A handful of children will leave at the end of Year 6 to attend local day schools. We are often told that Aldro boarders are easily recognised at their senior schools by their maturity and self-confidence and we regularly hear great reports of their future success.

Where to find us

Aldro is located in the beautiful village of Shackleford, less than 10 minutes drive to Godalming and 15 minutes drive to Guildford. Trains regularly depart to central London from both Godalming and Guildford and journey times from Guildford are typically 35 - 40 minutes to London Waterloo.

We are also fortunate to be close to both London Heathrow airport (40 minutes drive) and London Gatwick airport (55 minutes drive).

Helpfully, we are also within easy reach of Aldershot (20 minutes drive), Andover (55 minutes drive) and Bulford (65 minutes drive).

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