‘Boys are like puppies’ says Head Tom Bunbury. ‘So long as they are fed and exercised then everything falls into place.’ These perky chaps love their football – the 1^st XI had an unbeaten tour to St Lucia, and the U8s trounced their own mothers 14-8 ( we believe the pre-match drinks with the Head proved fatal) . Herpetology Club is a joy and its embroidered reptile tie (snake colours) holds kudos; the name of the school’s American football team is the Papplewick Pythons. Staff are ‘divine if a little eccentric’, says one mother – she means in the best way. Three teachers drove to Mongolia last year to deliver a minibus to an orphanage. Boarding is flexi and there are Wild West-themed sleepovers to ease the little ones in. Leavers head to Eton, Winchester and Harrow.