Lockers Park School

Lockers Park School is a preparatory boarding school for boys. Located in the city of Hemel Hempstead, county Hertfordshire. It takes 1 hour by car to London.

Lockers Park is one of the oldest preparatory schools in the UK. It was founded in 1874 specifically to prepare boys for admission to the famous Rugby School. Now graduates are entering the most prestigious schools in the UK, including the famous Eaton College.

The goal of the school is to instil in children a love of knowledge, to create a safe and friendly environment that will contribute to the development of children.

The school has about 170 students.

There are many arguments in favour of a separate training for boys:

• Boys by nature are more mobile and active, and for normal development they need a lot of movement, sports and outdoor games.
• Boys have slightly different criteria for success than girls (not obedience, but leadership, not “smoothing sharp edges,” but impudence, etc.).
• Boys need a competitive environment for self-expression and active development.

Boys from childhood learn to easily cope with "non-male work" and become self-sufficient and independent.

DIRECTOR (stand 2023)

Gavin Taylor, education - Magdalen College.

FAMOUS SCHOOL GRADUATES:

• Lewis Mountbatten, last British governor in India
• Tom Mitford, aristocrat, member of the famous British family
• Prince Moritz Battenberg
• Basil Hamilton Temple-Blackwood, politician
• Guy Burges, Scout
• Mansour Ali Khan, captain of the Indian cricket team
• Sir Keith Joseph, politician
• James Lees-Milne, historian of architecture
• Paul Shannon, politician
• Saif Ali Khan, Indian actor
• John Dermot Campbell, politician
• Robert Henriks, writer
• Edward James, poet
• Peter Watson, collector and philanthropist

KEY FACTORS

• Small classes - an average of 12 people.
• The goal of the school is to educate motivated, loving children.
• Excellent sports training in football, rugby and cricket. Classes are led by professional trainers.
• Great opportunities for serious art classes: music, theatre, design and technology.

EQUIPMENT

The school has excellent sports equipment, sports fields occupy 23 acres of land. There is a spacious gym, an outdoor heated pool, 5 tennis courts, a croquet field, 2 squash courts, a shooting range.

PROGRAM

The program is in line with the British National Curriculum. However, each department of the school adapts the program to the individual needs of students.

All basic subjects are studied. The task of the school during this period is to discover the student's propensity for certain disciplines. To do this, classes are organized with a more in-depth study of subjects.

The success of children is constantly monitored. Parents receive a report on the child's performance 4 times per semester.

ACCOMMODATION

Accommodation in a residence on the school grounds. Children live in very comfortable homes with a homely atmosphere. The houses have a comfortable TV lounge where the boys can relax and socialize.

SPORT

Sport is an important part of school life. Sports activities develop self-confidence, increase self-esteem and enhance team spirit and a sense of community. Boys take part in sports every day. Many students represent the school at local competitions, and some even at the national level.

The main sports at the school are football, rugby and cricket. In addition to these three sports, students can practice jujitsu, basketball, badminton, running, golf, hockey, shooting, squash, tennis and more.

A weekly trip to the local club, where children go skiing and snowboarding. Trips to ski resorts are regularly held in Europe. Once every two years, boys travel to South Africa for an international cricket tournament - an unforgettable experience for young people!

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

Music is an important part of the learning process. 9 out of 10 boys learn to play a musical instrument, and many even two and three! Children play in the orchestra and sing in the choir. Lockers Park has a very strong choir that performs at schools and beyond, on music venues in London, and also goes on tour abroad.

Throughout the year, there are many musical school events in which the boys take part. The culmination of musical life is an annual summer concert, which takes place in the school director’s garden. This is a great experience for boys to build self-confidence.

Art classes are held as part of the curriculum, and as additional classes of choice. Available to children: painting, sculpture, ceramics, woodwork, computer graphics. School exhibitions of students' works are regularly held.

Theatrical skill is very popular among boys. At least three school productions take place throughout the year. Many students take LAMDA exams (London Academy of Music and Theatre Arts).

Design and technology are a popular subject among students. Children learn to create practical products that solve people's real problems. This requires creativity and imagination, as well as strong theoretical knowledge. In the classroom, mathematics, science, art, engineering and computer science are studied. Each item uses a variety of materials and technologies. This is the most practical subject that allows boys to feel like people who are actively involved in changing the world.

ENTERTAINMENT ACTIVITIES

An activity program is organized for children on weekends, so that the boys can relax and try new exciting activities. Team games, barbecue, ice skating is held. Children play table tennis, build huts, play mini-golf, and swim in the outdoor pool.

COST, 2023-2024

£10,270 per semester.
There are 3 semesters in the school year.

Included in cost

• Teaching
• Accommodation and meals

Extra paid

• Registration fee - £150
• Deposit - £2,000
• Individual music tuition - £305 per semester
• Theatre classes - £160 per semester
• Flights
• Transfers to / from the airport
• Visa
• Services of the company "Paradise"
• Guardianship (as required by British law)

SERVICES OF THE EDUCATIONAL COMPANY INCLUDE

• Selection of 5-6 schools that best meet the individual characteristics of the child, further goals, talents, with the desired environment. Help in the correct interpretation of school ratings, an explanation of why the school occupies one place or another. Help in obtaining reliable information about schools that are not included in the ratings, with an explanation of the reasons for non-participation in it.
• Admission to 1-3 schools, selected from the proposed. Which includes the preparation of the necessary documents, school reports, characteristics, recommendations. Selection and submission of tests to prepare the student for exam testing, assistance in preparing essays. Preparation for an interview with the teacher / principal, registration for the exam. The necessary list of recommendations when attending school for passing entrance examinations. Correspondence with the school (not all schools enter into correspondence with foreign parents, treat them with caution, trust only a trusted agent).
• Assistance in paying registration fees, deposits, bills. Clarification of school rules, including disciplinary and legal aspects.
• Filling out the required medical forms.
• Selection of guardians required by UK law.

Student supervision during the first month of training is provided as a gift: assistance in resolving issues related to resettlement, billing, informing parents about the child’s health status, assistance with understanding of academic programs, organization of ext. classes for the child in a particular subject, help in choosing the program most suitable for the child, transfer to another class, etc. etc.

Impressions from a school visit

Natasha Strein
Founder of ‘’Paradise’’

25 minutes by train from London - and here we are among the fields and groves, at the Lockers Park school mansion. Boys of 7-12 years old dressed in ammunition frolic on grass: waving cricket bats. A 9-year-old boy escorts us to the reception: they gave him this important assignment :) Three employees joyfully hold out their hands to me and the mother of one of the potential students who arrived with me. They are glad to see us wholeheartedly. The boy is greatly thanked and praised in every way for the accomplished mission. This attitude makes him feel proud, self-esteem and develops self-confidence. Little Boys - and this is a school for 150 boys 7-12 years old - adults here respect as much as themselves.

The director is a graduate of the Oundle School and the University of Cambridge. British boarding schools attract talent, because cadres decide everything. He knows all the children by name and which school each of them is preparing for. (At 13 years old, they will enrol each in their own senior school, senior school).

We drink tea in a cosy English living room and listen, as if enchanted, to his passionate speeches about school. “We want the boys here to be themselves. To do what they like, to follow their passions. So that they feel their own value, learn not to lose heart, losing, and not get conceited, winning. We use every opportunity for everyone to speak from the stage, whether it be a report, a rhetorical contest, a story about their religion or playing a musical instrument. It is important for us that they are not afraid to perform in public. Freed from fears. " Ask psychotherapists - all these qualities are crucial for a happy existence. Often, parents curl their lips: “so what, I’ve unlearned in the West, and where is the huge salary and cool work?” But success is not only work. The main criterion in life is the ability to live in harmony with oneself, to know what you want, to be able to cope with internal tantrums, not to lose heart. And this is taught at school. After all, we know many financially successful and completely unhappy people.

"And why a school for boys? Where are the girls?" “So that boys aged 7-12 can open up. Girls become mature, sensible by the age of 10-11, while boys need at least a couple more years to grow to their level. Girls are bored in lessons with boys, they pull them back the captain of our football team sings in the choir, but in a co-educational school this could not have happened, it would have seemed "not cool" ...
The school library plays a huge role in school life. Boys read every day for 30 minutes without fail. “At least half of them did not want to read when they came to school, so we have to force them. And over time, reading becomes a familiar, integral part of life.” But what about iPhones?! Issued for 1 hour a day, call parents. Do you want to call earlier? No question, come and call with the hostess sister. Yes, they have no time to hang in iPhones.

We observe how small children in plaid shirts puff out, sticking out their tongues, plotting intently, creating a golf cart design, on which they will later drive on races, creating it with their own hands! At school, the dress code: they wear shirts in a cage or stripes, the uneven colouring gives the children a sense of individuality. They are moulded from clay. Create sculptures. Carpentry. It is important for boys to twirl something, to feel in their hands. Through debate, children learn to argue in a civilized manner, to question and interpret other people's opinions, to reason and analyse. Through the lessons of theatrical art, complexes are gradually overcome, they learn to be relaxed when hundreds of eyes are riveted to you. They are ready for the spotlights already at 12!

On the wall, or rather, on the camps of honour, are the names of the heads of schools (the Head is selected each year from the children by the children themselves!), Captains of the football, rugby and cricket teams, fellows. Everyone wants to get on the wall! Their achievements - big and small - are always appreciated by a huge amount of rewards. And their misconduct is punished. Without yelling and cruelty. For example, a child writes, like Harry Potter, several pages of the same sentence. In the lessons of technological design, children not only work with a jigsaw, but also with a 3D printer and various machines, the purpose of which I, the earthling, is not known. This is how creativity develops. And the need to describe each step of the process and make calculations and drawings is an awareness of one's own activities.

The dining room is cosy. At each table, there is one adult. He is not there for discipline, but for maintaining conversation and teaching table manners. Eating is a social act, and children from an early age learn to engage in small talk.

We humans always feel the atmosphere of a place. Energy. Depressing and heavy, relaxing and warm. In this small mansion I wanted to become a kid and get hooked on these rosy-cheeked, calm, fearless guys. It is SAFE here. My mother, who came with me from Russia, is sad, thinking about missed opportunities. About what we did not have and will no longer be. But there is still a chance to give it to children. I share with her the views of a number of Russian parents: they say that children in boarding houses have no childhood. “Children in Russia don’t have a childhood!” She exclaims passionately. “People don’t understand, and they won’t understand until they come here themselves. This is not just another system, it is a different galaxy!"