About the School (Ethos and Aims)

The school 'believes that confidence and well-being are essential for pupils’ long-term success.' The school is 'rightly proud of the confident, well-rounded young people the pupils become.' Ofsted Report, June 2018

Founded in 1994 by Nicholas and Alison Alp, the New Forest Small School is a unique, human-scale school for children aged 3 to 16/17. Currently led by the headteacher Alex James (who has worked at the school since 2010) and a Senior Leadership Team (SLT), the school has around 20 staff members, including full time class teachers and part time specialist teachers. We are situated in the heart of The New Forest, surrounded by open forest… ideal for walks, nature study and outdoor play.

After Alison passed away in 2020 and Nicholas passed away in 2025, their daughter Greta has taken on the role of Lead Proprietor. Having attended the school as a pupil from the age of 3-16, she has been working at the school since 2017, teaching PSHE, Psychology, English Literature and History.

We have six classes; a kindergarten, three primary classes and two secondary classes, which are limited to around 12 children to ensure that all pupils receive the attention and support necessary for their personal, social and academic development. Our unique, small classes also allow teachers to work with our pupil's individual needs, providing a broad and accessible language of learning.

We have a school garden/playground, access to the forest from our garden gate and also make use of facilities in the local village for activities such as PE. The school values its place in the local community and students learn how can show respect for our beautiful natural surroundings. We also have a vegetable garden where the children have been involved with sowing, growing, harvesting and (most importantly!) eating the produce. Children attend mostly on a full time basis, although some primary aged children may attend part time on a case by case basis.

We believe that every student has the potential to achieve academically. Through instilling a love for learning and curiosity for what is possible our students are able to achieve academically, with each student being given the opportunity to achieve the best they can in terms of qualifications.

We have a progressive school ethos. One of the most important aspects of this is our human-scale environment, which helps in developing a wonderful sense of community within the school. It is also really important in helping children in the school grow to be considerate, kind, self-confident and expressive young people.

We are non-selective and believe strongly in creating an educational environment which works for as a wide range of children as possible. We value the diversity of our children, teachers and parents and celebrate the uniqueness of each of them. We recognise that individual children need different things and have different skills, interests and attributes. We aim to create an environment that is flexible and adaptive to these differences, rather than simply offering a one-size-fits-all approach. Our school is where their individuality can shine!

We are a secular school with no religious or ideological affiliations. We take a non-judgmental and open-minded view of religions, encouraging tolerance of all beliefs whilst promoting the importance of ‘thinking for yourself’. This attitude of tolerance is a very important part of the school culture and something which is perceptible when you visit the school. We work hard to create a school culture that challenges prejudice and celebrates diversity.

The school aims to create a nourishing environment where children can flourish socially, emotionally and academically. We also aim to foster an environment where children feel positively connected to a community that is bigger than themselves as individuals. We aim to help children discover more about themselves as human beings, grow in confidence socially and achieve the best they can in terms of qualifications during their time at the school.