The New Forest Small School

The New Forest Small School was first established in 1994 as the New Forest Montessori Pre-school, for children between the ages of 2 to 4 years. Founded by Nicholas and Alison Alp, the school initially opened as a very small school with just 5 pupils! The school was full within the first year and has remained so ever since.

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The original ethos of the school was based upon the Montessori method of education, within a small-scale framework. Over time this has evolved to incorporate other educational influences, such as Reggio Emilia and Rudolf Steiner. As the school developed its own particular philosophy the name Montessori was dropped, although we continue to use many of the materials devised by Maria Montessori, particularly in Kindergarten.

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Although the school began as a pre-school, so many parents began to request that their children stay on with us after they turned 4, that within 3 years, half the school’s intake was of infant school age (4 – 7 years old). As the parents of those children approaching 8 years old wanted a primary class for their children, we decided to open one. This new class opened in January 2002. In September 2003 we opened a secondary class for children aged between 11 and 14 and in October 2008 a new space was created for the secondary class.

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In January 2012 we finally realised our dream of moving into our own school building and thus began a new and exciting chapter in the history of The New Forest Small School!

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We have been in our permanent location since 2012, converting a quirky victorian police station built in 1857 into an alternative school for the 21st century! We love some of the unique features our school retains (how many other schools have three listed police cells as part of their facilities?!) and, especially, our wonderful location in the heart of the New Forest National Park, with direct access to the forest from our garden gate.

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The school has continued to grow, with us usually hosting around 70 pupils, from age 3 up to 16/17 and around 20 permanent members of staff. However, the school has managed to retain the relaxed, familial and joyful feeling which was the intention of the original founders back in 1994 (something commented on by many visitors to the school!).