Canbury School
A deliberately small school for students aged 11 to 18 years (Years 7 - 13), helping students needing specialist support.
Ideal student
A child who will benefit from a genuinely small, nurturing setting with strong pastoral support and plenty of structure. It particularly suits pupils with mild to moderate additional needs who can cope with a mainstream-style curriculum, but who are likely to find a large secondary school overwhelming.
Main sports
Football, netball, climbing, caving, canoeing and cross-country, with good use made of off-site facilities and nearby outdoor spaces.
Stand-out facilities
A compact but thoughtfully adapted site, with small classrooms, therapy rooms, a wellbeing room and specialist spaces that make the school feel calm and manageable rather than overstimulating.
Saturday school
No.
Did you know?
Canbury occupies what was once the home of Malcolm and Donald Campbell of Bluebird fame. Today, the building could hardly feel more different in character: modest, homely and intentionally low-key, which suits the school’s pastoral ethos well.
Our takeaway
Canbury is a small, sensitive school that does an impressive job of blending academic ambition with emotional support. It looks like a mainstream independent school in many respects, but in practice it offers something much more individualised, with tiny classes, a high level of adult support and a real understanding of anxiety, school avoidance and neurodiversity.
"Here your child is given the time to ‘be’, at their own pace and in a supportive and welcoming environment."
