• Casterton, Sedbergh Preparatory School is adventurous, supportive and keen to develop both self-reliance and all-round confidence. The school is warm, organised and quietly ambitious.

• A compelling option for families who want a broad, outdoorsy day-and-boarding prep with genuine onward opportunity and a more expansive feel than many urban day schools. It is polished, purposeful and reassuringly experienced.

Casterton, Sedbergh Preparatory School's admissions process is polished, flexible and appealing to both day and boarding families who want a substantial rural prep with a senior-school horizon already in view. The overall impression is of a prep that combines warmth at the front door with real confidence about what comes next.

Scholarships are a visible part of the story at Year 7, and the linkage to later Sedbergh reassessment gives the awards culture more substance than a one-off admissions flourish. Families are effectively buying into onward preparation as much as any in-house award culture.

• The school does not publish bursary entry points, so families should ask directly.
• The school does not publish bursary award levels, so families should ask directly.
• Families should contact the school directly to ask whether any bursary, hardship support or discretionary fee assistance is available.

Casterton benefits from the larger Sedbergh family context and publishes admissions and inspection material that make the picture easier to evaluate than at many small boarding preps. In a prep where parents are buying both daily care and future preparation, that public evidence matters.

Assessment at Casterton, Sedbergh Preparatory School is continuous, purposeful and used to judge when children are ready for scholarship routes, Common Entrance style preparation and the broader 13+ question. That should appeal to families who want stretch without a one-size-fits-all feel.