THE HEADMASTER of Mount House Preparatory School, Tavistock, Charles Price, has announced that he will retire in August 2002.

He will be 60 that month. The announcement has been made early to allow time to find a successor and manage the transition. Mr Price has written to the parents of the 250 pupils to let them know his intention.

He has been the head at Mount House, in Princetown Road, since 1984. Previously he was second master at Cheam school, Newbury, Berkshire.

Of the country's 600 prep schools, only 19 now have 100 or more boarders.

Mr Price said this decline was brought about by the recession and a current of hostility towards boarding.

'We board from seven and the children find it a very friendly place. They soon get over the shock of leaving home and most have boarded before they leave,' he said.

He has presided over two big changes, the admission of girls and the setting up of the pre-prep, both in 1995.

'A lot of parents wanted their sons and daughters to go to the same prep school,' he said.

'Families with only sons supported the change. It was just moving with the times.'

There are now 50 girls in the school and it has been found that boys are doing better in class.

The pre-prep school is said to have been a success, with 60 children and a long waiting list.

'The attraction has been the small class sizes,' said Mr Price.

Despite these revolutions, he insisted it was still a 'traditional' school, maintaining a school uniform and a code of good manners.

Mount House has 60 children aged three to six in its pre-prep and 190 aged six to 13 in its prep school.

It was founded in Plymouth in 1881, moved to Mount House in 1941 and became an educational trust in 1972.

Many of the children go on to public schools such as Sherborne and King's College, Taunton. Notable old boys include Lord (David) Owen and Paul Tyler MP.

Mr Price is the fifth head. He expects to retire to Dorset, where he and his wife Sue — the school's clothing shop manager — both come from.

He said he would be sorry to leave.

The bursar, John Anderson-Bickley, said: 'One of his Mr Price's main achievements has been to keep the school going through good times and bad, particularly through the recession of the 1990s.'

The school will advertise for a successor in March, interview candidates in May and make an appointment around the end of June.

Mount House, which has an annual boarding fee of £10,000, prides itself on being the last traditional boarding preparatory school in the South-West.