Tatler UK - 10.2019

88 Tatler School Guide 2020

PHOTOGRAPHS: SAM PEAT PHOTOGRAPHY; ANDREW MALTZOFF

ST JAMES PREP

SCHOOL 

Earsby Street, W14 8SH

Website stjamesprep.org.uk

Head Catherine Thomlinson

Pupils 250 day: 110 boys, 140 girls

Ages 3–11 Term fees £5,970

‘Every week at St James is

wellbeing week,’ says the school –

and it shows. With stillness,

mindfulness, Sanskrit lessons,

vegetarian food to lower blood

sugar levels and a pupil-led Save

our Planet initiative all part of the

broad, varied experience, it’s no

wonder the children here are so

happy. A nursery school has just

opened, meaning that students

can stay in the St James family all

the way from Reception to the

age of 18 (pupils at the prep

school gain automatic entry to

the senior schools). Those who

decide to fly the nest go on to big

hitters such as Godolphin &

Latymer, Putney High School,

St Paul’s Girls’ and Westminster

Cathedral Choir School. The

school offers a myriad of extracur-

ricular activities, including forest

school and robotics, as well as the

ever-popular school trips to Durham

and the New Forest – all enjoyed

with big smiles, of course.

ST PAUL’S

JUNIORS 

Lonsdale Road, SW13 9JT

Website stpaulsschool.org.uk

Head Maxine Shaw Pupils 486 day

boys Ages 7–13 Term fees £6,904

Schooled on the same 45-acre

site as the seniors, the boys at

St Paul’s Juniors have an enviable

array of facilities at their finger-

tips and, wow, do they make the

most of them. Under the watch-

ful eye of pastorally focused Head

Maxine Shaw, every boy is given

his chance to shine and student

wellbeing is paramount – Shaw is

aware that these formative years

are precious and she wants them

to be fun. As one parent reports,

‘there are teams from A to H in

sports and everyone gets a speak-

ing role in the year group plays’. It

would be disingenuous not to de-

scribe St Paul’s Juniors as highly

THOMAS’S BATTERSEA

ST PHILIP’S

SCHOOL

LONDON

PREP

Otto the retriever greets boys at St Philip’s

School, which feels like a ‘combination

of a family home and the Tardis’

academic, but that’s not to say it’s

a hothouse. The boys here are

naturally bright and scholarly

and, with the school removing all

effort and attainment statements,

the pressure is taken off. Entry is

famously competitive (with 10

applicants for every space at 8+)

but, as one parent notes, ‘auto-

matic entry to the senior school is

an enormous plus’.

ST PHILIP’S

SCHOOL 

6 Wetherby Place, SW7 4NE

Website stpschool.co.uk Head

Alexander Wulffen-Thomas

Pupils 100 day boys Faith RC

Ages 7–13 Term fees £5,600

Otto the golden retriever greets

pupils as they enter this Catholic

boys’ prep by Gloucester Road,

which, according to one reviewer,

feels like a ‘combination of a fam-

ily home and the Tardis’. The

boys here aren’t ‘super-charged’

and Head Alexander Wulffen-

Thomas – who has even designed

an app to help parents make their

senior school choices – attests

that ‘it is about education in the

fullest sense of the word’. Hockey

is very popular – the First XI have

been undefeated for two years –

and everyone who wanted to be

was involved in the recent pro-

duction of Aladdin. Lincoln’s Inn

Debating Society heads up two

clubs; meanwhile, the annual

conker competition remains

fiercely competitive. The roster of

destinations is most impressive,

including Westminster, Ample-

forth and Charterhouse, with

plenty of scholarships being won.

SUSSEX HOUSE

SCHOOL 

68 Cadogan Square,

SW1X 0EA

Website sussexhouseschool.co.uk

Head Nicholas Kaye

Pupils 182 day boys Faith C of E

Ages 8–13 Term fees £7,335

Sussex House, tucked (most con-

veniently) away behind Sloane

Square, describes itself as a ‘grown-

up school’ – there’s no dumbing

down or patronising the SH boys,

who learn at Victorian-style desks

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