Photo: Kneller Hall
Here at Talk ÍÑ¿ã°É, we are all obsessed with school and education – and incredibly curious about what is new and exciting in the independent schools world. And thanks to our wide network of moles, spies and informers all over the world, we’re constantly amazed at how schools are continually evolving, expanding and surging forward to launch new curriculums, initiatives and state-of-the-art buildings. We’ll be keeping this new feature updated to bring you everything that’s new and exciting in the global independent schools world – so watch this space…
NEW SCHOOL OPENINGS
OPEN NOW
Bruern Abbey Senior School, Buckinghamshire
For parents with boys of prep-school age with learning difficulties,
Bruern Abbey has long been seen as the proverbial knight in shining armour – it expertly provides focused help and specialist teaching. Boys at this Oxfordshire prep are cheered up and given a mighty confidence boost before being put back on track and winning places at top mainstream senior schools. Parents have long clamoured for a senior school, and their prayers have been answered with the opening of Bruern Abbey Senior School this September. ‘We wanted to be able to take families whose understanding of learning difficulties has come at a later stage,’ says headmaster John Floyd.
The senior school will grow organically over the next few years, with ambitions to take a maximum of 120 boys all the way through to GCSEs. Set in a beautiful Georgian manor house in Buckinghamshire, the stunning campus and grounds are akin to the prep original. Pupils will benefit from a curriculum focusing on entrepreneurial skills, while assessments will favour coursework over exams. We love the sound of the ‘Bruern Ignite’ programme of lectures, career talks and workshops, via which pupils will explore career pathways, life skills and university options.
Beech Hall School Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Marketing itself as the very first truly inclusive, non-selective, mainstream international school in Saudi Arabia, Beech Hall School Riyadh is a trailblazer. This September, the school’s prep school opened its doors; next year, it will expand to include a senior school, where pupils will be offered the IB or the American High School Diploma, with most of the teaching taking place in English (with Arabic and Islamic studies included on the timetable).
The school has created its very own curriculum, The Beech Hall School Riyadh Tapestry, which focuses on six key strands, including respect for an entrepreneurial mindset, sustainable thinking and an understanding of digital technology. There’s plenty of group and one-to-one support for SEND learners, with dedicated spaces for occupational therapy, emotional, physical and sensory support –plus an enrichment programme for particularly bright sparks. Light, bright classrooms have been created by a world-class design team to help inspire learning and creativity, and the smart campus includes a new swimming pool. We’ve very excited to watch this pioneering school evolve.
OPENING SEPTEMBER 2023
Kneller Hall, London
Set to open in September 2023, Kneller Hall will offer London families a brand-new co-ed senior school for up to 750 pupils – with ambitions to grow to 1,000. It’s the organic extension of the perennially popular and highly oversubscribed
Radnor House, which is also owned by the Dukes family of schools. Radnor House’s existing Twickenham site will be transformed into a dedicated prep school, in turn expanding its provision to accommodate pupils from Reception. Kneller Hall will become the school’s associated senior school, set on a magnificent site in a knockout location slap bang next to Twickenham Stadium. Home for these lucky pupils will be the stunning Grade II-listed, 19th-century former Ministry of Defence building, which, over the next year, will be transformed into the ultimate state-of-the-art 30-acre campus. Radnor House pupils will also be able to enjoy these new facilities, which are set to include a swimming pool and extensive forest school.
Inclusivity, happiness and exceptional pastoral care sit at the core of Kneller Hall’s philosophy, and this certainly won’t be your typical London hothouse. Sharp-elbowed parents, look away – pupils here will be encouraged to make mistakes and shoot for academic excellence for their own sake, rather than for the benefit of league tables. A real breath of fresh air, and exactly what this pocket of south-west London needs.
London Park School, London
At the heart of Dukes-owned London Park School’s ethos is a forward-thinking curriculum. Eschewing the educational constructs of a previous age, maths lessons will include financial literacy, biology lessons might involve heading out on immersive marine expeditions at sea and pupils will tackle global climate issues on field trips to the Alps. Character education sits centre stage (the Dukes Young Leadership Programme will be an integral part of the curriculum), equipping pupils for life, not just exams. The school aims to be a leader in sustainable education, with even the uniform conforming to strict eco-credentials.
Due to open in September 2023, the school will welcome just 240 pupils, creating a small and tight-knit community where everyone will know and support each other. The location opposite Clapham Common in south-west London is a real boon too – pupils will take full advantage of the green spaces on their doorstep, while being just a hop, skip and a jump from the spoils of central London. Hugely popular head Suzie Longstaff comes on board as principal following a long and incredibly successful tenure at Putney High School, where she was praised for her brilliantly bold approach to education. An exciting opening.
The Lisboan International School, Lisbon
The brainchild of international schools group Artemis ÍÑ¿ã°É, The Lisboan International School will open its doors to pupils aged three to 18 in September 2023. Led by Martin Harris, the former head of Cheam School in Berkshire, this dynamic new school aims to take the best bits of the curricula currently offered in schools, blending them with a forward-thinking, progressive syllabus equipping pupils with the skills they need to thrive in a 21st-century world. Think financial skills, domestic skills, entrepreneurship, self-awareness and much more – effectively, everything you need in life but don’t always find on a school timetable.
Pupils will be able to specialise in specific subject areas beyond the basic syllabus. Technology will be an important learning tool (with AI and VR used in lessons), and junior pupils will study subjects from engineering to robotics. In the sixth form, pupils can pick between A-levels or the IB.
The location is a real plus point too. Just outside the centre of Lisbon, the school is currently being constructed (to strict carbon-neutral guidelines) in a former pasta factory, packed with character and original features. The coast is only 20 minutes away, so sporting options will include surfing, mountain biking and climbing, on top of plenty of team activities.
Copyright 1825 Studio
Officially opened to great fanfare in July 2022, Moulsford – the ultimate muddy-knees, high-energy prep in prime Oxfordshire commuter-belt territory – has just launched its state-of-the-art standalone pre-prep, adding a co-ed nursery and doubling the pre-prep’s capacity. Located just across the road from the main school campus, the building has been meticulously designed to knock other school’s eco-credentials out of the water. Here, solar panels and air-source heat pumps provide underfloor heating, natural ventilation floods through roof turrets and wildflower meadows have been landscaped to provide extensive play areas. This is an opening that has firmly planted this popular prep on the early years map.
Bilton Grange, Warwickshire
The Rugby School Group has just opened its very first nursery, Little Grange, in an idyllic location ringed by parkland and playing fields at the heart of Bilton Grange’s Warwickshire campus. With provision for babies from as young as six months, the nursery comes off the back of Bilton Grange’s hugely popular The Nest (which is open to children from the age of three, and since opening in 2019 has already reached capacity). We can’t wait to see the new building once it’s completed in November – a full refurbishment of existing buildings is under way, with new internal and external spaces in the pipeline.
Horris Hill, Berkshire
Traditionally all-boys Horris Hill has been ringing the changes in recent years. Girls were invited to join the lower school back in 2019 (before peeling off again in Year 3); the school is surging forward with a string of ambitious refurbishment plans; new head Rob Stewart has just arrived from the Oratory Prep School in Reading; and now, an on-site co-ed nursery is set to broaden the school’s appeal even further. Led by the head of the lower school, the new nursery will offer wraparound care for busy parents – and will be open for an impressive 50 weeks of the year.
Dulwich Prep Cranbrook, Kent
The big news at this welcoming Kent prep is the expansion into a senior offering, due to kick off with an initial Year 9 cohort in September 2023. Plans have been carefully pondered for several years and are now officially in full swing, with the school taking time to assess local demand, parental feedback, logistics and a plethora of other considerations. A new head of the senior school has already been appointed, and happily, the transition between the two schools will be smooth – many of the staff currently teaching to CE level are also qualified to teach up to GCSE, giving pupils excellent continuity. There is a significant amount of building work scheduled over the year in preparation for the expansion, and the school hopes to be able to cater for Years 9 to 11 by September 2025.
Bryanston Prep, Dorset
Having been gently brought into the Bryanston fold over the past couple of years, Bryanston Knighton House has, this term, officially been rebranded as Bryanston Prep. The new name gives off a clear message that this is now a seamless, fully all-through educational journey for pupils from the ages of three to 18. There have been plenty of spruce-ups in the prep over the summer too, including a new Innovation Room, refurbished library and dedicated outdoor classroom – plus a new uniform to boot.
SENIOR SCHOOLS
DLD College London, London
We’re big fans of DLD College London, an informal, forward-thinking place that feels dynamic, grown-up and markedly different from most other independent schools. And in September 2023, the school will welcome its first ever Year 9 cohort, extending its current offering to an additional year group. Year 9 pupils will follow a pioneering curriculum focused on preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist, merging traditional subjects with the more unconventional, including NFTs and cryptocurrency. And making full use of central London as a classroom, the school’s Urban School Project will see pupils head into the city, getting stuck into local community projects and developing their search, inquiry and reflection skills.
Benenden School, Kent
Benenden’s much-awaited, multimillion-pound new music school has officially opened, skyrocketing the (already impressive) standard of music here. With such starry new facilities, the school can expect to attract some serious musicians who will flock here for the countless rehearsal rooms, too many pianos to count, specialist soundproofing, 120-seater recital hall (with a very swanky tech suite), and, the pièce de la résistance, the Centenary Hall, one of the finest concert halls in the South East. It seats up to 800 in 20 different configurations, and its modern and dynamic curved structure stands out against the backdrop of the school’s old mansion hall, making quite the impact. We’ve seen it for ourselves – and we’re mightily impressed. The new facilities will be a vital community asset – and headmistress Samantha Price has pledged to offer them up to any local schools that are struggling to offer music to their pupils.