The Knightsbridge School

[absolutelyabsolutely]

I have heard this school needs to improve its' academic standards in the higher years. What does anybody know about this relatively new school? I have been to visit and the place is wonderful, but what about results??

Have you looked at the list of senior schools the leavers go to?

That is the best indication of a (prep) schools academic standards.

Thanks. Although it's a new school (2006) so no established track record yet for children who have been all the way up the school.

It is very new. To some degree I guess you could look at Garden House Boys, which is where Magoo Giles, the head, came from. Is all to prove at the moment, and of course when building a school there sometimes needs to be more flexibility on admissions, so output levels may start off below where the school ultimately aims for. Magoo however had a strong personal following so the school took off more quickly than it might otherwise have done.

It is tricky - all you have to go on are any inspections, what the schools says about any criticisms, your gut reaction to the staff, how engaged the children look etc.

The school as certainly quite quickly settled into the chelsea-area scene. Saw a few of the boys at the Westminster entry exams, which is comforting.

Magoo Giles is extraordinary. Met him for 10 minutes, certainly a likeable people's person. I am sure his infectious personality permeates through the school in a positive way. Thanks.

The Knigtsbridge isn't really all that new, it's at least 4 years old and by now some of their girls at the very least should have done 11+, it's odd that they don't publish their leavers destinations like other competitive London schools imho, looks like a fun school though.

Garden House only went to 8 and then moved to 11 a few years ago, just around the time MG left to set up this school. Therefore he has no experience of the 13+ process and is learning on the job. That's fine if you trust him but with so many other schools in the vicinity with a track record of 13+ ( which is quite stressful, let's face it), why would you risk it? Maybe that's why the leavers destinations at the top end aren't published?

Starting with the positives, the school building is beautiful and spacious and they offer the opportunity to study a variety of modern languages. Knightsbridge school is funded by 3 City financiers and the Headmaster is an ex-Army Captain. However, I do agree with the not-so-glowing Ofsted reports of this school, that the quality of teaching in some classes is unsatisfactory. The pupils did not appear to be disciplined by their teachers, some children were fighting with each other, were not engaged in purposeful activities during the classes and none of the pupils replied to us saying Good Morning to them. I asked the school registrar to send me the records of the numbers of pupils moving on to various senior schools and she was not pleasant... reluctantly she agreed to send me this information but has not done so ! We have registered our child at another school with a more established academic record and run by teachers. Something did not feel right at all about Knightsbridge school...

Starting with the positives, the school building is beautiful and spacious and they offer the opportunity to study a variety of modern languages. Knightsbridge school was founded as reently as 2006 by 3 City financiers and the Headmaster is an ex-Army Captain. However, I do agree with the not-so-glowing Ofsted reports of this school, that the quality of teaching in some classes is unsatisfactory. The pupils did not appear to be disciplined by their teachers, some children were fighting with each other, were not engaged in purposeful activities during the classes and none of the pupils replied to us saying Good Morning to them. I asked the school registrar to send me the records of the numbers of pupils moving on to various senior schools and she was not pleasant... reluctantly she agreed to send me this information but has not done so ! We have registered our child at another school with a more established academic record and run by teachers. Something did not feel right at all about Knightsbridge school...

Starting with the positives, the school building is beautiful and spacious and they offer the opportunity to study a variety of modern languages. Knightsbridge school was founded as recently as 2006 by 3 City financiers and the Headmaster is an ex-Army Captain. However, I do agree with the not-so-glowing Ofsted reports of this school, that the quality of teaching in some classes is unsatisfactory. The pupils did not appear to be disciplined by their teachers, some children were fighting with each other, were not engaged in purposeful activities during the classes and none of the pupils replied to us saying Good Morning to them. I asked the school registrar to send me the records of the numbers of pupils moving on to various senior schools and she was not pleasant... reluctantly she agreed to send me this information but has not done so ! We have registered our child at another school with a more established academic record and run by teachers. Something did not feel right at all about Knightsbridge school...

Knightsbridge school also seems to have "branches" in Bogota, Colombia and Panama

Private-for-profit schools in an international network are the new goût du jour. My DD's school was purchased by a Spanish group a couple of years ago. The transition to new management is slow, with the former owner-manager only just retiring now, so we have yet to see what sort of strategy the new shareholders and their new salaried manager bring.

I think that layers of senior management are not necessarily useful.

Couldn't disagree more with purplefairy about Knightsbridge - I have 3 at the school (junior and senior) and they are thriving. Staff are extraordinary, atmosphere is wonderful and results are good - scholarships to top London day schools announced this term at 8+ and 13+. Inspiring head and team of teachers. Academics good and AEN dept great. Children interested and polite. Surprised to read purplefairy's experience. I can't fault the place except lack for lack of outdoor space but it's central London. And btw registrar is lovely!

Yes, this school does need to improve greatly academically. The head, Magoo, appears to be pleasant but has no idea of how to actually run a school. The teachers are great but the school needs to step up to current market.

Well the school employs Robin Badham-Thornhill. He was Head at Lambrook and then at Summer Fields. Loads of 13+ experience.

After many visits to many schools in the area, Knightsbridge school was by far my top choice. It drew me in despite some friends advising me to go to more ‘traditional’ schools. Delighted to say my kids now go there (for the past 3 years) and we are very happy with the school. The positive atmosphere resonates throughout the school and the children get a wonderful education. Academics are very good and teachers are young, yes, but they are engaging, inspiring, enthusiastic & approachable. My kids (who have VERY different personalities) quite simply love the school. Despite some of the comments here, the school is in high demand so obviously it impresses more than a few. Parents are also allowed to be very involved via the PA which is amazing. Many of the parents come from very strong academic backgrounds themselves and are happy with the schools academics but note that KS is an ‘all round’ education so if it’s just an academic hothouse you want maybe go somewhere else. Personally I think that there is more to education and KS really is about an all round education. The school is very international and less steeped in tradition than other schools in the area which sometimes do things ‘because they have been always done that way’.