Hill House School London

[Sojourn]

Would love to hear about Hill House Schools academics in Year 5 and up. I am wondering if it’s mostly teaching toward the future entrance exams or is the curriculum robust? Thanks!

The curriculum is robust enough, but the atmosphere between staff in the Senior school (year 7 and 8) is chaotic and toxic. HH has a hard time recruiting new staff and depends on a small number of sports teachers who have been elevated to teach many different subjects without the necessary pedagogical know-how. Their general attitude is that if you don't like it, you can leave, and there will be two other kids to take your space the next day because Knightsbridge is a sought-after area.

I'd say the biggest problem is that you can't really leave the school at that point. 11 plus is in year 6, and if you don't get the school you'd like, your child has to stay year 7 and 8 and you will just have to accept everything the school does and close your eyes, hoping that the 13 plus will give you better results. Meanwhile, because they write a recommendation for the secondary schools, the teachers have an inordinate amount of power, and you have no recourse because - again - you cannot easily leave the school in those last two years. They have been known to write absolutely devastating comments on pupils. It's something you wouldn't quite expect that an adult would do to a child, but then again, it cannot be nice for the teachers to be working in such an atmosphere of chaos, and I can understand why they take revenge in this manner.