Diversity amongst staff in London’s independent Prep schools

[Ladybirdlondon]

Hi, can anyone tell me which of London’s independent Prep schools are truly, or at least, the most, racially and ethnically diverse among their teaching staff? There was a post from a couple of years ago, with people talking about the problem in the pipeline - which is not the subject of this post tbh. Simply, in 2025, which of our capital city’s independent Prep schools’ teaching staff, let alone leadership and management, are truly ethnically diverse and representative of their pupils?

I’m sorry, but why would that be a problem? I come from the ethnic/racial minority background with a child in private secondary in Central Londin. My only concern would always be the quality of teaching and how comfortable / nurtured my child would be in the school.

It’s actually very beneficial for anyone, specifically a child, to see representation of themself in an environment. There is perhaps no greater place than a learning environment. It would have an effect on one’s self-perception, confidence and aspiration levels, to name but a few benefits.

I agree, so diversity among peers is probably more beneficial?

Some schools have photos of staff on their website, which gives you some idea although you can't tell from appearances, eg they could look all white but be from a range of countries, or they could be all from the UK, eg

www.lyceumschool.co.uk/staff/#grid-3043-senior-staff

https://cavendishschool.co.uk/about-us/people/

https://www.channing.co.uk/about-us/governors-staff/

Teaching is a fairly middle class white profession though so even in the state sector the staff body will reflect that. To compare a few state primary schools, they will mostly have white teaching staff, eg

https://www.broomwoodprimary.co.uk/page/?title=Teaching+Staff&pid=69

https://www.stpaulsp.kingston.sch.uk/Meet-our-Staff/

Not many Asian or black teachers (although there are some) but not many from the those demographics go into teaching as far as I am aware. Therefore, most are white.

All but one is white in ours - north london

I suspect most of them are white.

Well, I suppose it depends where in London you are for what you mean by representative.

I’d decide which you’re interested in (are you looking for maximum diversity, or percentage splits representative of overall racial diversity in UK, in their local borough, within 30 minutes’ travel, of their student body) and then ask them.