Which of these schools have exceptional pastoral care?

[D3zzle]

Hi all,
I am in Y9 and my mum and I are looking to move me for Y10 starting from Y10 in 2026 and we are looking for a school with exceptional pastoral care and good academics. We also do not mind sending me boarding, so any boarding school that is also good we will happily look at! Which of these following schools would deliver these out of this list:

St Catherine’s Twickenham
Radnor House
Knightsbridge School
Thomas’s College
St Augustine’s Priory Ealing
Kew House School
Kingston Grammar School
Streatham Clapham High School
Queens’s College
Claremount
JAGS
Alleyns
CLGS
St Benedict’s Ealing
St Margaret’s Hampstead
Epsom College
North Bridge House

Year 10 isn’t a normal joining year so I suggest that you find out about likely spaces, doesn’t matter how perfect the school is if they have no spaces. You also need to check the admissions process, schools vary a lot.

Mayfield Girls (East Sussex) is well known for great pastoral care. There is a weekend bus service back to London for boarders.

Unless any of these schools is known for particularly poor pastoral care, I would just visit a few and see how they feel. The culture of the school is so important. It doesn’t matter how good the pastoral care is if the school isn’t a good fit for you. What do you really want from a school? Spoon feeding or more independence when it comes to academics? Art/music provision? Sport? Large or small school?

Quite a few of those schools start GCSE courses in Y9 so you’d need to check that what you’ve been doing up till now will be compatible otherwise you’ll be racing to catch up which will not be fun. The schools you mention cover a huge area - which are closest to you? There’s no point giving yourself a mega-commute and probably passing several very good schools en route.

And single sex or co-ed? St Cats is all girls, and Catholic.

What kind of pastoral care are you looking for that your current school doesn’t have?

you could try looking at Tudor Hall.

This is a bonkers list of schools. What do they have in common that has led you to select them? I kind of think that might tell us what you are looking for!

Moor house in Knightsbridge has great pastoral

Francis Holland SW1 has excellent pastoral care.

It’s interesting how some people say that, in my current school I have seen way too many people in and out at random points in the year, including just now how some has left and someone is going in, I have also seen a few people join in random points in Y10 last year

Thank you! My mum and I will take a look.

We actually saw St Cats and did an exam and interview there etc, it was AWFUL. I think the previous head who just left ruined the school! My current school is fantastic pastorally, but a lot of people are leaving, the school (and my year group) are getting smaller and smaller and downsizing classes because of the lack of people, and the academics (for some of the departments and one of them is a core GCSE subject) are not the best and is shown in our GCSE results.

I do agree it is a long list, I did so much research, we are looking for good academics, good pastoral care, a good range of facilities (as my school is incredibly small and in a very old Victorian building). I don’t mind the size of a school, for example how many students, but I do want more of a range of GCSE options than I have in my current school.

It is too small! And I do know a few people who go there. But it is good to know, as I have a friend moving there for A-Level

Really?

This is true. I am doing very well academically, but I still do need some help. a better range of GCSE options, I do a lot of music. I don’t mind the size of the school but I don’t want it to be too small. My current school has very little sports facilities, so hopefully if I move there will be a bigger range of sports facilities

There is quite a lot of them that are closest to me. I live in SW London (in Fulham). Thanks for the tip on catch up, I guess it is something to consider.

It's isn't bonkers because it's a long list. It's bonkers because these schools differ really widely in their selectiveness. How clever are you? What kind of school are you in now? What did you get in your SATs assuming you took them?

Yes. For complicated reasons (lots of dc, expat experience and vocational schools) I was at 10 school gates!
FH was the best for pastoral and value adding. I know several of the other schools and they coasted on their neurotic intake.

No to st cats. We have experience of it. You can PM for more details of youlike.
Lord Wandsworth is great at pastoral if you want to board
Sir William Perkins in chertsey
Epsom if you want to board
Radnor good pastorally
clarement - very mixed reports . You either love it or have it
KGS - unlikely to have a place for year 10
Kew house - very urban school. I know 4 who left due to bullying not dealt with by the school

Seriously impressed by St. Swithuns! Weekly boarding with bus service. Psychologist on staff and councillors to chat with any time.

If you live in Fulham you can discount quite a lot of these schools like Claremont as they are too far. You only have 5 terms of teaching and for the 6th term you need to be there on time at the start of the day for GCSEs. 5 terms isn’t a lot of time to make the most of extra curricular and pastoral care. You might want to focus more on the 6th form provision and the GCSEs needed to be able to stay on. You don’t want to start looking for a 6th form at the end of year 10. As said before the more academic schools are reluctant to take anyone in year 10 who won’t achieve amazing GCSEs as they can’t risk having their results dropped etc.

Hi there, well firstly good for you for exploring your options! Appreciate you’re based in the Fulham area currently. and you’re looking for a school which is supportive and caring, and will help you to achieve your full potential academically, musically and within the arts/drama. This is not easy! 🙃but there are options…

Would you consider boarding in Cambridge?

If yes then happy to offer advice via DM. But first enjoy your holiday!

What pastoral needs to you require? All schools are different so will excel pastorally differently as well.

Lord Wandsworth College is a bit further out but might suit. Or Gordon’s school.

Have you looked up the schools ISi reports?

That’s a really varied list of schools so it depends what you’re looking for.

however, I used to work at Queen’s College and can tell you that the pastoral care is the best I’ve seen across the many schools I’ve worked at.

FH I don’t know the school but I do know the head, and I would therefore not send my own child there.

I can only speak from an Ealing point of view. Dodge Kew House. I know of several children who left as it didn’t offer much outside the academics, in terms of pastoral support. Quite an international cohort so a transient school population.

St Augustine’s is good. Very forward thinking in terms of equipping young women for the 21st century, and I know several young women who are alumni and are doing really well. Does the setting need to be Catholic? Have you looked at Notting Hill and Ealing Girls School? Very good reputation in terms of results and alumni. Not sure about their pastoral care though. Lots of opportunities though as it is part of the GDST group of schools.

I know plenty of children and young adults who go to or went to St Benedict’s. It has an awful past reputation but in recent decades has become very well regarded academically and pastorally. They have extensive facilities and others have told me that despite it being quite large now, they still feel supported as parents and they feel like their children are given all the support they need to succeed.

Neither schools offer boarding but are a reasonable commute on the District Line from Fulham to Ealing Broadway.