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Our View of Claremont Fan Court
The whole child is the focus at this Surrey day school where dedicated staff perfectly choreograph pupils’ educational journeys, right down to the squeals of delight radiating from the playground at lunchtimes. Head Matthew Jelley arrived as the pre-prep and prep merged into a junior school, aligning itself even more closely with Claremont Fan Court senior where the warm environment and empowering ethos continue seamlessly. It’s no wonder families in Surrey and south-west London are lining up for the nursery to A-levels one-stop education.
Where?
The 100-acre grounds (designed by Capability Brown, no less) are magnificent with manicured gardens, woods and parkland. It feels more like a country boarding school and it’s hard to believe you’re so close to the M25, never mind London. An 18th-century Palladian mansion sits splendidly at the centre, with a breathtaking Georgian interior that houses a number of senior-school classrooms and offices.
The lower years and nursery are located in a collection of low-slung wooden buildings nestling in a site set away from the main school with its own playground and wooded area. The older years are on the other side of the grounds in the beautifully renovated Stable Court, a listed, U-shaped building with high ceilings, spacious classrooms and a dedicated science lab and art room. There’s a magical walled garden for activities, including den building, and pupils also share outdoor space with the senior school, with playtimes cleverly scheduled so the younger ones have exclusive use. Children come from all over south-west London and Surrey, and from Year 3, pupils can make use of the brilliantly run, comprehensive bus network. There is also a school bus to and from Claygate station which is on the Waterloo-Guildford line.
Head
Matthew Jelley took up the junior school headship in September 2024 with, he tells us, an agenda to ‘bring the through-school narrative, a whole school from age two to 18, where families join and stay’. Formerly a secondary school English teacher, he says, ‘The Claremont journey is cohesive. We educate the whole child and find the good in every pupil; we look for the best and try to find it.’ He is ably supported by new head of EYS Emma Field who joined the school in 2025 from a local prep. A teaching head, she takes reception and tells us she can tell which pupils have come from the nursery which, she says, ‘is school-based with very qualified staff who create meaningful activities’.
Admissions
Mr Jelley tells us the junior school has ‘a gently selective admissions process to enable every child to make progress from where they started from’. All 32 nursery pupils routinely move up to reception which leaves just eight places available, so if you have your sights on the school, it’s worth getting your child’s name down early for a reception place. Little ones come in for a stay and play session to assess their social and language skills. The school tells us it’s looking for potential to learn. The majority of pupils move up to Year 3, and there are usually around 10 places available for children not already at the school. Years 4 and 5 welcome more pupils joining from local state schools, some of whom will be siblings of those joining the senior school in Year 7. The growing popularity of the school has meant it has become slightly more selective; prospective pupils are split into groups and observed doing fun activities and they also sit a maths, English and creative writing assessment.
Academics and senior school destinations
A wonderfully symbiotic relationship exists between outdoor and indoor learning in the early years with, for example, children visiting the bird hide to develop their looking, listening and concentration skills. Forest school is no add-on at Claremont; it’s completely integrated into the curriculum with three fully trained staff delivering up-to-the-minute, evidence-based lessons. The three Rs are covered comprehensively, as is ICT with pupils starting computing lessons in nursery; by Year 2 they’re producing their own podcasts. ‘Breadth in the curriculum is important,’ says Mr Jelley. ‘Broader for longer but not at the cost of academic rigour.’ They’ve adapted the senior school’s 10 learning attributes – among them oracy, curiosity, collaboration and connecting – by partnering each with a soft toy, and have adopted the KAGAN structure of teaching with pupils learning in teams of four, working together and supporting each other. ‘The classroom has become more dynamic; the child is more responsible for their own learning,’ Mr Jelley tells us. Older pupils work towards the school’s own Claremont Prep School Portfolio, which blends academics and co-curricular and sees pupils collecting badges in six disciplines: outdoor and active, academic, world and culture, the arts, science and tech, and citizenship. Graduation is in Year 6 and the coloured badges are proudly displayed on blazers.
From Year 3, there is streaming in maths and other subjects depending on the cohort. Each child is encouraged to aim high, and all abilities are catered for, from the gifted to those who need extra support. Languages, games, music and technology are all taught by specialist teachers. Most pupils seamlessly move from the junior to the senior school, a smooth journey which is increasingly popular with families.
Co-curricular
Timetabled games means that children play all the traditional sports, including lacrosse which is a big thing at the senior school. Gymnastics is taken seriously too and the prep and pre-prep each have their own halls. The pre-prep also has an outdoor pool which is used during the summer and early autumn, weather permitting. The prep has access to the senior-school facilities including its outdoor pool.
Creativity is valued and the art room in Stable Court is fabulous, with lots of different media for children to experiment with and a dedicated specialist teacher; we were impressed by the work on display. Music, also taught by a specialist teacher, is timetabled twice a week from nursery and there are also lots of individual lessons. Concerts and assemblies see even the youngest children performing in front of an audience, something the school is keen to encourage as a way of instilling self-confidence, and if pupils get to a certain level of proficiency, they can join in with the senior school music groups. Weekly drama lessons start in Year 3 and all the pupils take part in English Speaking Board exams in Year 6. There are performances in Years 4 and 6, with everyone on stage for the latter.
Clubs have had a recent overhaul, with input from working parents leading to wraparound care being extended from 7:45am to 6pm. Chess, board games, Harry Potter and food trading card clubs are all popular, and the free, after-school ‘prep and chill’ club where pupils have 30 minutes of supervised prep followed by playtime with their friends is a godsend to parents.
School community
Pastoral care is assiduous and the assistant head pastoral ‘Mr V’ (Vincent) is something of a legend among the children. He knows all the pupils by name and all the children we spoke to told us they feel very supported. There’s a real sense of mutual trust at the school, where pupils feel listened to. The house system starts in the nursery, and within each of the four houses, children also have a house family of mixed year groups. Year 6 house captains are voted termly and there is also an elected school council. Parents are active with a Friends of Claremont association that encompasses the whole school, with reps for each year group.
And finally....
The smooth, all-through educational journey offered by Claremont is hard to beat. From the nursery to the sixth form, there’s a supportive, caring ethos with staff who all believe in and want to discover each child’s potential. This is a school that really invests in every child’s future.