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Our View
This wonderfully nurturing all-girls prep that sits on Richmond Hill in a Grade II-listed, crenellated castle is academically rigorous, but not to the exclusion of letting pupils savour childhood, and it delivers a holistic education with excellent pastoral care. In the words of two Year 5 girls: ‘It is a really kind school, the relationships between the year groups are very powerful, and the teachers understand the pupils and take time to help you.’ For local families looking for an exceptional single-sex school for their daughters, Old Vicarage School (OVS) is a sure-fire choice.
Where?
It doesn’t get much dreamier than going to school in a white, fairy-tale castle complete with turrets. Inside are spacious classrooms, a library, dining room and welcoming hall. Outside is a small playground which has a marquee top until summer term so that children can play outside whatever the weather. Beyond the playground are music, drama, art and D&T rooms.
Richmond Park is just at the top of Richmond Hill, with Richmond station a quick 10-minute walk. Lots of pupils are local and walk or scoot to school. School minibuses currently bring in girls from Barnes and Sheen, and there are plans in the pipeline to expand routes to cover Chiswick, Kew, Teddington and Twickenham.
Head
Clare Strickland arrived in April 2023 with a wealth of experience; a history teacher by trade, she has been in education since 1993 and worked everywhere from St George’s School, Ascot, and Millfield to the Dragon School in Oxford where she spent 21 years and was deputy head pastoral. Warm and friendly, she’s easy to talk to and always leaves her study door open. ‘I keep myself very much at the centre of pupils and staff. I want to be a part of the fabric and operation of the building,’ she tells us. Mrs Strickland teaches history to Year 6 and takes tea with a small group every Friday afternoon. She’s passionate about making learning fun for the pupils and building their self-esteem and confidence. ‘I want the girls to come to school to enjoy learning,’ she says.
Admissions
The school is non-selective and the main entry point is at age three into the Little Vic Nursery – most nursery children stay on for Reception and there are between five and 10 places held for non-Little Vic girls. Siblings get priority and after this places are offered according to the date of registration. Occasionally spaces become available in other years and then prospective pupils will spend a morning at the school and sit assessments in maths and English. There is high demand for places and there are waiting lists across most year groups.
Academics and senior school destinations
Class sizes are capped at 15 and all the girls have specialist teachers for French, drama, PE, music and art. From Year 3, they move around the school and have specialist teachers in all subjects. Reasoning lessons start in Year 3, and once they reach Year 5, children are streamed into blue and yellow sets for maths and English according to ability, which come with no stigma. As one Year 5 pupil told us, the setting is for ‘those who get things and those who need more time to learn’. A team of two teachers provide learning support individually and in small groups, both to boost learning and to stretch the academically gifted. Reception also have forest school for a term (it will be two terms next year). All year groups have weekly library lessons.
Pupils are thoroughly prepared for the 11+ and most girls leave for top day schools, including Putney High, Godolphin & Latymer, LEH and Epsom College. Of the 24 current Year 6s, 16 won a scholarship. Once exams are over, a comprehensive post-11+ programme includes a week long Catalyst Programme created by Winchester College, which focuses on technology, philosophy and ethics.
Co-curricular
OVS girls are a sporty lot, with weekly swimming at nearby Pools on the Park from Reception, hockey and football at Barnes Hockey Club, and netball, cricket, tennis and athletics at King George’s Field in Ham. From Year 3, there are fixtures against other London prep schools.
A lovely spacious art room sees pupils getting stuck into everything from painting and embroidery to clay work and D&T. Above the art room is the music room which doubles as a space for drama. Singing is big with a junior and senior choir – the school sings at the O2 Young Voices. Individual instrument lessons are available and there’s an orchestra, which with the choir opens the Richmond May Fair. Drama is weekly (except for Year 5s who concentrate on the 11+), and from nativity plays in the lower school to spring concerts for older pupils, there are plenty of opportunities to perform. The Year 5s and 6s recently put on an evening at the French Café with sketches and singing all performed in French.
Clubs change each term with a huge array of activities on offer, from creative writing, drama, film club and debating to music technology and mixed sports. There is an OVS award for the older girls and the Junior Duke Award is being introduced.
School community
Mrs Strickland is keen to embed wellbeing in everything the school does and pastoral care is comprehensive, with a fantastic communication platform for parents. There is a speech and language therapist on call, and pupils can get elected to be wellbeing ambassadors, with representatives in each year from Year 4. OVS’s values, CARE – curious, ambitious, resilient and empathetic – are at the heart of the school and there’s a real sense of kindness between the year groups; younger girls are assigned buddies three years older than them to do activities with, among them the annual Easter egg hunt and World Book Day.
Parents are active, with a Friends of the Old Vicarage School group (known as FOVS) organising sales and quiz nights. They also organise regular whole-school walks around Richmond Park with prizes for dressing up. Many of the girls' brothers go to nearby Tower House boys’ prep and the two schools have close links, sharing speaker events, quiz nights and fundraisers.
And finally....
The engaging and confident pupils are wonderful adverts for this lovely London girls’ prep. And with fun intertwined with learning, and pastoral care sitting at the centre of everything, this school has clearly got the right recipe for delivering a stellar education.