Claremont Fan Court School A GSG School

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All-through school (for example 3-18 years). - An all-through school covers junior and senior education. It may start at 3 or 4, or later, and continue through to 16 or 18. Some all-through schools set exams at 11 or 13 that pupils must pass to move on.

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What The Good Schools Guide says

Headmaster

Since 2021, William Brierly BSc PGCE, previously head of the senior school for three years and before that senior deputy head of King’s College School, Wimbledon, where he himself was educated. Read politics and economics at the University of Southampton, then joined the Boots graduate trainee scheme. After two years he had a rethink and decided to become a teacher. He planned to teach early years children but opted for a PGCE in secondary education at UCL Institute of Education. ‘It’s funny to think that now I’m a whole school head, responsible for children aged 2 to 18,’ he says. ‘I’ve gone full circle.’

After teaching experience at Coombe Girls’ School in New Malden during his PGCE, his first job was at Whitgift School, where he taught economics and business and progressed to head of department. He got into politics at the same time and was elected as a councillor for the London Borough of Merton, becoming chair of the planning committee and cabinet member for traffic and planning. He toyed with standing as a Conservative MP but decided against it, then spent 11 years at King’s College, Wimbledon, as head of sixth form, academic deputy and senior deputy head. He worked closely with Andrew Halls, who was head of King’s for 14 years and is now a governor at Claremont.

Energetic, focused and ambitious for the school, he hasn’t rested on his laurels and school numbers have increased by 40 per cent since his arrival. The senior school alone has grown from 476 pupils to 800, the sixth form has doubled in size and, like many schools, there’s now a vertical tutoring system in years 7 to 11. The school is far more academic these days although the head describes it as ‘gently selective’. ‘It occupies the sensible middle ground,’ he says. ‘I don’t want to be a hothouse but a school that isn’t helping students to fulfil their potential isn’t doing its job.’ His aim is for the school to offer breadth of opportunity for all. ‘It allows you to be yourself and it makes for a kinder school,’ he says. ‘You might not be a person who’s brilliant at differentiation but you might go off and win a BAFTA.’

Parents we spoke to were largely supportive of the changes he’s made and said he’s maintained the best things about the school while raising its game academically. ‘He is very approachable and very visible – a gentle character who has taken a very sensible approach, with a lot of emphasis on wellness and having conversations,’ said one. A few parents say the school has got a bit too big but accept that it’s impossible to please everyone.

The head and his wife Clare met as teenagers and when we visited she was about to join Claremont as a humanities teacher. They have four children – two at university, two at Claremont. In his spare time he enjoys current affairs, running and has done six marathons.

From September 2024, Matthew Jelley BA PGCE (head of junior school), previously deputy head of Holme Grange School. Educated at Bablake School and the University of East Anglia, where he read English and American literature. He also has a master’s in educational leadership from the University of Buckingham. He originally hoped to become a professional footballer and was offered a trial at Norwich City FC but injury put paid to his soccer ambitions. ‘The dice was rolled and something else happened,’ he says. First teaching post was at Hampton School, where he was a secondary English teacher and football coach, followed by The Perse School, where he was head of lower school and deputy head of the prep. He then moved to St Edmund’s Canterbury, where he was head of the junior school. Married to Felicia, with three children, he enjoys running, watching football, reading, theatre and film.

Entrance

Pre-nursery and nursery children are invited to a short ‘stay and play’ session while reception children and above spend the morning with pupils of the same age and complete ‘gentle tasks’ in line with age-related expectations. Assessment mornings for years 3 to 6 involve maths and English assessments, plus a creative writing activity.

Main entry point into the senior school is year 7 (70 places offered to external candidates, alongside 55 moving up from the junior school). Applicants take papers in comprehension, creative writing, maths and non-verbal reasoning. Around 25 to 30 a year join the sixth form; they need an average GCSE score of 6 across at least eight subjects, plus high grades in their chosen A levels (7s in maths, physics, chemistry and biology and 9 in further maths).

Exit

Most junior pupils head to the senior school at 11. A handful don’t, mainly for financial reasons, relocation or because they want single-sex education at senior level. Junior school pupils were awarded 16 scholarships to the senior school in 2024.

At 18, around 70 per cent progress to Russell Group universities, including Exeter, Durham and King’s College London. None to Oxbridge in the last couple of years but when we visited plenty were planning to apply. One medic in 2024, and one overseas to Webber International University. A few do degree apprenticeships.

Latest results

In 2024, 53 per cent 9-7 at GCSE; 43 per cent A*/A at A level (83 per cent A*/B).

Teaching and learning

Thirty subjects on offer at A level, including film studies, media studies, PE, psychology and sociology, plus level 3 diplomas in criminology and food science and nutrition. Maths is the most popular A level, with three or four classes per year group.

The new Joyce Grenfell Programme, named after the celebrated actress, entertainer and writer, who was a pupil at the school, gives sixth formers the chance to take qualifications outside their A levels. A third do the EPQ, while others choose qualifications in sports coaching, teaching English as a foreign language, financial services or public speaking. Careers support offered through PSHEE lessons and sixth formers have regular one-to-one meetings with the higher education coordinator.

Most pupils take 10 GCSEs but a few do nine or 11. Around half take separate sciences and half do combined science, all taught in an ultra-modern science and technology building. French, Spanish, German and Latin offered but languages aren’t compulsory at GCSE.

Class sizes of up to 21 but typically 14 at GCSE and 12 or fewer in the sixth form. We visited in the run-up to exam time and joined a very studious year 7 maths class who were working out common denominators and a group of year 12 maths A level students studying momentum, so focused that they barely noticed we were there. Well-stocked library in the main building is open from 8am till 6pm.

The junior school comprises two parts – Fan Court for pre-nursery to year 2 and Stable Court for year 3 to year 6, each with their own separate buildings. Speech-focused techniques help the youngest children to express themselves and judging by our lively chat with a group of year 3s to 6s in the library they’ve got plenty to say. Specialist teachers for languages, music and PE in the junior school.

Learning support and SEN

SEN department is housed in the wellbeing hub adjoining the former gardeners’ cottage, originally designed by Sir John Vanbrugh. Twelve per cent of junior pupils and 13 per cent of senior pupils are on the SEN register, for needs such as dyslexia, ADHD and ASD. Others seek help with organisation, managing their time and socialising. With its vast campus and uneven terrain, this isn’t the ideal site for wheelchairs but wheelchair users have attended the school in the past.

As well as offering support in class, small groups and one-to-one, the SEN team – four in the junior school and six in the senior school – runs a plethora of clubs, including a support for learning club, gardening club for children who prefer quiet activities at break and lunch and Friday fun club. Subject support clinics offered for all year groups in the senior school. The junior school has its own wellbeing hub in a trendy-looking pod staffed by two emotional literacy support staff, where children can pop in for a chat and quiet play. The youngest pupils talk freely about their feelings and put stickers on a wall chart to express whether they are happy or sad, angry or calm. Lots of happy stickers when we visited.

The arts and extracurricular

Endless opportunities to perform – recent productions include the junior school’s Peter Pan, sixth form charity panto and the senior school’s Matilda involving 73 pupils on the stage and 10 backstage. A talented pupil who played Matilda recently starred as Elsa in Frozen in London’s West End. Performances take place in the Joyce Grenfell Centre, which has two drama studios as well as a theatre. An array of musical ensembles to join – orchestra, brass ensemble, jazz ensemble, musicals club and senior choir – plus a new music centre underway.

Creativity abounds in the art and DT departments. We admired two sixth formers’ ingenious DT creations – one a bike sensor that detects if cars are getting too close and the other a beach trolley that doubles as a seat. Textiles is thriving, with 19 GCSE students this year and six at A level. They’re encouraged to let their imaginations run riot (not literally), whether it’s cottagecore designs or denim and studs. A number go on to study fashion and textiles and former pupil Freddy Coombs recently launched his own fashion design label. Art is even more popular, with three art rooms and pupils heading off to study everything from fine art to animation at universities like Bath, Brighton, Bristol, Edinburgh and Nottingham. Junior school art is inspiring and imaginative – we joined a year 5 art class where children were learning about the Aztecs, busily making Aztec sun stones out of clay and then painting them.

The whole school bustles with clubs – from mindful art to poetry by heart in the senior school and from coding to Harry Potter club in the junior school. DofE and the Peter Jones Foundation’s Tycoon Enterprise Club on offer too. ‘There’s loads to do here,’ said one boy. ‘You never get bored.’ Youngsters are encouraged to come up with their own ideas – an enterprising group of year 8s had just set up their own rock band and were rehearsing R U Mine by the Arctic Monkeys at top volume in the historic Great Room. Similarly, a year 11 pupil organised a space design team to compete in a global challenge and had been selected to compete at NASA. ‘Can I come in your suitcase?’ quipped a younger boy.

With so much space (even the youngest pupils have 14 acres of their own, complete with a bird hide, outdoor canopy, vegetable garden and mud kitchen), children play outside virtually every day. The prep school has a walled garden and pond for outdoor learning (from creating art sculptures to doing science experiments). Pupils often see red kites flying overhead and eagerly try and spot the ‘Claremont big five’ – roe deer, badgers, foxes, squirrels and rabbits. Forest school for the youngest children, who were out in puddle suits and wellies looking for bugs, leaf bashing, whittling wood and swinging in hammocks.

Lots of volunteering. As well as listening to younger pupils reading and helping out in the pre-prep, sixth formers choose two charities to support each year and lead fundraising events, one of which involved hardy pupils doing a sleep-out on a chilly February night to raise money for a homelessness charity. The school celebrated its centenary by supporting five local charities, with £60,000 raised so far.

Sport

With such extensive grounds there are football, rugby and lacrosse pitches galore, plus tennis courts, netball courts, cricket field, athletics facilities, swimming pool and a sports hall and gym. Core competitive sports are lacrosse and netball for girls and rugby and football for boys, plus cricket, tennis, athletics and cross-country for both. Other sports available through the co-curricular programme, including girls’ football, gymnastics, archery, fencing and badminton. A host of fixtures against other schools and notable successes in lacrosse and gymnastics. When we visited the under-15 lacrosse team had just come second in the national championships.

Ethos and heritage

The school site is stunning – 100 acres of parkland designed by Capability Brown, with a Grade I 18th century Palladian mansion at its heart. ‘When it snows it looks like Narnia,’ said one pupil, while another told us: ‘It’s such a beautiful school. Just walking though the site makes me smile.’ Its history dates back to Clear View School, which opened in West Norwood for the daughters of Christian Scientists in 1922, then moved to Clear View House on Norwood Hill a few months later. When the current head joined Claremont all the governors were Christian Scientists but now there are just two and he stresses that Claremont isn’t a faith school – it welcomes pupils of all faiths and none.

By 1928 the school had outgrown the Norwood Hill property and bought Claremont House on the outskirts of Esher, along with 34 acres. It formally opened as Claremont School in 1931. When war broke out in 1939 the school moved to Llandrindod Wells for six years while Claremont House was leased to the Hawker Siddeley Aviation Company under the leadership of Sir Sidney Camm. In 1978, Claremont merged with Fan Court, a boys’ prep school, to form a co-ed school for 3 to 18-year-olds, becoming Claremont Fan Court School.

Claremont House itself was built in 1770 for Robert Clive, also known as Clive of India. The original house on the estate had been designed, built and lived in by Sir John Vanbrugh 50 years earlier but Clive considered it old-fashioned and built a new one. After his death it passed to Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold of the Belgians. The then Princess Victoria visited many times (she even celebrated her 21st birthday there) and continued her interest in it throughout her life. ‘It’s cool having history lessons in Queen Victoria’s bedroom,’ a pupil told us. The house (known as ‘the mansion’) is immersed in history – pupils are fascinated to hear that the head’s study was once Prince Leopold’s bedroom and that the lift in the main building is one of the oldest working lifts in western Europe.

Pastoral care, inclusivity and discipline

Six houses in the senior school and all year 7 to 11 pupils are assigned to a vertical tutor group, usually keeping the same tutor all the way through. Sixth formers have the same tutor in years 12 and 13. Staff say vertical tutoring offers opportunities for older pupils to mentor and lead younger ones and that pupils and parents ‘have bought into it’. Some parents aren’t so keen, although they admit the younger children love getting the chance to talk to the older ones. A variety of house competitions – all the usual, plus doodling, egg rolling, bake-off and trampolining.

There’s still plenty of scope for year groups to get together – in lessons, clubs and sport obviously but in whole group assemblies and celebrations. Tutors are youngsters’ first port of call if they have a problem but there are also heads of house, a newly appointed director of pupil welfare, counsellors who visit four times a week and the pupil support hub, where the medical team, SEN department and counsellors are based. Like all schools, Claremont is seeing issues around anxiety, self-esteem and self-confidence but the school offers a host of ways to decompress – through mindfulness (a history teacher is a qualified practitioner), gardening and helping out in the forest school. ‘We are supporting families and guiding families on an ongoing basis,’ says the deputy head pastoral.

The school emphasises the importance of character, inclusivity and kindness and the youngsters we met were charming, keen to quiz us on why we were there and eager to talk about the support they get. ‘The pastoral system has got even better,’ said one girl. ‘The teachers notice everything.’ Another told us: ‘They are very friendly and approachable. I have real respect for them.’ A year 7 boy put it in a nutshell. ‘There’s a good balance between letting us be ourselves and keeping us in order,’ he said. A range of opportunities for pupil voice at the school council – recent triumphs include youngsters being able to wear their hair down (apart from in science, games and drama) and wearing PE kit when they’ve got sports lessons coming up.

Smart uniform worn by all but sixth formers wear ‘business attire’. Year 12s and 13s have their own swish sixth form centre, with cubby holes for studying, long conference tables, sofas and an area where they can make coffee and toast. Phones must be kept at the bottom of pupils’ bags up to year 11 and not used during the day (they’re confiscated if they’re spotted). The whole community – pupils past and present, parents, staff and governors – gets together for a gala day every summer (last year it featured a Ferris wheel, fairground rides, food vans and music).

Pupils and parents

The school is almost 50:50 boys and girls and the head says it ‘bangs the drum for co-ed’. Pupils come from far and wide across Surrey and south-west London – from Earlsfield, Putney, Teddington, Twickenham, Wimbledon, Woking and more. Many travel by car, public bus and train to nearby Claygate but the school runs a network of buses for year 3 pupils and above.

Parent body is ‘diverse’ – everyone from builders to bankers. ‘There are a handful of super-wealthy families but most are people like us who are making sacrifices and just about affording it,’ a mother told us. ‘My son’s friendship group is very nice and down-to-earth. They’re very polite and they open doors.’ Former pupils include TV presenter Michaela Strachan, broadcaster Alice Arnold, classical musician Sarah Willis and actor Lewis Cornay.

Money matters

Scholarships of up to £1,000 of tuition fees per annum offered to pupils entering year 3, year 7, year 9 and year 12. Some means-tested bursaries, subject to availability, including at least one 100 per cent bursary offered every year to a year 7 pupil applying from a state school.

The last word

A friendly school in a breathtaking setting that’s grown in size and popularity. It offers myriad opportunities and a first-class education while allowing children to have fun, be themselves and fulfil their potential, be it academic, sporting or creative.

Special Education Needs

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