WHAT? WHERE?

Time for a review update for Walthamstow Hall, an Independent Girls’ Day School educating pupils from 2 to 11 years at the Junior School. Boys are welcome in Nursery and Pre-School, so age 2 – 4. There’s also a Senior School accepting girls from 11 to 18 on a separate site in central Sevenoaks, Kent.

A school with a well-established reputation – it’s 185 years old and one of the oldest girls’ schools in the country and certainly the oldest in Kent. That’s not to say that it’s stuffy or out-dated, far from it – with a state-of-the-art Sixth Form Centre and a real sense of energy and purpose.

FACILITIES

This town-based Senior School – with a total of 400 pupils – sits tidily in at the end of Sevenoaks High Street and next to Knole Park (gorgeous National Trust grounds with a wild deer herd). When you enter the gates you’re greeted with the handsome Victorian Arts and Crafts-inspired main building, (pictured above). The Junior School is just a ten-minute walk away, situated close to Sevenoaks station, very convenient for working parents.

Beyond this original Senior School building, the school is a bit of a Tardis with so much lying beyond, including a Sports Centre and Swimming Pool, the Science Block, new Arts Centre and Ship Theatre.

But what’s really at the beating heart of the school is the new Lang Centre (pictured above and below), a striking purpose-built addition, created for the Sixth Form. The natural flow revolves around this central area as the pupils move between their lessons, which works well.

SPORT

Just outside it there’s a field (pictured above), where the school plays hockey (younger years have fixtures too) and lacrosse (they’re proud of this). I ask if they have to travel quite far for lacrosse matches. Answer: they travel to Benenden, schools in Surrey and, yes, further afield too.

Since my last visit there’s even more sporting activities on offer here – including football, cricket and trampolining. There’s courts for tennis and netball and also a new sports hall (pictured below) so rain needn’t stop play, the large space is also especially popular for badminton.

In fact, badminton is big here and Wally Hall are national champions and have international players in the student body.

And a 25 metre, six-lane, in-door Swimming Pool, thank you very much.

Being so central they may not be surrounded by rolling fields but that doesn’t detract from the offering here. Instead the school makes good use of the great resources at close hand, like Holly Bush All-weather Pitch, in the winter which is next door and lit and dry for evening practise of lacrosse. Running Club takes place in Knole Park, come rain or shine twice a week.

There’s a dance studio (below) where yoga, judo and Taekwondo also take place, a squash court and fitness gym. There’s also a dedicated gymnasium for gymnastics.

MUSIC & DRAMA

The Ship Theatre has a pretty professional set up and is the first port of call for the school’s drama productions. The choir is extremely popular (pictured below). The School’s Main Hall, with larger audience capacity, is used for bigger Music concerts, from formal orchestral pieces to the more informal ‘Wally Pop’ and ‘Wally Stage and Screen’.

Walthamstow Hall Senior School Kent Choir

There is a senior play performed by students from Year 10 – 13 every November and a play for students in Years 8 & 9 every Summer. In 2022 when the seniors performed an adaptation of the novel Coram Boy, the book’s author, Jamila Gavin, actually came to see the 2022 Walthamstow Hall production.

She praised it as being: ‘Passionate, robust, wonderfully directed, and with ‘superb music’…’as good a production of Coram Boy as she had ever seen.’ High praise indeed, especially considering the play made its debut at the National Theatre!

Walthamstow Hall Senior School Kent Coram Boy production

As well as Coram Boy, senior plays have included – Peter Pan (2023), The Sound of Music, Much Ado about Nothing and A Christmas Carol. Plays for the lower years have included unique Wally Hall adaptations of Around the World in 80 Days and James and the Giant Peach.

All productions are supported by live music from Walthamstow Hall musicians and technical and backstage support from student theatre crews. Younger students help stage manage the senior production and vice versa. Around a third of students take additional Trinity Drama Awards up to Grade 8 and clean sweeps of the highest Distinction grade are not uncommon.

While we’re on the subject, since my last visit, the Music classrooms behind the Hall have been extended to include an additional music classroom, a percussion room and 6 new practice rooms for individual instrumental and singing lessons, including a doubly sound-proofed room for drumming practice! It’s pretty smart stuff.

CREATIVE ARTS

In addition to the Art department, Theatre and Drama Studio in the heart of the School, there is also ‘EBH Arts Centre’ (named after former Headmistress, Emmeline Blackburn). This building houses a large additional Drama Studio and light and spacious Art Room (used by younger students).

A dedicated Photographic Studio can also be found here (Photography is now offered at A Level). There is a separate 3D Design dedicated studio (pictured below), which is good to see in a girls’ school.

Walthamstow Hall Senior School Kent 3D Desig

WHAT ELSE?

The Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) Award scheme is taken very seriously here. The DofE rooms in EBH have tall tables for laying out maps and planning routes, spaces for packing (and re-packing!) pre-expedition ruck sacs and have even been known to house a canoe or paddle board or two! The School has had a dedicated Duke of Edinburgh Manager in post for over 6 years and his enthusiasm has proved infectious.

Most Year 9 pupils take Bronze DofE and many progress all the way to Gold in Sixth Form. Earlier this year, three Year 13s took time out of their A Level revision to head up to Buckingham Palace to collect their Gold Awards. Gold expeditions include paddle boarding and canoeing adventures. As Walthamstow Hall is an accredited Duke of Edinburgh Centre other schools join their planning and expeditions. This year’s Gold students were joined in their canoeing expedition by students from Tonbridge School.

Walthamstow Hall Senior School Kent Borneo Trip 2023

As well as the usual excursions to theatres and galleries, school trips take pupils far and wide. This year students from Year 10 – 13 travelled to Borneo (pictured above) for a month where they worked on local community and orangutang conservation projects. Classics and Theatre Studies students have just returned from a trip to Greece.

They have as many as 6 Houses here – they have so many so that the students can get to know each other better – and it certainly seems to create a suitable amount of House loyalty and pride. Every half term ends on a House event from House Bake Off, House Tug of War and House Benchball, which are all popular. But the pinnacle of the House Year is House Music in the Spring term where every student, and most of the teachers gets on the stage to perform.

Every member of Y7 is automatically in the choir. The girls are strongly encouraged to choose at least 3 lunch time activities per week, which are accommodated by with an extended lunch hour (12.45 – 2.10pm) so that everyone can try something out and not have to rush their essential eating/refueling time. They choose these activities during a co-curricular fair that takes place at the beginning of the term.

As a parent of teens that have been through the transition to senior school, this seems like a great idea – clubs can seem daunting, they only want to join those with their friends…(it can’t just be my daughter, right?) This way the girls have to try stuff out – and they’re bound to love it.

Walthamstow Hall Senior School Kent House Events

ACADEMIC RESULTS

Sixth Formers can chose from 26 subjects and most of their lessons take place in their own building, the Lang Centre. This keeps them central in the school but at the same time, allows them the all-important independence and privilege that those at the top of the school deserve.

It’s a brilliantly designed space, a real bonus to the school and the lessons I popped my head into remind me very much of tutor groups in a university setting. As well as lots of teaching classrooms and dedicated spaces for independent study, there’s also plenty of room for socialising with sofas and a large kitchen.

Walthamstow Hall Senior School Lang Centre Y13 Biology — Sixth Form lessons take place inside the Lang Centre

Academics are strong. Students take 10 GCSE subjects and, in 2023, 31% of all GCSEs taken in 2023 were awarded a grade 9, up from 29.3% in 2019.

In contrast to the national picture, Wally Hall’s 2023 A Level results have exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Students achieved a higher percentage of A*, A*-A and A*-B grades than in 2019, 2018 and 2017.

Also, they are extremely proud of the school’s Value Added score – this means the academic boost given to a student during their time at a school and are a good indicator of any school’s ability to help your child reach their academic potential.

Independent analysis of the progress this summer’s Year 13 leavers made in the Sixth Form put Walthamstow Hall in the top 6 percent of schools, when compared to both independent and state sectors. For GCSE, the measurements put Walthamstow Hall 24th out of 283 independent schools, so within the top 10 percent of the private sector.

THE HEAD

Walthamstow Hall School Headmistress Ms Louise Chamberlain

New Headmistress, Ms Louise Chamberlain joined Walthamstow Hall in the summer term (2023) so she could get to know the school community and plan ahead for the Autumn Term – in order to hit the ground running for the 2023/24 school year.

Chamberlain’s credentials are excellent. She obtained a BSc Honours degree in Applied Microbiological Science and began her teaching career as a teacher of Science. She worked at Worth School for 14 years, rising to become Deputy Head Pastoral. She joined Walthamstow Hall from CATS College Cambridge where she was Vice Principal.

That’s the experience and academics dealt with. But better still, and perhaps thanks to the Pastoral position, she’s also very friendly with an infectious energy and enthusiasm. Just the kind of dynamic head that you’d hope would both inspire a new generation – while also being able to develop an approachable, easy rapport with the students.

Chamberlain is quick to assure me that ‘Wally’ girls are not a type, but true to themselves. What she hopes to instil in them is integrity of character and wholesomeness. Her focus will be to maintain the ‘one school vision’ which is a strong selling point for the school and strengthen the bonds between school, pupil and parent – with lots of events planned to back this up and an office door that is always open.

QUIRKS & USP

Exactly 185 years ago the school was founded in London as a school and home for the daughters of missionaries. That missionary history is why the school uses a ship as its symbol and you’ll see this (they have shiny new branding) dotted around the school. It’s a nice touch – you know – girls on a journey together, the idea of adventure, endeavour, etc. Head girls wear a little ship brooch pinned to their tops.

WRAP AROUND CARE

This is a day-pupils only school so no flexi-boarding. There is now also the option at the Senior School to come in for Breakfast from 7.30. There is also a regular, Senior School ‘Friday Fry Up’ where a specific year group of parents and students are invited to come in for a hearty breakfast (including vegetarian and fresh fruit and yoghurt options too!)

At the end of the day there’s the option to stay in supervised study, clubs, matches or rehearsals until 6pm. (Wrap Around Care is provided at the Junior School from 7.15am – 6.15pm.)

LITTLIES

Walthamstow Hall Junior School Sevenoaks Kent building with pencil fence

The Junior School moved from the Senior School to its own site in Bradbourne Park Road in 1992. This has given both Junior and Senior schools more space while keeping the strong bonds and advantages – the girls at the Junior school use the Senior school facilities, like the swimming pool and theatre. (Read the full review of Walthamstow Hall Junior School h ere).

FEES

Senior School: £7,870 per term. One price from Y7 all the way through to Sixth Form, which is refreshing.

(Junior School: Reception to Year 2 is £4,505 per term; Year 3 to 6 is 5,770.)

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: Those seeking tradition and reputation (with a purposeful, rather than pushy approach). Ideal for families moving to Sevenoaks to take advantage of the fast commute into London or for those in the surrounding countryside (you can get to the school in 2 mins by bus, or just 10 mins walk, from Sevenoaks train station). For many an all-girl environment offers liberation, the chance to be themselves and freedom from self-consciousness in their teen years.

Not for: Those seeking a rural school location, the girls can and do enjoy the freedom of being able to travel into town (although it’s hard to think of a a nicer town for your daughter to descend on with her friends to Wagamamas). Not for anyone that needs the fall-back option of flexi-boarding as this is a day-pupils only school.

Go see for yourself: The next Senior School Open Morning will take place on Sat 28 Sep 2024. Book here.

Walthamstow Hall, Holly Bush La, Sevenoaks TN13 3UL, Tel: 01732 451334, walthamstow-hall.co.uk

Walthamstow Hall, Sevenoaks

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