Spring Grove School, Wye

Read our updated review of this nurturing, independent school looking after children from 2- 11, positioned just outside the pretty village of Wye.

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WHAT? WHERE?

Coming up the driveway, you could almost pretend that you are visiting a friend with a rather grand looking home as the distinctive and attractive Stuart house, adorned with beautiful wisteria, was a family home before it was transformed in 1967.

This is also a place with a significant historical background, as the writer, Joseph Conrad, wrote his short novel, ‘The Rescue’ in 1919, whilst staying at Spring Grove and one of the school houses is named in his honour alongside other prominent authors with links to Kent – Dickens, Austen and Chaucer.

Set within 14 acres of beautiful Kent countryside and an off-site Forest School that has won a heap of prizes since it was launched in 2016, this is a school that is very proud of its ‘family’ atmosphere with an emphasis on excellence in all aspects of teaching and learning and a very inclusive nature when it comes to sport, music and drama.

‘Always Do Your Best’ is the school motto here, so you very much feel that every pupil plays an important part in the matrix of the school – whatever their ability.

There are around 165 pupils (from Class R to Year 6) and a total of over 200, if you can count the Nursery, which contributes to the family feel of the place. They are obviously doing it right as the School is currently at full capacity with a waiting list but they do have a super-friendly Admissions team so it is always worth getting in touch to find out how your child can join.

FACILITIES

Classes are held both in the main school house, which lends itself to that homely, family atmosphere, and in more recent purpose-built classrooms. A new Pre-Prep Building containing two more classrooms opened in January 2023, improving the provision for the Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children. Other modern additions to proceedings include a music department, Sports Pavilion with changing rooms, and a multi-purpose school hall. Busy times!

For sports fans, this is an idyllic place to hone your craft as you have acres (quite literally) to practise in as well as an outdoor heated swimming pool.

An award-winning off-site Forest School wins our prize for the best location for Forest School in Kent, in our humble opinion, and Spring Grove has three fully qualified Forest School practitioners who lead regular sessions for children from Nursery to Year 6 in the woods. In the Summer term there are also Beach School sessions for all.

A pond (pictured above), close to the main school house, is also a pivotal part of the school and is the perfect environment for impromptu science lessons.

SPORT

As you may expect from an independent school, the pupils here have access to qualified and experienced coaches with a wide range of sports. Boys play rugby, football, hockey and cricket and the girls play hockey, netball, football and cricket as well as swimming in the aforementioned swimming pool.

It probably helps that the Head, Therésa Jaggard, has experience in competitive sports as she has a swim squad background and she now coaches the school’s elite swim squad alongside the Director of Sport.

Both boys and girls enjoy athletics, tennis and the school has a fierce reputation for its cross-country stars. Swimming starts in Reception class, when all children have a weekly lesson in the Summer term and they also offer private swimming lessons in the school pool during the holidays.

What I really liked about the approach to sport here is the focus on the fact that ‘losing is a big part of learning’ and therefore it is (as cheesy as it may sound) the taking part that counts. Every pupil here (if they wish) will play a match for the school at some point in their career and there are also initiatives such the Bikeability project for Year 6 to get them fully proficient in this area.

You will also find that they invest time looking at the strategy of sport as there are important academic, as well as physical, life-skills to be taught. There is a former Kent cricket coach on site with a sport psychology background which is of real mental benefit to the pupils – plus good for tactics too!

ICT/DT/ART

The Art block is positioned in a quirky attic room above the Nursery area and is a very creative space, with harmonic (mostly!) sounds of children playing beneath you. From Key Stage 2, children are taught by a specialist art teacher and there is plenty of scope here to perfect your skills.

They cover DT units in Art lessons (as well as the practical aspects of DT in Forest School) and a good example would be the annual Hat Walk Cat Walk which allows the children to follow a design procedure: design, make, review, alter, finish with the children parading the finished creations!

ICT is embedded in all subjects as part of the curriculum and all children, from Reception class upwards, have their own Chrome Book. All the children have access to Google Classroom which was used to deliver the Spring Grove Home-Learning programme during the pandemic lockdowns, and is used in classroom teaching as appropriate throughout the school.

MUSIC & DRAMA

In 2024 Spring Grove was awarded Artsmark Gold – a creative quality standard for schools that is accredited by the Arts Council. The school is well known for its music, art and drama – and the journey towards Artsmark has already helped to develop this provision even further with the appointment of a dance and musical theatre specialist teacher in 2021, and the more recent appointment of a new Director of Music.

Spring Grove has a strong reputation for music and this is enhanced by the Head’s proficiency in this area. Mrs Jaggard is an accomplished musician – a violinist, pianist and singer. She is joined by the school’s new and highly experienced Director of Music, Richard Dray, who arrived in 2022. One nice touch is that this duo play together every Friday pre and post Assembly so good for children to see their musical ability in motion. 

A multi-instrumentalist with an impressive CV (he has appeared on Later With Jules Holland), Mr Dray teaches music to every year group, as well as running numerous groups including a folk band, ukulele group, rock band and the school orchestra.

The school choir rehearses regularly, and performs in concerts both in and out of school – including at the Princess of Wales Regiment annual Christmas concert in Canterbury Cathedral

The Music Room incorporates a large teaching and orchestral space as well as two smaller teaching rooms and informal concerts are regularly held to give all children, whatever their level of playing, an opportunity to perform, as well as an annual showcase concert – the Summer Prom. Individual lessons are an additional fee and a large number of children, from Years 1 to 6 either learn an instrument, have singing lessons, or LAMDA speech and drama lessons.

Drama also plays a large part at Spring Grove, with Nativity plays for Nursery, Reception and Key Stage 1 children at Christmas as well as two musicals a year for middle school (end of the Spring term) and for upper school (end of the Summer term). Everyone takes part in a bid to take the fear out of performing plus pupils take turns to present the weekly Family Assemblies, with all parents welcomed in every Friday.

ACADEMIC RESULTS

While Spring Grove is non-selective, all prospective pupils are invited in for an informal taster and assessment day before an offer of a place is made. The teaching is research-led and innovative, with children encouraged to develop a growth mindset that encourages curiosity, resilience and a love of learning.

Every aspect of teaching and learning at school touches on the five values that form the central part of the school ethos: Curiosity, Confidence, Creativity, Care, Craftsmanship.

What makes Spring Grove a little different from some of the other schools in the close vicinity is that there is not an affiliated senior school and therefore you feel that the Head and Staff will work closely with you to identify the best secondary school for your child rather than a ‘soft sell’ to a particular senior school.

Typically just over half of the Year 6 leavers each year move on to grammar schools, with the rest going to local independent schools such as St Edmund’s, Kent College and Ashford School, as well as schools further afield including Tonbridge, Harrow and Eton, frequently with academic, sport, drama and music scholarships.

As you may imagine in the current educational environment, there is good SEND support with a dedicated SEND co-ordinator, and a SEND teacher who work closely with families to ensure that each child’s needs are understood, planned for and met.

THE HEAD

Mrs Therésa Jaggard took up her new role at Spring Grove in the Autumn Term 2020 and has experience in both the state and independent education sectors as she was previously the Deputy Head Teacher at Leybourne Ss Peter and Paul CEP Academy.

Under her leadership, Spring Grove has enjoyed a renewed emphasis on teaching and learning, and a culture of coaching amongst the staff. It’s an exciting time for Spring Grove as it is developing all of its key areas and that growth mindset has been extended by Jaggard towards the staff as they are now benefiting from coaching sessions led by the new Assistant Head – formerly a lecturer at ChristChurch University- so adding a new perspective to the teaching side of things.

This fresh approach has given teaching a new impetus throughout the school so that children’s talents can be harnessed to their full potential. As Mrs Jaggard herself says, her mission is to find ‘the sparkle in every child’ with the capacity and ability at Spring Grove to grow that talent. We say Hear Hear to that!

LITTLIES

A big plus point here is that your child can effortlessly move up the ranks from Teddies (2-year olds -where they help you with potty training – hurrah!), to Giraffes (3 year olds) until they reach Reception class (from 4 years old) plus you get access to 15 hours of funding (after your child turns 3) so there is hopefully no bottom lip quivering on the official first day of their school, as it will all feel completely normal to them – and to you of course.

The children in Nursery and Reception eat their food (home-cooked on site) with Key Stage 1 which is good for them to start to feel ‘grown-up’ and aware of the bigger school around them.

The Nursery has its own large walled garden with a sandpit, digging area, mud kitchen, vegetable garden and music area, plus its own parking area for parents which is always helpful to know.

The Teddies Giraffes and Reception classes all have new ‘free-flow’ areas which act as extensions of the classrooms – with astroturf grass for all-year round use, and covered areas for when it’s raining – so outdoor time is every day whatever the weather!

In the pre-School Giraffes, the children have sport once a week as well as a mini sports day in the summer for both the Teddies and Giraffes year groups. They also take part in French and music lessons once a week, as well as visiting Forest School every other week, so a very solid and enjoyable foundation for the years to come. 

You will also find plenty of cute moments throughout the year to applaud your child with a Nativity play (Giraffe’s and Reception) and an Easter bonnet parade, plus there are school trips throughout the year for this age group with the Rare Breeds Centre being a recent big hit.

QUIRKS

Tradition plays a large part in school life here, and that brings with it individual quirks that separate Spring Grove from the others. A very popular tradition with the Nursery children is taking letters to Santa to the Head, who owns a direct hotline to the Christmas visitor via the study fireplace. The children sing some songs with the Head, then individually send their letters up the chimney to the waiting sleigh.

An outdoor themed French breakfast is hosted twice a year with children speaking in French and selling French goods such as croissants and pain au chocolat – which gets the big thumbs up as you can well imagine. In Year 5, the big treat is to visit a chateau in France for the week, which is a tradition that has been going on for the past 25 years.

The children then put on a production in French for the whole school when they return – so an immersive culture when it comes to learning languages. Year 6 also have an annual residential trip to an outdoor centre in Hay-on-Wye.

Lastly Jelly the Giraffe is a big character at Spring Grove, and is awarded to the House that earns the greatest number of stars week by week, and at the end of term in Final Assembly.

ANYTHING ELSE?

A special shout-out needs to go to the introduction of a dedicated Forest School space located in a private woodland area with six acres of land at their disposal, five minutes’ drive from the school, which is available for all children from Giraffes through to Year 6.

The class usually runs for a morning or afternoon allowing the kids proper time to engage with a huge array of child-led activities (balance beams/chopping wood/archery/scavenging/knot tying to name but a few) as well as the obligatory s’mores and doughnuts over the campfire.

WRAP AROUND CARE

Wrap around care is good here which helps many of the parents, who are heading to London on the high speed train to work, with the option to drop off kids at 7.30 for Breakfast Club and option to stay at the school for Clubs and after-school care until 6pm – and this is from Teddies right through to Year 6.

FEES

Reception (4-5 years) £3,485 per term

Year 1 (5-6 years) £3,765 per term

Year 2 (6-7 years) £3,985 per term

Prep 3 (7-8 years) £4,595 per term

Prep 4 (8-9 years) £4,905 per term

Prep 5 (9-10 years) £4,905 per term

Prep 6 (10-11 years) £4,905 per term

WORD ON THE GROUND

You could take our word for it or you could also listen to what a couple of Year 6 pupils had to say where their favourite parts of the school. One said that The Kent test practice had been hugely helpful to their learning whereas another said that it was the debating club and LAMDA teaching that they enjoyed as well as the matching scrunchies for their uniform – obvs.

Chinese food and banoffee pie are also popular dishes at lunch and the trip to the French chateau was talked about in much revered terms with canoeing on a mud course (yikes) being a big hit.

Plus, one local mum told me that, ‘SG has a lovely family atmosphere where the children are encouraged to develop their own strengths. My children have grown in confidence thanks to the nurturing and encouragement in all aspects of school life’ so that Always Do Your Best school motto really does shine through.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

GOOD FOR: Those looking for a family-orientated and nurturing environment where there is an appetite for adventure and tolerance of error. Plus, it’s a rural setting, yet within easy reach of Ashford station, so your children can benefit from a true country setting even if you work in town. Spring Grove also has a strong reputation for Kent Test results and helping obtain scholarships to independent schools.

NOT FOR: As it is not attached to a senior school, it might not suit those who want to side step entrance exams by placing the children into the Junior School.

Spring Grove School, Harville Road, Wye, TN25 5EZ, Tel: 01233 812337, springgroveschool.co.uk

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