Babington House School, Chislehurst
This independent, co-ed, day school in Chislehurst – for pupils from 3 to 18 years – is a rising star. Ranked Top Small Independent School in the UK, for A Level results – the academics here are strong – and the size means everyone gets their chance to shine…
WHAT? WHERE?
Babington House School is an independent, co-educational day school for pupils from 3 to 18 years, near Bromley. It’s a mere 2 minutes’ walk from Elmstead Woods Station, a benefit that plenty of commuting parents take advantage of.
The school consists of a handsome group of buildings on Grange Drive in Chislehurst, with more recent additions bolted on over time. There are currently just under 500 pupils on roll across Nursery, Prep, Seniors and Sixth Form.
And before you say that’s a tiny number for a Senior School, let me tell you that until fairly recently it used to only take boys up until Year 3 and was all-girls beyond that, finishing at Y11.
But in the space of the last seven years, under the headship of Tim Lello, it’s expanded to become co-educational all the way through – and introduced a highly successful Sixth Form. This, combined with an increasingly impressive reputation has seen the numbers filling up.
The Senior School is now two-form entry throughout all years and, of the new pupils joining the school, it’s a roughly 50/50 boy and girl split. What’s more, at present the school boasts its biggest Sixth Form ever, with around 40 pupils – an ideal number for a school that wants to remain family-sized and small.
FACILITIES
The school is centred around a circular courtyard which consists of the old original building as well as the dining room, sports hall and Nursery. There’s two MUGAs (Multi Use Games Areas) and a nearby playing field which pupils walk to for football or athletics.
The main school site is compact, but makes excellent use of the space available. There’s certainly enough trees and open air areas for younger ones to enjoy outdoor learning and Forest School or Sixth Formers to sit and chat on the benches dotted along the treelined walkways.
On Muddy we’ve reviewed a number of schools where they have the Prep and Senior Schools within the same grounds – but here they aren’t just on the same site, the Nursery, Prep and Senior School all share the same collection of buildings. So it’s no exaggeration to say there is real sense of community and ‘family’ atmosphere throughout the place.
SPORTS
Being located only a short drive or train journey into London (and only a couple of minutes from a train station) it’s not surprising that land around this area of Chislehurst is at a premium. So don’t expect extensive grounds and rolling acres of cricket fields here.
However the school makes full use of its (not-to-be-sniffed-at) sizeable enough grounds, which contains two MUGAs – which are basically new all-weather pitches – a school hall (where a lively, mixed gender game of bench ball was taking place when I visited) and a full-size outdoor climbing wall. The artificial games areas are used for everything from basketball and netball to hockey.
And, thanks to the lease of nearby land, the school has unlimited term-time use of an extensive sports field and its surrounding woodland, which is 3 minutes walk up the road.
This is used for sport and PE for children from Year 3 upwards and where Forest School takes place for older children. At the sports field pupils enjoy cross country, football, tag/rugby, athletics, rounders and cricket. Sports Day is held at Norman Park in Bromley to make the most of its hard athletics track.
ARTS, TEXTILES AND DESIGN
The art department is headed up by Mrs Carter who is much known and loved by all. Her classes take place up in the light, bright attic of the old building alongside the other popular subjects of textiles and product design.
Under her leadership the department has steadily expanded and Product Design, Textiles and Fine Art are all taken in rotation from Years 7 – 9, then offered as subjects at GCSE or A Level.
Students get a lot of encouragement to pursue their artistic passions – for example Carter assisted one of her Textiles students in gaining work experience with Vivienne Westwood. All this meaning creative types are very well catered for here.
DRAMA & MUSIC
Drama productions take place in the sports hall – with one large showpiece a year, usually alternating between musical and straight theatre. This year was The Addams Family. The outdoor play area ‘Treetops’ was recently the stage and setting for a production of Treasure Island.
Everyone from Reception to Year 9 has timetabled music lessons. The school has four choirs, orchestra, wind band, string band and lots of concerts – about one every half term.
Around 25 per cent of pupils take individual music lessons on various instruments. Most impressive of all – I have it on the highest authority that everyone actually sings the hymns in assembly. Praise be!
ACADEMICS & ADMISSIONS
While it has gained a very strong reputation for its nurturing and pastoral capabilities Babington House Senior School is also unapologetcially proud of its rigorous academics.
Entry involves a selection process based on age-appropriate assessments and a report from the head of the pupil’s current school. Admissions take place at 11 and 16 via exam and interview.
Around 50 per cent of pupils from the Prep School join the Senior School in Year 7. The other half go on to other independents (perhaps if they want a single-sex school) or local grammars, of which there are several good ones in the area. Of those that take the Kent Test there’s a 85 per cent pass rate.
For those that stay on, there’s currently around 15/16 pupils in a class (they strive never to go above 20). While this is an exciting time for Babington House School with swelling pupil numbers and a now thriving Sixth Form the Senior Leadership Team is very clear that the plan is not to over-expand or grow beyond the optimum numbers. The school’s success and identity it built around its small size.
Nearly two thirds of the Year 11 students in 2024 achieved the top grades at GCSE with 56 per cent achieving the coveted 9-7 grades, equivalent to the old A*-A grading. 59 per cent of students achieved the top 9-7 grades in five subjects or more, with 12 per cent achieving a clean sweep across the board in every GCSE taken.
What’s more, the students succeeded in securing places at top universities including Oxford, Durham, York and Liverpool with 71 per cent of them achieving A*-B grades and nearly half of all A Levels were awarded A* and A grades in a number of subjects including English, Mathematics and Economics.
They put this success down to small teaching groups of no more than 6/7 maximum and a culture of intensive, hard-work, tailored to each pupil’s individual needs and everything being continually monitored so that help can be given quickly when needed.
THE HEAD
Headmaster, Mr Tim Lello, has been at the helm since 2012 – and one of the first changes he made when starting was to let boys stay on at the school beyond Year 3. This was followed by creating a Sixth Form.
He’s upbeat, approachable and clearly extremely proud of his school – justifiably so – the school has undergone such a positive transformation under his leadership. It’s been completely modernised if you like. Yet while being progressive, he’s also taken care to honour the long-standing traditions and always keeps the school ethos at the core of every decision.
He makes an interesting point that schools are often portrayed as either nurturing or academic. ‘But bright children benefit from carefully monitored and well directed learning too,’ he explains. ‘We bring both strong pastoral support and academic discipline together here.’
SENIORS
The Head of Seniors Mr Paul Showell has been instrumental in some highly successful developments such as increased academic rigour and results, the development of the Sixth Form and furthering sport and extra-curricular provision, alongside the clever implementation of a progressive timetable.
PREP AND NURSERY
The Nursery is set up for continuous provision so the design and resources encourage children to move around – inside and outside – with the freedom to learn and be creative autonomously.
The Head of Prep is James Mole and here there are some brilliant innovations, like option choices for children in Year 3 to Year 6 – where Philosophy, Yoga, Coding and World Films are just some of the subjects on offer.
The Nursery has its own Early Years Co-ordinators, Mrs Thomas and Mrs Jackson. There are impressive staff to pupil ratios and even the youngest children benefit from specialist teachers visiting from the Senior School. Subjects covered include Woodwork, Yoga and Forest School, which reads like a list for a wonderful Activity Camp as much as a Nursery!
It’s not all fun and games though and, keeping in step with the academic ambitions of the Senior School, the progress of children at the Nursery is monitored closely on a tracking system, with half termly overviews.
USP & QUIRKS
Babington has it’s own outdoor climbing and abseil wall where pupils of all ages can benefit from specialist teaching and coaching from some of the top climbers in the country. It’s a very popular activity here – and obviously great for building confidence as much as fitness.
WRAP AROUND CARE
Breakfast Club starts at 7.30am and After School Care continues until 6pm There’s also Holiday Clubs and School Buses to make life easier for busy or working parents.
FEES
Full time fees per term inclusive of lunch: £5,520 for Prep (Reception to Year 6); £6,870 for Senior & Sixth Form (Years 7 to 13). Find the breakdown of Nursery Fees here.
WORD ON THE GROUND
There is much talk about the strong academics and the fact that teachers are passionate about their subjects. The size of the school clearly lends itself well to tailor-made teaching.
Staff are good at knowing which children will be the right fit for the school and those that join really thrive here. The prep has a strong reputation for sporting success. As does the senior school netball team which topped the league locally across four age groups.
THE MUDDY VERDICT
Good for: Bright pupils will not only benefit from carefully monitored and well directed learning here – they’ll be happy too. Self-discipline is highly prized and everyone is known as an individual. Those that like to join in, will fit in particularly well (smaller schools mean everyone gets a chance to step up and shine).
Not for: Big fish who need an even bigger pond. Super-sporties might be frustrated – a smaller school can’t compete with the big hitters – and the general vibe here is about teamwork rather than winning. Then again, with smaller numbers to choose from, it does mean you are more likely to get on the team.
Babington House School, Grange Drive, Chislehurst, Kent, BR7 5ES, Tel: 020 8467 5537, Email: enquiries@babingtonhouse.com, babingtonhouse.com
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