WHAT? WHERE?

Established in 2018, Kensington Park School (KPS) is a bijou day and boarding school in central London, with 227 pupils, evenly split between boys and girls, with 10% of the children boarding from Year 9 upwards. It sits across three sites – the Senior School (for years 7-11) is a flat-fronted modern brick building on a leafy street close to Kensington Gardens; the Sixth Form has its own elegant white, stuccoed townhouse 25 minutes’ walk away on the south side of the Gardens; and the flash boarding accommodation sits in what I’m guessing is a Victorian mansion house (but don’t quote me on that!) in nearby Earl’s Court. You can check out the virtual tour here.

Small class sizes and individual care are the big sell at KPS, with classes between 12-14 in the Senior School and in the Sixth Form between 6-7 and capped at 10. Roughly 30% of the pupils are international, though predominantly London-based.

FACILITIES

SPORT

It’s a central London school so guess what, there’s not a lot of space! The theatre studio doubles as a sports hall for low-maintenance pursuits like yoga, dance, badminton and table tennis, but most sports take place in the parks, leisure centres and courts adjacent to the school: Kensington Gardens (for cross country), Porchester Leisure Centre (swimming) and Hyde Park (tennis, netball, football). KPS students do compete at a high level (International Taekwon-Do competitions and Czech Athletic Championship in 2024). KPS also fields competitive teams in football, netball and athletics, but predominantly it’s a healthy sport-for-all philosophy, with one double period of PE each week, plus compulsory Games every week for Years 7-11.

CREATIVE ARTS

The Art department is the star of the show, and it’s plain to see as you walk around – paintings and sketches adorn the walls up-and-down stairs, and there are separate bright art studios for both Senior and Sixth Form pupils. Sixth Formers also have access to a large photography lab with dark room.

For thesps, the theatre has light rigging and sound desk for all round drama provision (front and back stage), and there’s a whole-school production each spring, along with Drama club and both GSCEs and A levels in Drama.

Musically, the school offers the usual peri-instrumental lessons in the likes of guitar, singing, brass, woodwind, harp and drums, and there are opportunities for communal music in space-friendly groups such as choir, jazz club, school band and chamber ensembles. There’s a music studio with Sibelius software and all the mixing boards and microphones your budding Jon Ronson could possibly need. Space restricts an expansive school orchestra of course, but there’s good London-based classical outreach – most recently a harpist from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra came in to perform at the school.

GENERAL

There are six science labs – four in the Senior school, and two in Sixth Form as well as a computer lab on both sites.

SIXTH FORM

Roughly a third of the school is made up of the Sixth Form with 84 pupils in Year 12-13. The pupils have the run of their balustraded, wood-panelled, porticoed Georgian townhouse, just around the corner from the Natural History Museum on Queen’s Gate. All Sixth Form lessons take place in this building, except for Music A Level which utilises the facilities at the Senior School. As you’d expect from a stand-alone Sixth Form, there are privileges and changes to rules here. No uniform for starters, plus on Wednesday afternoon there are no lessons – instead it’s an enrichment time, where the pupils can choose from a list of activities such as sport, volunteering, debating or visiting art galleries to open their minds and take the pressure of A levels. There are no compulsory games in the Sixth Form, but the kids do have access to Imperial College’s Ethos Sports Centre with its gym, pool and climbing wall.

BOARDING

Ooh, it’s shiny! Boarding is possible from Year 9 (so when the kids are 13+) though the majority are older, which makes sense when you know that the building is a tube ride away from Senior School but only a 15-minute walk away from the Sixth Form. There are 43 current boarders so it’s an intimate experience, perhaps better that way with the vastness of London on your doorstep. There are 24-hour resident house parents, plus a tutor within the boarding house designated for each child. The structure here is vertical (in other words, the tutor groups are mixed years) which is common for building a feeling of a boarding ‘family’.

The rooms here are superior to what I usually see – all with en-suite bathrooms and kitchenettes. Years 9-11 will always be in twins or triples, while the Sixth Formers get to fly solo (lucky kid who gets the duplex – yes there is one!). Importantly for a boarding house built away from the school there’s a tight structure here, with regular homework prep time (Sun – Thurs), strict curfews, registrations and breakfast and dinner taken in the boarding house dining room. There’s also a morning surgery run by the school nurse every day (Mon-Fri). Cleaners change the bedsheets but other than that the children here are expected to do their own laundry which, in my opinion, can only be a good thing.

ACADEMICS

Reliable. The school is gently selective, but the Head describes the entry test as ‘holistic’ – academics are important but not everything, so amongst outstanding academic successes such as a the Year 11 gaining the highest mark in the world – the world, godammit! – for IGSCE Italian, there’s also the Year 10 student who has become an international Chess Master. The subjects on offer here are fairly standard, although Years 7-8 do study Mandarin and Latin and Year 9s can study Spanish and Classical Civilisation, choosing to continue for GSCE. All kids are expected to do Maths, English, and all three sciences for GSCE, plus a modern European language (French, Italian and German are also offered), and a humanity.

A-Level choices widen to include Economics, Government & Politics, Psychology, Sociology, Business Studies, and Philosophy. The pupils have one-to-one tutor meetings every other week with the parents emailed with progress after every meeting, and the kids are also academically assessed every half term.

And the results? Ah yes, those. 2024’s results are strong, particularly at the top end, with over 25% of GSCES at the highest grades of 9/8 (A**/A*), 42.3% at 9-7 (A**-A) , 60.1% at 9-6 (A** – B) and 74.4% at 9-5 (A**- C), with English and Maths both performing particularly strongly.

For A levels, 25% of pupils received A*-A, 57% were A*-B and 82% hit A*-C , heading to universities including UCL, Warwick, King’s College London, Edinburgh, York, Southampton, Glasgow and Boston Uni in the US.

PASTORAL CARE

School numbers are small which has clear advantages when you’re making sure the modern mantra of ‘every child is known’ actually happens. The team of personal tutors check in every other week for one-to-ones with the pupils (these are vertical groups from 9-11 and Sixth Formers) and then feed back to the Heads of Year. There’s a Director of Safeguarding, onsite nurse, and a qualified counsellor three days per week. Parents are kept in the loop with school feedback on their child every other week – very useful! Yoga, mindfulness in the park, and seasonal wellbeing walks (parents and family dogs welcome) are on the agenda here, along with a Wellbeing and Mindfulness club.

THE HEAD

Antony Faccinello MA (Oxon) PGCE, has been in the post since Feb 2024 after leading a large London state school and with a background in highly academic independent schools as Senior Deputy Head at Alleyn’s in Dulwich, and as Head of English at RGS Guildford. He’s warm and engaging, eager to increase the profile of this still relatively new school. He’s early in post to make any massive changes but he has already restructured the timetable for better flow to the school day. A road cyclist and ex-rower himself, he’s keen on making sure the kids get enough exercise.

SEND

There’s a small Learning Support room, where one-to-one help is available, with Vasilis Kalaitzidis, the full-time SENDCo (new from Sept 23), full of energy and empathy. Handily, he’s a former teacher – a neat advantage when helping the kids to manoeuvre around learning issues. Already liaising with several EAL teachers in the department, he’ll be joined by a full-time TA from Sept 24.

QUIRKS

A big USP for Kensington Park School is its one-year GSCE course – that’s pretty unusual in a mainstream school and a lifesaver for ex-pats returning at the wrong point in the school year, or children removed from school for whatever reason.

What else? The classroom doors have stickers on them telling pupils what teachers are reading that week – apparently Mr Vasilis is reading Box by Camilla Läckberg, good choice!

Also, the extra-curricular clubs are inventive – in addition to the usuals there are options like Stocks & Shares Club, BAFTA Young Game Designer and Strategic Games. School trips look pretty flash – the five-day Bay of Naples jaunt in 2023 looked pretty inviting.

ISI REPORT

There’s only one report so far, a compliance report from 2023 where all the criteria were met.

TRAVEL

Buses, trains and, if you’re one of the international students, maybe planes but it’s all easy to navigate. The nearest tube for the Senior School is Queensway and Bayswater. For the Sixth Form, Gloucester Road, and the Boarding House, Earl’s Court.

MOBILE PHONE POLICY

Phones are allowed to be brought into the school, but they need to be switched off and out of sight during lessons.

WRAP AROUND CARE

There’s no early drop off at the school but your child can stay for after-school clubs until 5pm.

FEES

Not cheap but, you know, you’re in Kensington territory here. Years 7-11 and students in Sixth From who move up through the school it’s £9950 per term (£29,850 per year). For Sixth Form entry only it’s £10,350 per term for day pupils (£31,050 per year). For boarding it’s £8510 – £12,200 per term, this does include all meals, bed linen and towels and 24-hour resident house parents.

WORD ON THE GROUND

By all accounts it’s a family atmosphere here, relaxed and supportive. Sociable too – the Sixth form boat party went down well! The lack of outdoor space is not popular of course, but most parents are sanguine (it’s not like it’s a surprise, right?) and they put much more emphasis on the academics and pupil care.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: If you’re looking for a small school that’s hot on individual attention and small class sizes, you’re in the right place. Academically it is robust, and the possibility of boarding in the higher years and doing one-year GSCEs gives it a string to its bow that many other local schools don’t offer.

Not for: The lack of immediate outdoor space will be a yes-or-no moment for parents and pupils.

Want to see for yourself? Be my guest! There are Open Days by appointment for both the school and the boarding houses.

Kensington Park School. 40-44 Bark Place, London, W2 4AT. Tel: 0207 6164400 (Senior School). 59 Queen’s Gate, London, SW7 5JP Tel: 0207 2250577 (Sixth Form).

Kensington Park School, Kensington

You may also like