Age range. 3–13.
Number of pupils. 643: 54% Boys, 46% Girls.
Fees per term (2024-2025). £4,065–£8,575.
Average size of class. <20.
The current teacher to pupil ratio is 1:11.
Religious denomination. Non-denominational.
Newton Prep is a vibrant school which offers a challenging education for inquisitive children who are eager to engage fully with the world in which they are growing up. The school aims to:
•inspire children to be adventurous and committed in their learning;
•provide balance and breadth in all aspects of a child’s education: intellectual, aesthetic, physical, moral and spiritual;
•encourage initiative, individuality, independence, creativity and enquiry;
•promote responsible behaviour and respect for others in a happy, safe and caring environment.
Entry requirements. Children joining Reception are assessed individually: a gentle process, with offers made in November the year before entry. Older children come to an assessment morning in the Spring Term (on a case-by-case basis at other times) during which they will be assessed in English, Maths and some diagnostic, age-appropriate reasoning tests. Means-tested top-up bursaries are available in and after Year 3.
Examinations offered. The school prepares children for the wide range of entrance exams required for senior school entry. About half of the Year 6 cohort move on at 11+ with the remainder staying until Year 8. Newton Prep believes that there is no one ‘best’ school but instead it is a matter of finding the right school for each child. Each year, children head off to between 40 and 50 different day and boarding schools including Westminster, St Paul’s, Wycombe Abbey, Latymer, Alleyn’s, City of London, Eton, Wellington and Brighton College. Over the past three years, they have been offered 66 scholarships.
‘Bright children, exceptional opportunities.’
First-time visitors to the school are invariably impressed by the scale and range of the secondary-school-level facilities and by the wide open outdoor spaces enjoyed by the children on a large site so close to the centre of London. As well as the three school gyms there are two huge outdoor spaces for PE/Games and free play: behind the school, an all-weather pitch and, in front, a large, tree-fringed playground for the littler children. The school also has a large garden with a wildlife area and an activity area with a pirate boat.
Newton Prep occupies an early 20th-century elementary school building, which has been extensively remodelled internally, and behind which stands large modern extensions containing classrooms, the dining hall and kitchen, two gymnasiums, a 300-seat auditorium and a state-of-the-art recital hall (along with a recording studio and a music technology suite). The top floor of the Edwardian building provides one large general-purpose space as well as two art studios. Below are two floors of classrooms, including three collegiate-style science labs, three ICT suites and a library that is the envy of the many visiting authors, who all say it is one of the most vibrant and popular reading spaces they have come across in a school.
Despite the excellence of their education, Newton Prep children are notable for their lack of arrogance and entitlement. The kindness and generosity shown by the pupils towards their peers is remarkable and the engagement between the older children and the little ones is heartwarming, especially when it comes to inter-house events, when children up and down the school are united by their love for their house!
Newton is not a blazers and boaters kind of school. As one current parent put it, ‘Newton combines a quirky nature and knowledge of families with great space and facilities … All the teachers understand my (very different) children, the management is open to fresh ideas and the school is large enough to accommodate variety.’
Scholarships and bursaries:
Bursaries are available for children entering the School from Year 3.