Interactive Map

Avenue Elmers

As the boys move through Key Stage 2, we adopt a specialist approach to their experiences, preparing them well for senior school. The curriculum is extended to ensure that it contains all requirements of the 11+ entrance examinations. We ensure that we fully support both our boys and their parents through the senior school application process. The Boys’ Prep Years 4 to 6 are based in a large Victorian building on Avenue Elmers – a two-minute walk from the main site.

Sport

Pupils at the Boys’ Prep have full access to 39 acres of Sports grounds at our sites in Hinchley Wood (Manor Road South and Oaken Lane). There are 18 sports played: Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Cricket, Dance, Dodgeball, Football, Gymnastics, Health and Fitness, Hockey, Invasion Games, Outdoor Adventure Activities, Rugby, Skiing, Swimming, Tennis, UniHoc and Volleyball. We have a ‘sport for all’ philosophy and ensure every boy regularly represents the school with an extensive fixture programme against other schools. We participate in county and local tournaments throughout the school year and work within the Kingston Borough to host festivals for children throughout the Primary age range. As part of our 11+ process, we offer Sports Scholarship preparation and provide once in a lifetime opportunities through local and international sports tours. In previous years we have visited; Cardiff, Manchester, Paris and Madrid.

Whilst continuing to support fundamental movement skills, the focus in KS2 turns to incorporating skills, tactics and technique into invasion game activities. As pupils approach upper KS2, we look to include theoretical understanding into the curriculum including health-related fitness (diet, nutrition, muscles etc) and to develop sports leaders in Year 6. Our main focus is not the end result, but the inclusive environment that sport provides. We aim to instil a positive approach and mindset, ensuring all boys display positive sportsmanship and determined attitude throughout, all with a smile on their faces.

Boys’ Prep Years 3 to 6

Art, Music and Drama are taught by specialist teachers in dedicated classroom spaces. In Drama, pupils explore public speaking, engaging an audience, mime, as well as prop and play script work. All boys have the opportunity to perform in front of an audience during their time at the Boys’ Prep. Past productions include ‘Lion King’, ‘Seussical’ and ‘James and the Giant Peach’.

Music lessons include listening, performing, creating, playing and exploring musical instruments, singing, movement and the reading and writing of music. Pupils have a wealth of opportunities to showcase their talents through choirs, soloist performances and concerts.

Through Art, pupils learn to master drawing, image making and 3D construction through a range of materials and processes. Termly projects provide pupils with the opportunity to explore independent working and cross-curricular opportunities allow collaboration between subjects. Pupils also learn about a range of traditional and contemporary artists, designers, and architects.

Sixth Form

Our Sixth Form Centre is a stand alone site which includes a spacious study area for independent learning with access to Academic Mentors, the Careers and Guidance Department with UCAS Co-ordinator and Oxbridge Co-ordinators, a Fitness Suite and Sports Hall, as well as a Common Room with its own ‘coffee shop’.

Over 90% of our A-level students go on to study at Russell Group and Top Ten universities and over 70% of pupils study STEM subjects at A-level. There are many opportunities available to make sure pupils have a balance between study and other activities. Students can develop their leadership skills, be enterprising, express themselves and their views, improve their physical fitness and emotional resilience, learn to work independently and travel the world.

Our Sixth Form offers:
Leadership opportunities
Oxbridge Programme
Mentors & mentoring
Careers guidance
Duke of Edinburgh Award
Enterprise initiatives
Charitable work
Trips & Visits

Main Building

The Main Building is home to numerous classrooms, together with the Principal’s office, main reception and admin offices.

The Maths Department is passionate about giving pupils the confidence they need in order to reach their potential in Maths, and develop their passion for the subject by taking part in events, such as the Maths Challenge and by looking at how Maths is used in the real world.

Modern Foreign Languages teaches the importance of communication and other cultures and to show pupils the application and relevance of their language. In Year 7, pupils are able to do taster classes in French, German, Latin and Spanish before making their final choices. The MFL team go on numerous trips abroad and exchange programmes.

In Philosophy and Religious Studies (PRS), pupils study religious and non-religious world views. They develop skills in logical, critical and independent thinking, and written and verbal analysis. Studying PRS develops empathy, tolerance and a safe space to agree or disagree respectfully.

History lessons look at how our modern world came about, touching on issues such as class, culture, multi-culturalism and relevance to world history and current news. Pupils explore beyond the curriculum with trips to cathedrals, castles and palaces.

The Classics, Latin and Classical Greek, allow pupils to explore the logical analysis and intricacies of language as well as archaeology, artefacts and daily life in order to understand the ancient world.

Art Studio

The light, airy Art Studio spans a 420m² space. The double-height space includes a mezzanine area equipped with workstations with Adobe Suite software. Pupils work with a wide range of mediums in both 2D and 3D, as well as photography, including traditional photo development using the darkroom, exploring digital processes, Art History, and ceramics using the onsite kiln. This broad and varied curriculum allows for each pupil to find their own creative pathway and enjoy success through their creative endeavours.

Dance Studio

Our dedicated Dance Studio with a sprung floor, mirrors, and a full lighting rig allows pupils to develop various dance styles, such as contemporary, jazz, ballet, and street dance in their lessons, and participate in the vast co-curricular programme. Pupils have the opportunity to perform in numerous annual dance showcases, and the annual dance show, ‘Evolve’, where talented dancers perform from across the whole School. Dance also plays a vital role in the annual whole-school musical, with recent productions including ‘Chicago’, ‘Wind in the Willows’, ‘High School Musical’ and ‘Annie’.

ICT Suites & Library

Two dedicated ICT Suites provide our pupils with the opportunity to become computer literate in the digital world in which we live. Lessons focus on problem solving, programming skills, coding, spreadsheet modelling, graphic manipulation, as well as computing crime and security issues on a more theoretical level.

There are many activities and events to tantalise your literary taste buds, including literary society, the reading challenge and World Book Day. The library is home to over 14,000 books and the staff are there to welcome you before, throughout and after the school day.

Drama Studio

The Drama Studio provides a dedicated space for pupils to hone their acting and performing talents. Pupils have the opportunity to audition for roles in annual year-group productions, including ‘Alice in Wonderland’, ‘Our Country’s Good’, ‘Swallows and Amazons’ and ‘Arabian Nights’, which are always fun, colourful and often site-specific performances. The Music, Dance and Drama Departments collaborate each year on the whole-school production, recently performed at the New Wimbledon Theatre, including ‘Chicago’, ‘Wind in the Willows’, ‘High School Musical’ and ‘Annie’.

Design Technology

We teach Graphic Products, Product Design and Textiles Technology in subject-specific classrooms, each fully equipped for their subject specialism, including 3D printers, a CAM router and laser cutter, a full suite of tools and equipment, and state-of-the-art sewing machines.

The Design and Technology course prepares pupils for designing and making useful products in a wide range of materials and teaches processes which will help them to understand how good design can influence and change the world in which we live. The subject gives pupils the opportunity to work independently and solve problems by using their creativity and ingenuity in one of the three technology areas.

Science Block

The Science Block has dedicated laboratory classrooms for Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Science is taught as three separate subjects throughout the Senior School. It is our aim to foster a love of these subjects rather than simply imparting factual knowledge, and to encourage pupils to make links to the wider world. Experimental techniques underpin the teaching of Science throughout the School, challenging the pupils to use observations, predictions, data analysis and critical thinking skills, enabling them to acquire the skills needed for future scientific applications.

The single-sex environment at Surbiton High School allows girls to embrace STEM subjects without seeing them as a subject studied traditionally by boys. In fact, over 70% of students study STEM subjects at A-level.

The Quad

The lawned Quad and surrounding grounds, which include tennis and netball courts, are often a hive of excitement and activity, with a wide variety of school events taking place here, including Poetry Slams, House competitions, bake sales, leavers’ celebrations, outdoor drama productions, PE lessons or simply for relaxing and socialising at break time.

It is also a gathering place to view the House noticeboards. The Houses, Austen, Curie, Fonteyn, Nightingale, Pankhurst, Parks and Teresa give pupils the opportunity to organise and take part in inter-House activities across year groups, earning House points through the merit system and commendations. House competitions and events are organised throughout the year, such as the House Fashion Show, House Choral, House Rowing and Netball, Public Speaking Competition, Mastermind and Spelling Bee.

The Welfare Centre

Across the Quad is the Welfare Centre, which is staffed throughout the week by our Registered School Nurse. The Nurse provides help and support for pupils with specific medical conditions and those who are injured or become ill during the school day. In addition, there are many First Aid trained staff on each school site.

The School has full-time mentors and a counsellor to support pupils’ well-being.

Mary Bennett House

The Learning Enrichment Department supports pupils through specialist tuition in small groups and individual lessons, enabling everyone to overcome barriers to learning and access all parts of the curriculum. Our specialist teachers are experts in helping pupils with a variety of learning differences, including dyslexia and dyscalculia, and our focus is to equip pupils with the necessary skills to become confident, independent learners through improved organisation, study skills, planning, writing, and reading. Pupils are also encouraged to contribute their ideas and share their concerns so that they can be addressed and resolved to produce the best learning outcome.

The English as an Additional Language (EAL) provision enables pupils to acquire and develop the 4 core English skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. There is also a focus on precise punctuation and grammar. This ensures that EAL learners have equal access to an academic curriculum and achieve their education potential.

English

Mary Bennett House is the much-lauded literary domain of the English Department; a place where a love of language courses through corridors like Willy Wonka’s chocolate river. Pupils are actively encouraged to read; not just for study but for fun, to indulge, to escape and to quench a thirst for new adventures. Poetry, drama, novels, biographies: Stories are life – literature bestows new experience, new people. It’s about understanding the world and our place in it, finding an empathetic human connection. National Poetry Days, the Reading Challenge and our Public Speaking Competition inspire pupils beyond the curriculum. They learn from literature and develop language skills to express their own views on the world: through reading, speaking and writing– through analysis, debate and creativity. Here we champion an independent love of language: with the confidence and courage of our individual voices comes control of our own stories.

Reception to Year 3

Reception to Year 3 classes are based in Charles Burney House, an elegant Victorian building on the main school site. Learning at Surbiton is an exciting adventure. As well as English, Mathematics, Music and Physical Education, pupils benefit from additional, connected curriculum subjects: Science, Computing, Modern Foreign Languages, Creative Arts, History, Geography and Philosophy and Religious Education. The Learning Enrichment team supports pupils with learning differences,

Pupils in the younger year groups enjoy Learning Outside the Classroom (LOC) in a dedicated woodland area at our Sports Grounds in Hinchley Wood, from storytime and phonics to investigating a range of species within the local habitat.

Sport

Pupils at the Boys’ Prep have full access to 39 acres of Sports grounds at our sites in Hinchley Wood (Manor Road South and Oaken Lane). There are 18 sports played: Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Cricket, Dance, Dodgeball, Football, Gymnastics, Health and Fitness, Hockey, Invasion Games, Outdoor Adventure Activities, Rugby, Skiing, Swimming, Tennis, UniHoc and Volleyball. We have a ‘sport for all’ philosophy and ensure every boy regularly represents the School with an extensive fixture programme against other schools. We participate in county and local tournaments throughout the school year and work within the Kingston Borough to host festivals for children throughout the Primary age range. As part of our 11+ process, we offer Sports Scholarship preparation and provide once in a lifetime opportunities through local and international sports tours. In previous years we have visited Cardiff, Manchester, Paris and Madrid.

In EYFS and KS1, we place a strong emphasis on improving key fundamental skills (agility, balance and coordination) of each boy in the early stages of their sporting journey. We place a high importance on physical literacy and, in particular, improving each child’s motivation, confidence, knowledge in order to harness and support lifelong involvement in sport. The majority of sessions focus on hand- eye coordination activities and enable each child to practise and develop their catching, throwing and rolling through a variety of games.

Charles Burney House

Art, Music and Drama are taught by specialist teachers in dedicated classroom spaces.

In Reception, the children have lessons each week in the Prep Music Room with their specialist Music teacher. Our sequential, aural-based music lessons include listening, performing, creating, playing and exploring musical instruments, singing movement and simple music literacy. Each of these assists in developing thinking, communication and creativity. They are also involved in a production in which they experience the thrills of putting on a show to a large audience.

Our boys will explore a wide range of media and materials. They will be given opportunities to share their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play and design and technology.

By the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage the boys should:

• Sing songs, make music and dance and experiment with ways of changing them.
• Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
• Use media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes.
• Represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, role-play and stories.

Surbiton Assembly Rooms

The Surbiton Assembly Rooms (SAR) is home to the Geography Department, Music Department, Main Hall and Dining Hall.

The Main Hall is the heart of the School, where we come together for a wide range of activities throughout the year, including weekly assemblies, instrumental and choral concerts, House competitions, gymnastics displays, guest speakers, maths challenges, co-curricular fairs, and one of our annual highlights, the Senior School Fashion Show. The annual Fashion Show is a pupil-led, whole-school, House event, centred around a theme, such as Climate Change and annually raises over £12,000 for charity.

The Dining Hall serves a freshly prepared hot meal and a vegetarian alternative each day. The SAR also houses an impressive permanent installation of replica Parthenon friezes, which were gifted to the School and restored by an enterprising group of Sixth Form students.

The Geography Department bridges the gap between the natural and human world, focusing on global issues, health and development, and developing pupils’ sense of place. Field trips range from Kingston Town Centre to Iceland!

Music

The Music Department’s motto is ‘Music for all’. The teaching rooms are fully-equipped music suites, each with Mac mini computers and MIDI keyboards, and a host of ‘world’ instruments, from ukuleles to African djembes available to pupils. 250 one-to-one instrumental and singing lessons take place every week, covering 17+ instrumental disciplines. Music tours abroad are planned biennially and we are unique in having a Composer in Residence who creates bespoke repertoire specifically for our pupils.

In collaboration with Dance and Drama, the Music Department plays a vital role in the annual, whole school production. Recent performances include ‘Chicago’, ‘Wind in the Willows’, ‘High School Musical’ and ‘Annie’.

Girls' Prep School

Surbiton High Girls’ Preparatory School is a happy, warm and loving place where our pupils are very much at the heart of everything we do. As soon as you are welcomed through the doors, you will see the vibrant artwork, hear the buzz of learning, and see smiling faces in every corner.

We offer a tailored curriculum, enhanced and enriched to develop learning beyond the core subjects, providing every pupil with the opportunity to reach their potential. There is specialist teaching throughout the School for Music, Modern Foreign Languages and Physical Education. As pupils progress through the School, further subject specialism is introduced in Mathematics, English, Computing, Art and Science. There is a dedicated, spacious music studio, ‘breakout’ areas for one- to-one learning, a dining hall and kitchen, dedicated Drama and Music classrooms and practice rooms, as well as a dedicated Science and Art room.

Pupils at the Girls’ Prep have full access to 39 acres of Sports grounds at our sites in Hinchley Wood (Manor Road South and Oaken Lane). Sports taught include gymnastics, movement skills, ball skills, athletics, football, tennis, hockey, netball, cricket and basic sport psychology.

Pupils in the younger year groups enjoy Learning Outside the Classroom (LOC) in a dedicated woodland area at our Sports Grounds in Hinchley Wood, from storytime and phonics, to investigating a range of species within the local habitat.

Reception to Year 6

Girls in Reception have Music lessons in their classroom and also in the Music Room. The lessons are practical with a focus on developing their musical understanding, confidence and performance skills. The curriculum is varied with an emphasis on singing, movement, rhythm and music appreciation.

Throughout the year, musical horizons are broadened through a variety or listening activities and concerts. There are many opportunities for you to watch your daughter perform throughout the year including: The Nativity, Mother’s Day Tea, Class Assemblies and Summer Celebration.

Our girls will explore a wide range of media and materials. They will be given opportunities to share their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play and design and technology.

By the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage, the girls should:

• Sing songs, make music and dance, and experiment with ways of changing them.
• Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
• Use media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes.
• Represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, role-play and stories.

Hinchley Wood and Oaken Lane Sports ground

Pupils at the Boys’ Prep, Girls’ Prep and Senior School all enjoy the use of the 39 acres of sports grounds spread across two sites, Hinchley Wood and Oaken Lane, which are in close proximity to one another and approximately 10 minutes’ drive from the main school sites.

Hinchley Wood has a fully-equipped club house with changing facilities, kitchen and a rowing fitness suite and is home to 6 tennis/netball courts, multi-purpose astroturf, a long-jump pit and grass pitches for rugby, football, cricket, rounders and athletics. At Oaken Lane there are 3 tennis/netball courts, a multi-use games area (MUGA) and a hockey pitch.

The Senior School sports curriculum covers the ‘Super Eight’ sports: cricket, football, gymnastics, hockey, netball, rowing, skiing and tennis. Skiing and athletics are offered outside curriculum time.

The Boys’ Prep School sports curriculum covers 18 sports: Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Cricket, Dance, Dodgeball, Football, Gymnastics, Health and Fitness, Hockey, Invasion Games, Outdoor Adventure Activities, Rugby, Skiing, Swimming, Tennis, UniHoc and Volleyball.

The Girls’ Prep School sports curriculum includes gymnastics, movement skills, ball skills, athletics, football, tennis, hockey, netball, cricket and basic sport psychology.

[This site is also available for event hire.]

Forest School

Pupils in the younger year groups enjoy Learning Outside the Classroom (LOC) in a dedicated woodland area at our Sports Grounds in Hinchley Wood, from storytime and phonics, to investigating a range of species within the local habitat.

The Boathouse

Rowing at Surbiton High School is a very popular all-year-round sport and is offered as a co-curricular and curricular activity from Year 8, which encompasses complete beginners through to experienced seniors. In Year 11, we encourage those pupils who are capable to take part in GB Junior Rowing trials. We have our own dedicated boathouse on the Thames in Teddington.

Rowing is tremendous fun and it is a rewarding, demanding and exciting sport, which can be enjoyed on many levels, from recreational to elite, and is enjoyable for all ages in life. It enhances skills such as teamwork, self-reliance, planning, self-motivation, commitment, comradeship and tolerance.

Surbiton rowers compete in 23 events throughout the year, from local regattas and time trial Head races to national events. The rowing coaches are a very experienced and enthusiastic team who have competed and coached at all levels, up to and including World Championships.