The four best independent prep schools in or near Sutton are;
- Collingwood School in Wallington,
- Seaton House School in Sutton,
- Homefield Preparatory School in Sutton, and
- Sutton High Prep School.
They are all day schools and are within three miles of each other, either side of Sutton town centre. Why choose these? Because these Sutton prep schools rank in the top 4% of schools in the country, as determined by the Schoolsmith Score.
If you’re putting together a shortlist of schools, this brief note might help you, because it actually compares the schools, just like you do. And there are links throughout to explainer articles (they open new tabs). There is also a partner review for state primaries in the same area; Carshalton, Cheam, Stoneleigh, Sutton, and Wallington. And that can be found here.
The schools offer some degree of choice, which I’ll expand on below. But, to cut to the chase, the highest scoring Sutton prep is Homefield Prep. And it’s not the most expensive either. The lowest fees are at Collingwood School. The best value for money is Seaton House. Do you get what you pay for? It depends on what you want, and what’s important to you. I’ve got some quizzes to help you with that. Otherwise, dear reader, read on.
Age range, gender mix, and faith
Many parents don’t get beyond the obvious differences between schools. These are the structural differences such as age range, gender, faith, all-through or not. You may have a preference one way or another, but these aren’t indicators of a better education.
First of all, there’s gender mix. Sutton has three single-sex prep schools. Sutton High Prep and Seaton House School are girls’ schools. Homefield Prep is a boys’ school. Collingwood School is the only mixed school and has a 60%/40% boy to girl ratio.
As for age range;
- Collingwood School; 2 to 11,
- Seaton House School; 2½ to 11,
- Homefield Preparatory School; 4 to 13,
- Sutton High Prep School; 3 to 11.
Which means that three of the schools have a nursery or pre-school class. Homefield Prep doesn’t, but it does offer pupils the chance to stay beyond age 11 for Common Entrance exams to independent day and boarding schools.
In addition, each of the schools offer wraparound childcare from 7.15/8.00am to 6.00/6.30pm.
As for faith, all four prep schools welcome pupils of all faiths and none. Religion has a comparatively low profile in these schools, compared to some other areas.
Standalone preps and all-through schools
Collingwood, Seaton House, and Homefield Prep are standalone prep schools. They exist to prepare pupils for entry into a range of schools at the end of Year 6 or 8. The benefit being that choice of destination is more informed in later prep years than in Nursery or Reception.
Sutton High Prep, on the other hand, is a junior department of an all-through school to age 18. Here, the curriculum is geared towards preparing the pupil for moving up into the senior school, rather than transferring to another school. And pupils are expected to make that transition. Which brings a benefit of a stress-free Year 6 for pupils, and parents. The school might also argue that teaching time can be diverted to activities more beneficial than exam preparation.
Academic selection and inspections
Seaton House and Collingwood School are not academically selective, operating a waiting-list admissions procedure. Homefield Prep is academically selective, with age-appropriate assessments as part of the admissions process. Sutton High Prep is not selective at Nursery and Reception but is selective for pupils joining in Year 1 and beyond.
The degree of academic selectivity can dictate the pace of lessons. It can also be a prime determinant of academic outcomes; smarter pupils get better results. But not always. Demographics and, dare I mention, teaching, influence academic outcomes too.
ISI, the independent schools’ inspector, makes the following observations about pupils’ ability profiles at these Sutton prep schools. Ability profiles at Homefield Prep are ‘above average’. At Seaton House they are ‘broadly above average’, whereas at Sutton High Prep ability profiles are ‘average’. Make of that what you will. These descriptions come from the three schools’ submissions to nationally standardised tests. The ability profiles of pupils at Collingwood School are ‘above average’, but by the school’s own assessment.
The most recent ISI inspections for Sutton High (whole school), Seaton House, and Homefield Prep were ‘Excellent’ across all areas. Collingwood School was ‘Excellent’ for pupils’ personal development, and ‘Good’ for pupil achievement.
Buildings and grounds
None have grand or grandiose settings. No sweeping drives or Doric columns here. The schools occupy converted houses or purpose-built modern buildings, on suburban residential roads.
Collingwood School is based in a converted Victorian house. Seaton House occupies three converted 1930s houses. Sutton High Prep is based in a purpose-built block in the 6-acre grounds of the senior school. And Homefield Prep occupies 1950/60s purpose-built accommodation in 2 acres of grounds. However, the school has invested £8M in remodelling and renovation works, completing in summer 2022.
Class sizes and classes per year
The size of a school can influence the ‘feel’ of a school, as well as the extensiveness and variety of facilities;
- 1 class per year; Collingwood School and Seaton House School,
- 2 classes per year rising to 3; Sutton High Prep,
- 2 or 3 classes per year; Homefield Prep.
Average class sizes at Sutton prep schools range from 13 to 20 pupils. Classes at Collingwood School are the smallest, averaging 14 pupils per class. Classes at Homefield Prep average 16 pupils. And at Sutton High Prep and Seaton House classes average at around 19-20 pupils per class.
Facilities at Sutton prep schools
Each of these Sutton prep schools have some specialist facilities. But, if swankiness and variety of facilities were your main criteria, you’d probably not choose one of these.
That said, Sutton High Prep has the best facilities of the four. Partly because it has its own arts and academic facilities, but also because pupils have access to the sporting facilities at the senior school. Otherwise, Homefield Prep has the widest variety. And as mentioned previously, a development programme is expanding and modernising its facilities.
Collingwood School has the least specialist facilities, especially for sport, but pupils make use of community facilities.
Starting with sports facilities. Sutton High Prep, Seaton House and Homefield Prep pupils all have indoor and outdoor games facilities. Facilities such as a sports hall, tennis courts, playgrounds and playing field(s). There’s also a swimming pool and an Astroturf at Sutton High. Homefield Prep will soon have a new all-weather pitch.
As for arts facilities, Seaton House, Homefield Prep, and Sutton High Prep each have a multi-purpose room/hall, an art room and a music room(s). Homefield Prep has a new 300 seat performance hall, as well as a music tech and music practice rooms. Pupils at Sutton High Prep can also avail themselves of the dance studio and the music school at the senior school. At Collingwood School, the art facility is the school hall.
Academic learning facilities are better overall with an outdoor learning space, computer suite, library, and laptops/tablets in the classroom. Additionally, there are DT and science labs at Homefield Prep and Sutton High Prep.
Computing and remote learning
As well as computer suites for teaching computing skills, or classroom/library devices for research and project work, there are also dedicated devices.
During the pandemic, remote teaching, assisted by technology, became a necessity. Blended learning (face to face and online) is now a reality. Perhaps not for the youngest pupils, but certainly for those in Year 3 upwards. As such, schools are starting to issue dedicated devices to their pupils. At Collingwood School and Sutton High Prep, for example, all pupils from Year 4 upwards have their own iPads. The other two schools provide pooled iPads, Chromebooks, laptops, on an as-needed basis.
Academic curricula
All four of the Sutton independent prep schools offer curricula based on, and augmenting, the National Curriculum.
They all acknowledge the importance of skills development, as well as fact acquisition. This balance is topical in curriculum design for all schools. Skills development in Sutton prep schools is most apparent in their recent push to STEAM projects. These projects explore one or more science, technology, engineering, arts and maths topics. They encourage practical applications of skills and problem solving, and here, in these Sutton prep schools, they manifest as are occasional days or theme weeks.
Sutton High Prep goes a little further. It has a ‘Connected Curriculum’ which formalises links between the subjects across the curriculum. Again, the idea is to promote project work to develop pupils’ transferable skills. Skills such as collaboration, independent research, and enquiry. The links are most apparent for geography, history, DT and art.
To an extent, the curriculum at Seaton House School also makes these cross-curricular links.
As Sutton has selective state secondary schools, all but Sutton High Prep introduce verbal and non-verbal reasoning from Year 3 or 4 in preparation for Year 6 11+ exams. At Homefield Prep the curriculum shifts in Year 6 to prepare boys for Common Entrance exams in Years 7 and 8.
Outdoor learning and trips
All four preps offer plenty of educational trips to support and stimulate their curricula; more than most schools in the neighbouring areas. And there are field, cultural, adventure, sporting and musical residential trips from Year 5. However, Seaton House starts with some over-nighters from Year 3.
Outdoor learning, however, isn’t as prominent in Sutton prep schools, as it is in some other areas.
To a greater or lesser degree, some pupils at each of these prep schools enter national academic competitions. Usually, it’s part of a ‘gifted and talented’ programme. And pupils at Homefield Prep, in particular, have met with some success too, appearing in national finals for chess, maths, and science.
Foreign language teaching
All four Sutton prep schools teach French from Nursery or Reception.
Three schools also teach a second language. Collingwood School teaches Spanish from Year 3. Homewood Prep teaches Latin from Year 5.
At Sutton High Prep, pupils also learn Spanish from Year 3 and a third language, Latin, from Year 5. The school used to teach German too.
Subject specialist teaching
Primary school teachers can, and often do, teach a wide range of subjects to their pupils. Their expertise is in teaching this age group. Prep schools make the case that subject specialists may be better for some subjects. Also, the progression from one to several teachers prepares pupils for teaching in senior schools. How much subject specialist teaching each school offers, and when they offer it, varies.
The four Sutton prep schools offer a similar menu of class-based teaching to Year 3, but with subject specialist teaching in sport, music, languages, and sometimes art and computing.
Seaton House adds maths specialists from Year 3. Homefield Prep moves to specialist teaching for all subjects from Year 4. Sutton High Prep introduces specialist teachers for art, computing, DT and science in Years 5 and 6.
Sport at Sutton prep schools
It is in the provision of sports and the arts that private schools excel. In particular, time spent on sport, and lessons dedicated to music, art, drama and sometimes dance set them apart from state schools.
And these four schools are no exception. At least two PE/games sessions per week and 10% of curriculum time dedicated to sport. They each offer between 10 and 16 different sports through the curriculum and the extra-curriculum. Homefield Prep offers the most sports.
Facilities, pupil numbers and specialist teaching are the key ingredients for sporting achievement at independent prep schools. These four all turn out representative teams across, at least, the major sports. Teams from Sutton High Prep and Homefield Prep tend to be more competitive.
Only Homefield Prep has appeared in national finals for any sport, and that was for rugby.
The arts at Sutton prep schools
The arts in Sutton prep schools are taken seriously. For a start, they all have curricular art lessons and extra-curricular art activities.
Even the smaller schools have a couple of choirs and an instrument ensemble or two. Many pupils learn an instrument outside curricular music and take graded exams. At Homefield Prep, up to 80% of pupils learn a musical instrument. It also has five choirs and five or six instrument ensembles.
Only Sutton High Prep offers drama as a discrete curricular subject. But all Sutton preps stage musical and dramatic performances and have extra-curricular English Speaking Board and/or LAMDA speech and drama exams.
Dance doesn’t feature on the curricula beyond Year 2 at any of the schools, and only then as part of the PE curriculum. But extra-curricular dance is particularly strong at Sutton High Prep and Seaton House.
There is also a wide range of extra-curricular clubs at all four prep schools. There’s sport, of course. But in addition, Homefield Prep, Sutton High Prep and Seaton House all offer around 12 academic, arts, and hobby clubs per year group, per term.
Exam results and destination schools
It’s hard to compare these four Sutton prep schools on exam results since they don’t all enter the same comparable national exams.
I suspect, though, that Seaton House may be the highest achieving school academically. A four-year average for attainment in Year 6 SATS exams puts Seaton House School in the top 0.2% of all prep and primary schools in England. The other three schools, like most independent schools, don’t enter SATS exams. They do test pupils, however, and use nationally standardised tests to benchmark their pupils’ progress.
As for destination schools, there are some differences between the four.
Pupils from Collingwood School and Seaton House tend to win places to one of the Sutton grammar schools or a local independent day school. In a roughly 50%/50% ratio.
Homefield Prep supports entry to the widest range of destinations; historically up to 35 different senior schools. 50% of pupils leave at the end of Year 6 for a local grammar or independent. Of those who stay on to Year 8 all win places at an independent school. Half win places to King’s College School Wimbledon, Ewell Castle School, City of London Freemen’s School, and Trinity School.
Pupils at Sutton High Prep, have the narrowest exit path; nearly all move up to the senior school. Sutton High School is usually in the top 10%-15% of independent schools by A Level results.
Fees and value for money
For the 2022/23 academic year, Year 6 tuition fees at these prep schools range from £3,300 to £4,950 per term. Fees at Homefield Prep and Sutton High Prep are at the top end of the range. Fees at Collingwood School are the lowest. Seaton House Prep charges around £3,600 per term in Year 6. The difference between the highest and lowest fees comes to £4,950 per year, excluding lunch and extras such as residential trips.
| Schoolsmith Score | Tuition Fees v National Average (Years 1-6) | Value for money (rank) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collingwood School | 75 | -13% | 2 |
| Homefield Prep | 86 | +22% | 3 |
| Seaton House | 80 | -9% | 1 |
| Sutton High Prep | 82 | +23% | 4 |
To put these fees into perspective, total tuition fees from Year 1 through to Year 6 at Sutton High Prep and Homefield Prep are 22-23% higher than the national average. Fees at Seaton House, however, are 9% lower, and those at Collingwood School are 13% lower. Fees are not as high as in some neighbouring areas.
Homefield Prep is the highest scoring Sutton prep school. And there is some correlation between fees and Schoolsmith Score. The two highest scoring schools have the highest fees. And the two schools with the lowest fees have the lowest scores. That said, Seaton House offers the best value for money as measured by £/Schoolsmith Score.
What accounts for this difference in fees? In general, it’s location, grounds, facilities, class sizes, staffing, and local demographics. Some of which applies here. Of course, the adage of ‘getting what you pay for’ can also be true, which I hope this note has highlighted. These are all good prep schools, providing a worthy educational experience. But when it comes down to it, what are you prepared to pay for?
See also the best independent prep schools in Epsom and Leatherhead, Caterham, Croydon, Purley, Wimbledon
Why are these the best independent prep schools in Sutton?
Schools that feature in these notes are those with the highest Schoolsmith Scores, not just in Sutton, but nationwide. This is an objective score that accounts for 50 different aspects of schooling, grouped into 5 broad categories. You can read more about them from the links below, and the Schoolsmith Score here.
- their achievements; academic, sporting and artistic,
- the breadth of the education they offer,
- the quality of teaching,
- their facilities,
- their look and feel.
A quick pause for breath
By now you might be wondering what you should be thinking about when choosing a school? It happens to everyone. Why not try my 7 one minute quizzes for those starting their school search? Wood, trees, and all that…