WHAT? WHERE?

St. Edmund's School in Hindhead, Surrey.

St. Edmund’s School is an independent day school for boys and girls aged 2-16 set on a gorgeous 40-acre site in Hindhead. About 620 pupils are spread across Nursery, Lower Prep (Forms 1-4), Prep (Forms 5-8) and the Senior school (Forms 9-11). It’s an inverted model, so numbers grow the higher up the school you go. Nursery is a single-class intake and by GCSE there are five classes. Key entry points are Form 3 and Form 7.

St. Edmund’s School is broadly non-selective but gets stellar results with an excellent value-added score. Class sizes are small with an average of 17 and a maximum of 19. At GCSE the average class size for options subjects is 13.

Founded in Hunstanton in Norfolk in 1874 as a small boys’ prep school, St. Edmund’s moved to Hindhead in 1900. There’s a lot of history and character – it’s the former home of the playwright George Bernard Shaw. In 2008, the school went fully co-ed, and in 2014 the first Form 9 cohort was introduced resulting in the expansion to GCSE.

Tradition runs deep at St. Edmund’s, with mutual respect and structure given high standing. But there are also distinctly modern overtones. Children are encouraged to be themselves, but also in the words of George Bernard Shaw ‘create themselves.’ A strong ‘give it a go’ attitude prevails, and children are encouraged to think outside the box, try new things and pursue their own passions. The school prides itself on being distinctively different.

Location-wise, St. Edmund’s School is in a handy spot. It’s just two minutes off the A3 and 10 minutes from Haslemere on the Surrey / Hampshire border.

FACILITIES

There’s a campus style vibe to this sprawling school and a real sense of green open space. A winding driveway leads you to the Main School building – and you’ll glimpse much of what’s on offer along the way. It’s mix of traditional and more modern, functional buildings, smart playing fields and woodland.

The Main School building is the central focus. Originally a large country house called Blencathra, it’s a mix of administrative offices, classrooms and the library.

There are separate buildings for the Nursery, Lower Prep, Prep and Senior School. You’ll also find music rooms and drama studios, a big and bright art room, a multi-purpose sports hall (Farley Hall which opened in 2021), two DT suites, five science labs, a food tech room, and a sizeable new dining call which opened in 2023.

The chapel, built in 1901, is used for music lessons, concerts, story time and events like the Harvest Festival and Advent Service.

Sports wise, there’s also a lot: indoor swimming pool, several grass sports pitches and a flood-lit all-weather pitch. By summer 2025 there will be two more all-weather pitches. There are also netball and tennis courts, a nine-hole golf course, a cross-country course and Forest School. Oh, and not to forget the shred track designed by world-ranked mountain biker Brendan Fairclough.

SPORT

Pupils swimming at St. Edmund's School in Hindhead, Surrey.

St. Edmund’s is a school with a strong all-rounder offering – and that applies to the sports and games programme. With incredible facilities and more outdoor pitches than you can shake a hockey stick at, you don’t have to be the next Harry Kane or Jessica Ennis-Hill to enjoy sport here. The emphasis is on activity for all with a focus on teamwork, leadership skills and good sportsmanship.

Children in Reception and Lower Prep have a one-hour swimming lesson each week, whilst older pupils have the opportunity to attend swimming clubs three times a week. They can also get involved in the ‘Boats’ Form swimming competition and compete regularly in galas against other schools. There are also weekly PE and games sessions. As they go up the school, the sports offering increases. In the Prep, students have more than five hours of sport built into their timetable each week. They also start to play competitive fixtures against other schools in hockey, football, rugby, netball, cross-country and swimming.

The extra-curricular programme is strong too with plenty on offer – both after school and within the Saturday activities programme. This includes athletics, cricket, football, gymnastics, judo, shred (off-road mountain biking), swim squad, tennis, trampolining, triathlon and volleyball.

In the Senior School, pupils take part in three sports sessions a week along with competitive match afternoons. In the belief that sport and fitness is crucial to physical and mental wellbeing, the school seeks to find a form of exercise that each individual student feels passionate about before they leave St. Edmund’s.

THE ARTS

Pupils at St. Edmund's School in Hindhead, Surrey.

Creativity is celebrated at St. Edmund’s – in some ways it’s the schools calling card – with pupils encouraged to think independently and creatively.

The art room which is well-kitted out for a range of mediums from painting and drawing through to textiles, sculpture and ceramics. There are also computers to develop work digitally.

From Forms 3 to 6, children have timetabled art lessons in the art room and in Forms 7 and 8, it’s taught on half termly rotations. At the end of Year 8, pupils can decide to choose art as an option for GCSE starting in Year 9.

Music and drama are both big at St. Edmund’s. The music programme starts in the Lower Prep and continues to Form 8, then at GCSE there’s the option to take music. About 140 individual instrumental lessons take place each week alongside the class music lessons, theory lessons, ensembles and choirs. Most children at St. Edmund’s School learn an instrument, and throughout the year there are regular concerts and recitals as well as music galas. There are various choirs, bands and ensembles including a chapel choir, show choir, brass band and orchestra. Music technology is offered on the extra-curricular programme as well as music therapy.

Drama is a big part of life at St. Edmund’s – so much so the school has had to increase the number of productions it puts on. Each year the Lower Prep, Prep and Senior School stage a West End-style production – which takes place in Farley Hall. Recent productions have included Grease, The Addams Family and Frozen. The drama club also puts on a show each year.

Drama is a timetabled lesson from Form 3 upwards, and at this stage LAMDA is offered as an extra-curricular subject. From Form 9, drama is offered at GCSE.

LITTLIES

Little Ed’s, the school’s nursery, is housed in its own building with a separate playground that includes a mud kitchen, sensory garden, climbing equipment and areas for free play and outdoor mark making.

Children can join at the age of 2 in Nursery 1, moving to Nursery 2 at age 3-4 and then Reception. Learning is child-led and based around play with a strong nurturing vibe to encourage and support the children. There’s free-flow access indoors and outside, and outdoor learning is a big part of the Little Ed’s way. Children go to the Forest School, and have specialist teaching for French, sport, music and ‘Stretch and Grow’ dance.

There are morning, afternoon and full-day sessions in the Nursery, and the option of holiday club provision.

ACADEMICS

St. Edmund’s School prides itself on offering a broad and challenging curriculum with specialist teaching from a young age. It’s designed to create a strong foundation on which pupils can continue to build as they progress throughout the school.

French is taught from Nursery, and it’s joined by Spanish from Form 5. Tech is used throughout the school to support teaching and learning, with classroom laptops in the Forms 1 and 2, and the use of the ICT suite from Form 3 up.

In the Senior School (Forms 9-11), pupils study a core curriculum of compulsory subjects – English, language and literature, maths, science and religious studies. These are studied alongside four GCSE options – which could include art, classical civilisation, computer science, drama and theatre studies, design technology, food preparation and nutrition, geography, history, Latin, French, Spanish, music, physical education, sports science and the triple award science course (for able scientists). Interestingly, classical civilisation is the most popular GCSE option, followed by food preparation and nutrition.

RESULTS

GCSE results in 2024 were strong with a 97% pass rate (grades 9-4) against a national average of 67%. Almost one-fifth of passes were at the most demanding Grade 9, and more than a third of pupils were awarded Grade 9 in one or more subjects.

But it’s the value-added scores that really impress with almost all pupils surpassing expectations by one or two grades beyond their initial CAT4 predictions.

PASTORAL CARE

St. Edmund’s School is a relatively small school that is highly nurturing and has a super-strong family-focussed vibe. The pastoral care element is highly applauded by parents and families at the school.

A structured approach, and a vast number of pastoral leads and deputies across the school (Lower Prep, Prep and Senior) creates a strong foundation. But for most children, their first port of call if they had a problem would be their Form tutor. In Forms 7 and 8, children are allocated a tutor as their main pastoral contact at the school, and they’ll meet twice a week to talk about academic progress, extra-curricular activities, happiness at school, any pastoral concerns.

There’s also a formal tracking system in place that monitors academic progress and pastoral concerns. St. Edmund’s has a health centre with three nurses and a school counsellor. The school’s lead nurse is also a mental health specialist. There are three ELSA specialists to support children with learning, music therapy and a trained therapy dog.

THE HEAD

Dr Adam Walliker, headmaster at St. Edmund's School in Hindhead, Surrey.

Dr Adam Walliker is practically Mr St. Edmund’s. He’s been the headmaster here since 2000, coming from the Dragon School in Oxford where he and wife Emma ran a house for junior borders.

Before that he worked in the building and distribution industries and likes to joke that he ‘retired’ into education. Jokes aside, the headship is more than a job for Adam – it’s a way of life. All three of his children, now grown up, were pupils at St. Edmund’s, and his grandson has just started in the Nursery. So, when he says he wanted to create a school that he’d want his own children to go to – he means it.

Friendly, approachable and easy to talk to, he’s a hands-on headmaster with an open-door policy. Every pupil from Form 5 to 11 will have lunch with him in his vast office twice during the year. And every Friday he reads stories to the Form 3 and 4 pupils – often these are stories he’s written himself.

Everyone – pupils and staff – receives a hand-delivered card on their birthday if it falls on a school day, or via the post if not. He knows every student by name – though admits that with upwards of 600 pupils he must work at putting the right name with the right face. And this is something the children at St. Edmund’s delight on testing him on.

He’s a big believer in giving children the space to be quirky and unique – and wants all St. Edmund’s pupils to be the best version of themselves. And while he’s easy-going and good-humoured, he likes structure. “I want kids to have that within a framework of fun and quirkiness,” he says.

Adam lives on site with Emma and their black labrador called Sapphi.

QUIRKS

This is a school that celebrates individuality and uniqueness – in pupils and in traditions. Houses at St. Edmund’s are called Divisions. There are four: Martyr, Wolf, Arrow and Crown

Sweets – which are given out on birthdays along with the birthday card – are called Stodge.

WRAP AROUND CARE

There is wrap around care until 5.30pm for pupils in Reception to Form 3. Children in Form 3 and above can take part in co-curricular clubs every night of the week.

There’s a wide choice of clubs covering a range of areas including sport, music, IT, drama and dance. Clubs change termly and include activities like coding, dungeons and dragons club, music technology, street dance, shred, psychology, art, frisbee and crochet club.

A programme of after school clubs every evening after school provides opportunities to develop skills and try new activities. These cover a range of areas and interests including sport, music, IT, drama and dance. Activities change termly and reflect the interests and enthusiasm of pupils and the staff running them. Please see the PDF below with the latest club schedule.

ISI REPORT

St. Edmund’s School was found to be ‘excellent’ across the board at the most recent full ISI (Independent Schools Inspectorate) inspection in 2021. You can read that report here. An ISI Progress Monitoring report was competed in 2022 after an application by St. Edmund’s to increase pupil numbers. Read that report here. A Material Change Inspection was done in 2023 – read it here.

The ISI assessed St Edmund’s in October 2024 for a routine inspection and found it to be compliant in all areas. Feedback from survey responses was described as very positive.

MOBILE PHONE POLICY

Mobile phones are not allowed in the Nursery, Lower Prep and Prep. In some instances, a student in the Prep may have a phone, with permission, but it must be signed in when they arrive at school. Pupils in the Senior School (Forms 9-11) may bring phones into the school. But they must be signed in with their Form Tutor and they’re not permitted in lessons.

TRANSPORT

St. Edmund’s School has its own fleet of 17 school mini busses which cover a wide area. Routes go out to Farnham, Guildford, Haslemere, Chiddingfold, Godalming, Ripley, Shamley Green, Alton, Liphook, Petersfield, East Meon, Midhurst and East Worldham.

FEES

2023-25: Termly fees in the Nursery for one morning session a week are £596 (2 years old) and £548 (3–4-year-olds). Five full days is £4,232 (2-year-olds) and £3,886 (3–4-year-olds). Termly fees are £3,975 for Reception, Forms 1 and 2; £5,785 for Forms 3 and 4; and £7,250 for Forms 5 to 11. A compulsory lunch and snack fee is £470 per term.

WORD ON THE GROUND

Parents praised the teaching, and said they love that St. Edmund’s encourages individuality and uniqueness. Parents say their children have thrived in the wonderfully nurturing environment, which offers lots of support.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: St. Edmund’s School is an excellent all-rounder. There’s equal emphasis on academic and co-curricular – and a wide variety of activities on offer. Outdoorsy kids will love the bucolic grounds.

Not for: The school ends at GCSE, so if you’re after an all-through school that includes Sixth Form, this may not fit the bill. Although it’s worth noting the school has excellent relationships with local schools offering a Sixth Form – an d many students gain scholarships to these. That said, plans may be afoot to expand the school in the future. Watch this space.

Dare to disagree? Visit the school and see it for yourself. There’s a whole school open event on Saturday 4 October. Book here.

St. Edmund’s School, Portsmouth Road, Hindhead, Surrey, GU26 6BH. Tel: 01428 604 808

St. Edmund’s School, Hindhead

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