Best private schools in Ealing

Ealing has two coeducational prep schools only minutes from Ealing Broadway station. Durston House School (3-13), with its array of buildings, playing fields and close ties to St Paul’s School, is the heavyweight of the two but Clifton Lodge School (3-11) also has a longstanding reputation for preparing boys and girls for entry to the elite London senior schools – as a rule, few Ealing children aim for boarding schools. Other smaller preps are round about.

Places at the junior departments of local headline independent schools, Notting Hill and Ealing High Junior School (girls), St Benedict’s School (mixed) and St Augustine’s Priory (girls) are much sought-after as entry at 3 usually means you’re there until 18. The École André Malraux in Hanwell is one of several French junior schools which feed Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in South Kensington.

Prep schools abound in neighbouring Chiswick and parents are happy to travel for Orchard House School and Ravenscourt Park Prep School. Those brave enough will take on rush-hour Kew Bridge for the sake of the several excellent preps over the river: Kew Green Preparatory School, Kew College Prep, Broomfield House School and Unicorn School.

North of Ealing is Orley Farm School, a much-loved and beautifully spacious prep in the purlieu of Harrow School, and some Ealing parents are more than happy to do the journey to Sudbury twice a day. Some junior schools operate minibuses that will ferry children out of and back to Ealing. These include St James Preparatory School, Hampton Pre-prep and Prep School, Lady Eleanor Holles Junior School (Hampton), Radnor House Prep (Richmond) and North London Collegiate Junior School (Edgware).

The Girls’ Day School Trust’s oldest school – Notting Hill and Ealing High School (4-18) – sits prominently on the top of what passes for a hill in Ealing. It deserves its eminence in all respects and remains a jewel in the crown of the Trust and places are still eagerly competed for. Clever newbuild has crammed a lot into a space-limited site. Results among the best in the country.

St Augustine’s Priory, girls only and RC is a big and lovely surprise if you don’t know it’s there. Masses of outside space. Great all-round school for the less obviously high-flying. Exceptional SEN support.

Slightly down the hill towards Ealing Broadway station is St Benedict’s School – coeducational (3-18), Roman Catholic foundation and in the heart of Catholic Ealing centring on Ealing Abbey. There are still two boys to every one girl, reflecting school’s long history and the proximity of girls’ schools, NHEHS and St Augustine’s, up the hill. Results not quite on a par with its girls only neighbour but solid and improving with a wide-ranging curriculum.

Too many to mention as Ealing-dwellers, being well-connected by all forms of terrestrial transport, can reach inner and outer London, academically selective, independents with little difficulty.

Godolphin and Latymer, Latymer Upper School, St Paul’s School, St Paul’s Girls’ School and even the City of London School, City of London School for Girls and Westminster School are only a tube ride away and always have some Ealing-based pupils. Kew House School, a relative newbie, is gaining in reputation and popularity.

Not to be overlooked in this cosmopolitan area is The International School of London, somewhat surprisingly situated just off the Chiswick roundabout and backing onto Gunnersbury Park. Most pupils are temporary residents from around 60 countries but locals also increasingly attracted, perhaps partly because of a growing interest in the International Baccalaureate. This school runs its own bus at the start and end of the day. Ealing also houses The Japanese School for Japanese children aged 6-15. 

Some senior schools further away run bus services to and from Ealing: Merchant Taylors’ School and St Helen’s School (Northwood), North London Collegiate School (Edgware) John Lyon School (Harrow) Lady Eleanor Holles School and Hampton School, as do Radnor House School (Twickenham) King’s College School, Wimbledon, St James Senior Girls’ School (West Kensington), St James Senior Boys’ School (Ashford).

Most good independents claim to support children with mild/moderate needs but, of course, the reality is not always as claimed in the prospectuses. London private schools rise or fall by their exam successes and parents should enquire closely and monitor rigorously if their brilliant child – with diagnosed or suspected additional needs – is accepted by a London independent school. Both St Augustine’s and St Benedict’s say they take additional needs seriously. This claim is backed up by what parents reported to our reviewers

Ealing has several special independent schools for children with additional needs. Insights Independent School is based over two sites in west Ealing and works with boys and girls aged 5-21 who have Moderate Learning Difficulties and/or struggle with Social, Emotional and Mental Health. TCES North West London Independent Special School, to the north of the borough takes boys and girls 7-19 who have autism and/or Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs. The pioneering Sybil Elgar School in the west of the borough is a specialist school run by the National Autistic Society. Other excellent schools for children with a range of additional needs are to be found in easily reached neighbouring districts, e.g. Burlington House School in Fulham for 7-16s with a specific learning need, such as dyslexia and a sixth form for 17-19s in Ravenscourt Park. Blossom House is a specialist all-through school for children with speech and language needs, with branches in Euston and Motspur Park. The Holmewood School is a therapeutic day school for neurodivergent children aged 7-19 on two sites in north London.