Alleyn’s Regent’s Park

Last month, The Educatus Explorer visited the newly re-launched Alleyn’s Regent’s Park, formerly North Bridge House Regent’s Park Prep, a co-educational preparatory school in North London for children aged 4 to 11.

Set within a large, bright and airy 19th-century former convent on the doorstep of leafy Regent’s Park and London Zoo, the school offers an appealing blend of history and modernity. With Cognita and Alleyn’s now in partnership, the site has undergone a thoughtful transformation that preserves the charm of a longstanding prep school while introducing the calibre and character associated with the Alleyn’s name. And it shows.

Walking through the entrance, I was met by the unmistakable sense that pastoral care is not an add-on here; it is woven into the fabric of the school. Their brand-new wellbeing hub, “The Well,” is one of the first areas you see upon entrance of the school. It is a calm, soothing space filled with greenery, soft music, and even a small teepee, offering children somewhere to retreat to whenever they need a moment of quiet. I was told that this same wellbeing concept will also appear at Alleyn’s Hampstead when North Bridge House Hampstead Senior School & Sixth Form transitions into its new identity in September 2026.

One of my favourite discoveries was the school’s dedication to creating what they call “random events of joy.” During my visit, the children were in the middle of a school-wide hunt involving a missing toy capybara, complete with missing posters pinned around the corridors. To earn clues and ultimately release the capybara at the end of the week, pupils needed to carry out acts of kindness. Imaginative, community-building, and full of heart, everything you hope a prep school environment will be.

The school places holistic education at the heart of its offer, guided by the ethos of “All We Can Be,” encouraging pupils to be kind, happy, inspired, and confident in discovering who they are and what they love. Their curriculum includes opportunities to go beyond traditional subjects through enrichment such as the Aspiring Minds programme, the innovative AiQ curriculum, and a broad co-curricular provision across sport, performing arts, STEM, languages, music, and digital skills.

Any children we came across on our tour were polite, smiley, and several held doors open for us without hesitation. The atmosphere was one of genuine warmth and good manners, which is a lovely representation of the school culture.

Alleyn’s Regent’s Park offers an impressive artistic programme. In Year 3, children explore a wide range of instruments before taking a quiz to help identify which one they will focus on in Years 4 and 5. From there, they work towards achieving music grades up to Grade 2 on their chosen instrument. The school also holds performances in its chapel, now complete with screens that come down on each wall to allow all pupils to see the front clearly during assemblies and events no matter where they are sat.

One of the most enviable aspects of the school is its position right on the corner of Regent’s Park. Pupils spend 2 to 3 hours each week in the park for playtimes and PE, a luxury for a central London prep. For other sports like netball and rugby, children also travel by coach to local sports halls, and the older pupils enjoy sports days at StoneX Stadium, home of Saracens Rugby Club. I was told that it is a big highlight of their year and brings lots of excitement from students and parents alike.

For families relocating to the UK, the school offers especially valuable EAL provision, with daily lessons included at no additional cost for children arriving without English. This is a significant advantage, both financially and in terms of ensuring pupils settle quickly and confidently.

Alleyn’s Regent’s Park is evolving into something very special: a nurturing, polished, creative environment backed by one of London’s most respected educational names. The Educatus Explorer found that it offers a strong wellbeing culture, joyful and imaginative traditions, excellent arts and music provision, exceptional access to green space, inclusive support for international families, and, most importantly, warm, polite and happy children. As the Cognita and Alleyn’s partnership continues to take shape in North London, this will be one to watch, and for many families, one to strongly consider.