The American School of London ASL
The Educatus Explorer joined a breakfast event at the American School of London recently and took a tour of this wonderful school in St John’s Wood.
ASL immediately presents as a welcoming and comfortable campus. Unusually, and despite the visibly high security for visitors, the campus is an open one for parents with security clearance.
2023 has seen the arrival of both a new head of school, and a new dean of admissions at ASL. Current facilities offer much more than many other private schools in this part of London – a swimming pool, extensive library, dedicated canteen, large sports halls, outdoor games courts, art exhibition space and an extensive “Makerspace” with state-of-the-art tools and technology available to all.
Sport is excellent and varied at ASL, with over 100 sports clubs on offer. As well as the indoor facilities the school has its own sports grounds at nearby Canons Park. The school also runs a summer program for all ages, open to ASL students and children from other schools. Extracurricular clubs offer everything from coding and karaoke to community service.
Academic results are also excellent. The school tracks its performance in lower and middle school as higher than US norms and international school standards. A wide range of AP (Advanced Placement) courses are on offer in grades 11 and 12 and college destinations are aways impressive.
The admissions process here is focussed to one main round of admissions each year and a strict January deadline for the first round of applications. Late applications are considered but, with a lower turnover than in previous years, places are highly sought after and particularly selective for entry into grades 11 and 12. The school welcomes applications from all nationalities and has had much success in recent years with university destinations in the UK, as well as to the US and Canada. Applicants do not need to have strong North American connections, but US-style standardised test results are required for Middle School (grade 5) and above.
ASL is currently inspected by Ofsted and has held an enviable Outstanding status for many years, including just this past November 2023 where the school was once again awarded an Outstanding rating (see ASL website here for most recent report).
With over 1400 students on campus this is a big and busy school with so much to offer. A unique and established American style offering for its multicultural community in central London.
