Broomwood

Hot on the heels after a visit from Tatler magazine, the Educatus explorer spent a lovely sunny afternoon exploring Broomwood. Broomwood is a highly regarded and award winning 3-13 Pre-Prep and Prep school located across four sites between Clapham and Wandsworth commons, in the heart of Southwest London. The Educatus Explorer team were welcomed to Broomwood’s schools by the Head of Admissions and shown around by some of the wonderful pupils. The children were eloquent, polite, and proud of their school. In fact, all the pupils we met greeted us happily and were only too pleased to tell us about what they were learning. Children were all actively engaged in their learning and the staff were also extremely welcoming and clearly shared the same enthusiasm for their school. Facilities, teaching expertise and core values are shared across all four of the sites. 

The sites and approach to single sex and co-education

The schools are interesting and distinctive as they start as co-educational in Early Years from the age of 3 at the pre-school, part of the Pre-Prep site, until they move to the Prep sites for Year 3.  

At Broomwood, most pupils continue their education within the Prep Schools, where they transition into single-sex environments; Broomwood Prep - Boys and Broomwood Prep - Girls. This structure allows every child to learn and develop at their own pace, with teaching tailored to the different ways boys and girls grow academically and emotionally. 

Known as the diamond model, this approach offers the best of both worlds. Children begin their educational journey together in a co-educational setting, move into single-sex Prep schools during key formative years, and then can rejoin a co-educational environment when they move on from Broomwood. Many go on to some of the UK’s leading day, boarding, co-educational and single-sex senior schools. 

Throughout their time at Broomwood, collaboration remains at the heart of school life. Pupils regularly come together for joint activities - from sports and clubs to workshops, trips, and special events - ensuring a balance of focused learning and shared experiences. 

The schools themselves were all very well maintained and impressive. Boasting some wonderful architecture and delightful learning environments that we would highly recommend Educatus families experiencing upon a visit. 

Leadership 

We were delighted to be invited for a chat with Mr Michael Hodge, Principal and Head of Broomwood Prep – Boys, and Mrs Louisa McCafferty, Head of Broomwood Prep – Girls. While Mr Hodge is relatively new to the role, joining the school in September 2024, he is clearly passionate about the school and his pupils, bringing a wealth of experience to the leadership of the school. Mrs McCafferty has been part of the school now for many years and advocates the importance, shared by all sites, of providing and embedding great pastoral care that nurtures all their pupils. The pupils each have a Tutor or ‘Champion’ in the school that they can go to for sharing worries and concerns, but also, to celebrate and share in their achievements too. Leadership at Broomwood has a clear vision of how they want to get the best for their pupils and work very closely with their families to achieve this. 

Nurturing environment – tending to the needs of the pupils. 

The school places a high priority for the well-being and happiness of their pupils as they know this is key to their success. They have used feedback from the pupils to provide additional support such as sleep coaching for the girls and a new rewards and behaviour policy, co-designed with the children for the boys’ site. 

For children requiring additional academic support, we were shown ‘The Hive’ a space for children to go where they can bolster their learning with a teacher offering extra learning support. While the schools do well academically, it is not by any means a pressure driven environment. Instead of pushing unrealistic goals and pressure on their pupils, they aim to get them to fulfil their potential, and children are all encouraged to take academic risks out of their comfort zone. There was also a clear path of support available for children for whom English is an additional language. 

Facilities 

For a London school, there were excellent outdoor spaces available for the children at each site including some astroturf spaces for small court sports, an outdoor amphitheatre, adventure playgrounds and a mud kitchen. They also have access to the common sports fields. Across all sites, are bright classrooms well suited for their class sizes. The school has extremely well-equipped libraries across all sites, as well as dedicated DT, IT suites and music rooms for lessons and individual/group tuition 

Subjects on offer 

Broomwood offers a great variety of subjects and specialist teaching, of course including the core areas of English, Maths and Science but also teaching modern topics such as coding in cobra, computer aided design, 3D printing and more classic subjects such as Latin. The children start learning French from reception and Latin from year 6 to further develop pupils’ knowledge and understanding of languages. During our visit children were working towards their performing arts LAMDA awards and the school value academic achievements in all subject areas. 

We were blown away by the schools upcoming sports fixtures which are on display for pupils to see and shared with parents. The boys we spoke to were extremely excited about their upcoming Rugby tour to South Africa! 

A typical school day 

In the Pre-Prep, children start can arrive between 8.15-8.30am and are collected between 3-3.30pm, depending on year group. Pupils in the prep schools typically start their school day between 8-8.20am and leave at 3.50pm, although enrichment and prep can be completed onsite until 5.20pm from year 3. Years 5-8 stay later until 5.20pm for prep and enrichment to ensure that, when they finish their school day, they are then able to enjoy a well-earned rest and family time. This longer school day caters to the business of London life and both children and parents alike are grateful for this. Of course, there is a wide variety of clubs available for Pre-Prep and Prep pupils after normal school hours, up until 6.20pm, should pupils wish to join them. 

Academia and destination schools 

The destination schools are highly impressive, balancing high expectations with a supportive environment, and keeping parents informed through open and transparent conversations from the start. There were 39 Broomwood scholarships in 2025 at 11+ and 13+. These not only reflect the high academic standards, but also demonstrate excellence in sport, art, drama and music. There was a plethora of trophies on display in both girls' and boys' sites along with the latest awards for academia, celebrating a well-rounded educational experience. 

Broomwood is one of the top academic schools in London with a wide range of leaver’s destinations. Please click here  to see a full list. 

Final thoughts 

Broomwood is distinctive and welcoming. Offering a nurturing, yet challenging environment to give pupils a well-rounded education in preparation for senior school. We thoroughly enjoyed our time visiting the schools and would highly recommend families to visit for themselves to see if Broomwood could be the right fit for them.