Farlington School
The Educatus Explorer visited Farlington School on a beautiful autumn morning. Set in 33 acres of wonderful rural parkland on the West Sussex/Surrey border, it is located just 25 minutes from Gatwick airport and within an hour of central London by train. The school has a superb mixture of open fields, sports facilities and woodland areas with the various school buildings all radiating from the fabulous original Georgian mansion house. Farlington School was established in 1896 and has been located on the current Strood Park site since 1954.
Farlington is truly a ‘through school’ currently with around 400 pupils on roll, 40 of whom benefit from the fully flexible boarding options (including occasional boarding) that are available for all pupils from Year 7 upwards. Boarding and the ‘family feel’ are very much at the heart of this lively and vibrant cohesive school community. The school was historically a girls’ school; however, they now have a strong co-educational cohort, evenly balanced across all year groups from the Nursery through to Sixth Form. The Educatus Explorer had a wonderful autumnal tour of the site and Forest School facilities which are being continuously developed and are available for all year groups from the very youngest (all dressed ready to explore and travelling by buggy bus!) to Year 6. Outdoor learning opportunities were certainly being maximised during our visit and the bug hotel and fairy message box are definitely a hit with the children! Key learning is not just happening outdoors at Farlington. The school is also technologically relevant as a Google school, with pupils using their individual Chromebooks to support and enhance learning across the curriculum from Year 3 upwards.
The Headmaster, James Passam, has been in the role for three years and spoke engagingly with the Explorer about his vision and plans for the future direction of the school, including the establishment of a Language School to be run during school holidays. Under Mr Passam’s leadership, the Senior Leadership team has developed a clear learning behaviour framework which underpins all that they do. We were able to explore the entire site from the newly-established, three-room Nursery setting, catering for babies from 6 months, all benefiting from low lighting, natural resources and materials and outdoor exploration areas, to the smart modern, Sixth Form building. The Design Technology and Food Technology labs were a hive of constructive activity and are used by pupils from Year 3 upwards. The impressive art studio contained some incredible artwork produced by pupils which can be seen displayed throughout the school buildings. A new purpose-built Wellbeing Centre, located within the grounds was a ‘child-friendly’ oasis of calm and home to the Farlington school counsellor.
Children are clearly at the heart of everything that happens here, and the team is committed to providing creative, enabling and purposeful learning environments where all children can thrive. The Explorer observed a wide range of sporting opportunities available for pupils within the school with a Dance studio, tennis courts, astro turf pitches, and large playing fields where the children take part in all manner of sports such as cricket, football, rugby and even fencing. The school also has strong sporting links with the local community with a number of pupils, including boarders, participating in community and county teams.
There was a truly impressive range of extra-curricular activities on offer for pupils both before and after school and at lunchtimes. The school tends to keep its scheduled sporting activities on weekdays which allows its pupils to be part of local teams on the weekends to further establish a sense of local community. Academic results and achievements are strong in all areas with 77% of A-Level grades of A* to B and 85% of pupils secured a university place at their first-choice university in 2024.
Pupils have gone on to attend a wide variety of University destinations including Russell Group Universities. We also met pupils working towards their end of term production of ‘Frozen Jr’ as well as those working towards their LAMDA awards. Last year, a group of Sixth Form students visited Boston to attend a Model UN Conference, where they met students from around the world and were tasked with debating some of the most pressing issues facing society.
There is also a strong student council that is representative of all year groups across the school and brings up topics for discussion for the school to act on. This all serves to showcase the breadth of the educational opportunities afforded to pupils at Farlington. Educatus have found the admissions process to be welcoming, smooth and bespoke and the school makes good provision for supporting their pupils with English as an additional language, offering targeted support within classrooms. Farlington can offer international pupils the iGCSE route and provide a transition year into the 6th form where appropriate.
The school was inspected by ISI in February, 2024. All the children we met were polite, friendly and able to confidently and enthusiastically articulate their learning. Farlington is a happy and nurturing school with a strong sense of community both inside its grounds and in the local area. The family-friendly atmosphere, international population, and easily accessible location makes Farlington a super choice for incoming Educatus families.
As visited and written by Robert Carr & Rowena McArthur
