Ashton House School

Our class sizes tend to be up to 18 in a class and we have 1 class per year group, except for current Year 5 & 6 who have two classes. From Year 4, we split classes in Maths and English with class sizes around 8-9 pupils. We also have a smaller group for children who need a little extra support in their learning in a smaller group environment.

Should we need to increase class sizes beyond 18, we will look to split the class carefully. This might initially involve splitting in Maths, English and Science, but then remaining together for other classes where a larger group is useful i.e. music, drama. As the classes grow we would then split them permanently. Should numbers increase significantly, we would split them formally earlier on.

PE lessons are taught as a whole class and games in the seniors is taught together i.e. Year 3 & 4 and Year 5 & 6 combined.

We currently have a service which collects pupils from Burlington Road in Isleworth at around 7.40 to get pupils into school for just after 08.00. Should demand increase dramatically, we will add a new direct service from Isleworth initially before then planning a series of new routes by half term in the Autumn Term.

If you live further away from Isleworth, please talk to Lucy Fagan (marketing@themallschool.org.uk) or Emma Frank (admissions@themallschool.org.uk) for more information. Where we can, we will alter routes to add stops, or change the starting point of the route to include your child.

We are working hard to try and prevent this. We don’t want anyone to lose out and if we can accept everyone in the school, we will. We are waiting to hear from AHS about the numbers of pupils who would like to join us. Please complete the form at the top of this page (or just below) to allow us to understand numbers. better.

Form

We currently have spare classrooms that are used for other means which we can re-distribute over the summer. In Year 4, pupils travel around the school to subject-specific rooms. This results in classrooms being available at key points of the day. We will utilise these spare rooms accordingly for additional groups and classes.

This will be a key focus for us as a school. Some of the ideas we have suggested are:

• Children visit the school as part of the moving-up day where each class meets next year’s tutor / class teacher.  

• Children attend a different and separate day where they enjoy spending time getting to know their classmates in lessons and ‘fun activities’. We would plan this day with AHS. 

• A full handover from Ashton House teachers to The Mall staff. 

• Use of our support structures (tutors, school mentor) to help ensure pupils are supported with their transition. 

• A team-building day at the start of term in September.   

• Fast tracking our 11+ process with parents of Year 6 children. Details of our process can be found via the website link above.  

Whilst we understand how beneficial this will be for pupils, we are currently unsure about this. Mr Gosden will be visiting Ashton House School in the week commencing 2 June to discuss this, if the numbers of pupils joining The Mall requires further recruitment. Any teacher joining The Mall School will need to follow our strict safer recruitment measures with interviews, DBS checks and references before joining the staff team. We will keep you posted should our position change.

When Mr Gosden visits AHS in the week commencing 2 June, he hopes to arrange a day where pupils can come and visit The Mall together. During this day they will take part in lessons and playtimes, as well as taking the Cambridge Primary Insight assessment so we can understand more about their levels and any measures we need to put in place (more information on this on a separate question).

The moving up day will be an additional day later in June where each class ‘moves up’ to their next teacher for the day. This takes place on 24 June.

The Mall School is set up differently from AHS. We are a registered charity with a board of governors who are trustees of the charity. We are not owned by a single family (proprietary) or a private equity education company. This means that any funds the school earns is invested directly into the children’s education through staff salaries, resources and activities for the children.

We are also fortunate to have our own swimming pool which provides substantial security through non-fee income. The school is also starting to organise additional non-fee income strands such as parties and rentals of our spaces. If you are interested in hiring a space, let us know! The school has a strong financial background and is well placed to tackle the challenges currently facing the independent prep school market.

We also have a thriving nursery with waiting lists which provides additional financial security for the charity.

We are used to experiencing pupils join at Year 5 and there have been 3  pupils join this academic year. We have a well-established programme in place which is detailed in our 11+ guide available to download here. Mr Gosden regularly meets pupils in Year 4, twice in Year 5, and in Year 6 to discuss secondary schools. This process will be expedited for pupils joining Year 6 and additional meetings with tutors and the headmaster will be arranged to help Year 5 parents with deciding their school applications.

The Cambridge Primary Insight assessment is key to us gauging your child’s level, as well as looking at school reports and receiving information from their Ashton House teacher so we can help form an action plan for school and at home.

These are tests taken every year at The Mall School which allow us to follow a child’s progress year on year. We also use a host of other summative and formative assessments. The CPI tests involve a standardised reading test, maths test and reasoning test. The reasoning is assessed with children from Year 3 onwards. We use this raw data to support or provide an insight into a child’s levels and abilities so we can put extra support or challenge in place according to their levels. We share the information with parents as children progress through the school so you can be kept informed.

The tests are sat online in our digital learning suite.

This is a challenging time for families and children and we appreciate they will be nervous about joining a new school. We will do our best to put their minds at rest. As they visit the school, we will show them where everything is, and make them feel comfortable with a new buddy in their class. As you enrol in the school, we will also add you to the WhatsApp group for the class so playdates can be organised over the summer holidays.

We recommend that they come to the summer fair, and the other days mentioned above (transition day and moving up day) to allow them to gradually become climatised to their new environment.

Support will be on hand from class teachers, tutors, and our school mentor and SENDCo to help with any additional measures.

Before school starts, we can arrange for children to visit once again to allow them to look around the school and feel climatised in their new surroundings.