Lady Eleanor Holles School

"Hope favours the bold", runs the motto Lady Eleanor Holles adopted in 1937, and the phrase still reads like a job description for one of the strongest girls' day schools in England. Founded in the 17th century from a bequest by Lady Eleanor Holles to educate and clothe 50 poor girls, the school moved to a purpose-built campus in Hampton in 1936 to 1937 and now teaches around 997 pupils and students across a Junior School and Senior School from ages 7 to 18. Rowena Cole has been Head Mistress since September 2023. This is an academically selective, Church of England foundation and a day school only, closely linked to neighbouring Hampton School for boys. GCSE results place it among the highest-performing schools in England, and its 2025 ISI inspection confirmed that all standards are met. Senior School fees are £10,651 per term.

Selectivity here is a means, not the point. The school takes bright girls and pushes them hard, but behaviour is positive, productive and relaxed, with a strong sense of belonging and bullying that rarely occurs. That combination, high expectations held in a calm setting, is the school's defining texture. The all-through structure matters here: girls can join the Junior School at 7 and stay through to 18, so many spend a full decade in a single, coherent community, and the senior culture is one they have grown into rather than arrived at cold.

The Church of England foundation shapes the ethos without narrowing the intake. The environment is inclusive, and pupils understand differences relating to religion, disability and culture and respond thoughtfully to sensitive topics. Families of all faiths and none send daughters here, and the Christian foundation shows more in the school's language of service and reflection than in any expectation of observance. Community runs through the daily rhythm: girls take part in Model United Nations, voting and themed weeks that teach democracy and the rule of law, and sixth-formers help younger pupils and lead charity fundraising, so leadership and contribution are treated as ordinary rather than exceptional.

What gives daily life its particular character is the partnership with Hampton School, the boys' school next door. The gate between the two sites is the physical evidence of a genuine working relationship: shared rowing, joint orchestras and musical theatre, and combined sixth-form drama. The two schools collaborate across four strands, academics, athletics, arts and leadership, so girls keep the confidence of a single-sex classroom while gaining much of the social range of a co-educational setting.

The Junior School takes pupils from age 7, and progression into the Senior School is the norm rather than a fresh hurdle, so the headline figures below relate to the exam-taking phases: GCSE in the Senior School and A-level in the sixth form.

At GCSE, Lady Eleanor Holles ranks 25th of 3,895 schools in England for results, placing it in the top 0.6% and among the highest-performing schools in the country. That is a proprietary FindMySchool ranking built from official data, measured against every school in England with published GCSE results, state and independent. On the blended overall measure, which combines results with the FindMySchool inspection score, it sits 28th of 3,887, and it is 3rd of all secondary schools in Richmond upon Thames. The grade profile is exceptional: close to 89% of GCSE entries were awarded grade 9 or 8, the equivalent of the old A*, and almost 97% reached grade 7 or higher. Pupils excel in national competitions as well as public examinations, so the strength is not confined to the exam hall.

The sixth form matches that standard. For A-level results the school ranks 36th of 2,562 in England, the top 1.4%, again among the highest-performing nationally, with an overall position of 34th of 2,561 and 2nd in Richmond upon Thames. Roughly 77% of A-level entries were graded A* or A, against an England average of about 24%, and nearly 96% reached A* to B where the England average is around 47%. In practice, the typical girl leaves with two or three of the very top grades. These are consistent, cohort-wide results rather than a handful of stars pulling up an average, which is what separates the school's record from that of many selective peers.

Teaching leans on subject depth and pace. The curriculum is comprehensive and stimulating, with effective strategies that cultivate enthusiasm and ambition, and pupils are intellectually curious and make good progress. Assessment is careful: the school runs a structured framework for tracking progress, with teachers given timely information so support can be tailored to the individual girl. Pupils with special educational needs or disabilities are identified early and involved in shaping their own learning strategies, and the Learning Support Consultant Teachers and Assessors provide follow-up assessment where it is needed. Governors play an active part behind this, shaping policy and holding leaders to account rather than sitting at arm's length, a clear strength of how the school is run.

Beyond the timetable, an academic enrichment strand runs the length of the school. Younger students join The 42 Club for discussion and critical thinking on topics beyond the syllabus; Year 8 tackles the Be Bold! Project, an independent research task modelled on the Extended Project Qualification; and Year 11 attends Challenging Assumptions, a fortnightly lecture series with outside speakers on subjects from artificial intelligence to political campaigns. The overarching Bold Futures Pathway is designed to build independent thinking rather than exam technique alone. Enrichment lessons, mindfulness and structured time for personal reflection sit alongside the academic push, so intellectual ambition and self-knowledge are developed together rather than traded off.

The sixth form is broad as well as high-achieving, offering 26 A-level subjects, a range few schools sustain. Alongside the mainstream sciences and humanities, girls can take Classical Greek, History of Art, Mandarin, Further Mathematics and Product Design, and almost all add the Extended Project Qualification, a substantial piece of independent research that universities value. Entry into Year 12 is by assessment and interview, and while the school's own Year 11 students form the core of the year group, the sixth form also recruits externally, bringing in new voices for the final two years.

Students work from a dedicated Sixth Form Centre with its own library, private study rooms, a café and an outdoor terrace, a deliberate step towards the independence of university life and a space that sets the sixth form apart from the rest of the school. The Futures Programme runs weekly, exploring career pathways with visiting speakers from universities and industry, while the Futures Team manages the mechanics of applications: A-level choices, UCAS, personal statements, interview preparation and work experience. Older students also mentor through the LEH Elevate scheme, in which alumnae advise current sixth-formers on the routes they have already taken.

Most of the Junior School moves up internally into Year 7, and the great majority of the Senior School continues into the sixth form, so the significant exit point is at 18. In the 2023 to 2024 leaving cohort of 90, around 67% went straight to university, with a small number moving into further education or employment and others taking a gap year before university. The school reports that most students secure places at Russell Group universities and at Oxford and Cambridge.

Oxbridge remains a live route rather than a token one. In a recent admissions cycle the school made 36 Oxbridge applications and secured seven offers, all from Cambridge, of which four were taken up. Cambridge is clearly the stronger relationship, and applicants should treat both universities as genuinely competitive rather than assumed. The combination of a 26-subject curriculum and dedicated application support means girls apply for a wide spread of courses, from medicine and engineering to classics and the arts, rather than funnelling towards a narrow set of degrees. Sixth-formers also stay connected to the younger end of the school, supporting primary-age pupils and leading community and charity work, so the final years are about contribution as much as results.

Entry is by assessment at three points: 7+ into the Junior School, 11+ into the Senior School, and 16+ into the sixth form. The largest gateway is 11+, with roughly 120 places each year. About one-third are filled by girls moving up from the Junior School and two-thirds by external applicants, so the school actively recruits from primary schools across west and south-west London.

The 11+ process runs in three stages: the ISEB Common Pre-Test in verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, maths and English; the school's own Problem-Solving Exam covering linguistic and logic tasks; and interviews. The application deadline for September 2027 entry is 3 November 2026. There is a £180 registration fee (£240 for overseas assessments) and a refundable place deposit of £1,560. The school states plainly that it does not recommend tutoring, preferring to see genuine aptitude, and the Problem-Solving Exam is designed to reward how a girl thinks rather than what she has been drilled to reproduce.

Entry at 7+ into the Junior School and at 16+ into the sixth form is smaller in scale and also by assessment, with 16+ places dependent on GCSE performance and interview. As a fee-paying independent, there is no catchment or distance rule, so proximity to the school confers no advantage or priority in the process. The FindMySchool map and saved-schools shortlist are useful for weighing the school against nearby alternatives, and the local hub lets you compare Richmond upon Thames results side by side before committing to the assessment process.

Pastoral structure is deliberate and visible. The PSHE curriculum, branded LEH Life Advice, covers relationships, digital safety, responsible AI use, identity and global citizenship, and the school sets aside an annual Wellbeing Day for reflection and self-care. A Digital Safety Coordinator oversees online wellbeing, and trained Sixth Form Peer Mentors and Sixth Form Digital Leaders extend support from older to younger students. The PSHE strand is supplemented by guest speakers and standalone events on bullying, healthy relationships and positive mental health, with relationships and sex education taught in line with government guidance and parents consulted on content. Parents are given access to the Wellbeing Hub, an evidence-based resource on issues such as exam stress and sleep.

Leaders' careful consideration of pupils' wellbeing is a significant strength, and the school's balance between academic excellence and mental health is well managed. Safeguarding is effective, with well-trained staff, active governor oversight and multiple channels for girls to raise concerns. Behaviour is handled through proportionate sanctions and reflection time rather than a heavy disciplinary hand, in keeping with the relaxed but purposeful atmosphere. For a school pitched at this academic level, the attention to pressure and balance is reassuring.

Four pillars carry the co-curricular life: sport, music, drama and academic enrichment, and each is unusually deep.

Rowing is the standout. The LEH Boat Club, under Director of Rowing Abby Johnston, shares a boathouse with Hampton School and wins medals annually at the Scullery, the Schools Head and the National Schools Regatta. Sport ranges well beyond the river, with around 17 sports on offer and physical education, games and swimming built into the week. For elite athletes across those sports, the Talented and Aspiring Programme adds specialist mentoring, strength and conditioning, nutrition and psychology support, with tiers for national and county-level performers. The Gateway Building houses a sports hall, a strength and conditioning suite, an activity studio and an indoor swimming pool, so training does not stop for the weather, and swimming features both as a taught activity and in extra-curricular sport.

Music runs on a similar scale: 21 orchestras, ensembles and jazz bands, including a Symphony Orchestra, String Orchestras, a Sinfonietta, a Brass Group and a Jazz Group, plus six choirs from the competitive Holles Singers to the junior Minchkins. A Steinway Concert Grand piano and a professional recording studio give the department real depth, and many ensembles perform jointly with Hampton School, which widens the repertoire to large-scale orchestral and choral works. Joint musical theatre productions with Hampton's Year 12 and 13 students give the most committed performers a full-scale stage each year, blending music, drama and design in a single project.

Drama is a genuine specialism, holding Trinity Champion Centre status and drawing National School Theatre Awards recognition and a Tes Awards shortlisting. The Write the Girl programme commissions professional playwrights to create original plays with large female casts, addressing the shortage of substantial stage roles for young women, while the Girl Writes Initiative has students author their own work. There is a Drama Excellence Programme for 8 to 10 pupils entering Year 7, a Year 8 Theatre in Education Tour that performs for local primary schools, Monologue Mondays for solo performers, and The Company, a joint upper-school drama society with Hampton. Productions are staged in the 240-seat theatre of the Arts Centre, which also holds the Music Department, a Drama Suite and Art Studios.

Away from the four pillars, more than 100 clubs span chess, Model United Nations, programming, fencing and creative arts, alongside the Duke of Edinburgh's Award from Bronze to Gold and Young Enterprise. A house system links girls across year groups through competitions such as the House Film Festival, giving mixed-age teams something to organise and win together. Financial literacy and enterprise are taken seriously too: economic education runs through the curriculum, teaching the value of money, saving and responsible spending, and Young Enterprise gives older girls a practical outlet for it. The alumnae network, Holles Connect, keeps former pupils involved through professional mentoring and community links, and feeds directly back into the LEH Elevate mentoring of current sixth-formers.

For 2026 to 2027, Senior School fees are £10,651 per term and Junior School fees £8,821 per term, both inclusive of VAT and covering textbooks, stationery and most curriculum costs. Lunch is charged separately, at £304 per term in the Senior School and £273 per term in the Junior School for 2025 to 2026. Financial support is substantial and clearly structured. Means-tested bursaries range from £1,000 per term to full tuition, are available at 11+ and 16+ entry and occasionally in Years 8 to 10, and can extend to uniform, iPads, transport, trips and meals. Scholarships, each worth 10% of fees, are offered for Academic and Music achievement at 11+ and for Academic, Music, Art, Drama, STEM and Sport at 16+. A bursary and a scholarship can be combined up to full fees, and families with three or more daughters at the school receive a 10% discount on the youngest daughter's fees. Bursaries reward financial need; scholarships reward talent, and the two work together, so a talented girl from a lower-income family need not choose between recognition and affordability.

Lady Eleanor Holles occupies a 24-acre campus on Hanworth Road in Hampton, with the Junior School a short distance away at Burlington House on Uxbridge Road. Travel is well served: an extensive coach network run jointly with Hampton School covers 26 routes reaching Windsor, Ascot, Walton, Esher, Wimbledon, Parsons Green, Barnes, Chiswick and Kew, and a Late Coach Service of five routes departs at 6:00pm once after-school clubs finish, serving Richmond, Kew, Kingston, Thames Ditton and Virginia Water. That late option makes the deep co-curricular programme workable for families some distance from Hampton.

Careers guidance for alternatives to university. The 2025 inspection found that the careers programme should offer older students a wider range of options, noting that information on apprenticeships and non-university pathways currently lacks depth. Families whose daughters may not follow the standard university route should ask directly about the support available.

Entry is the obstacle, not the education. With around 120 places at 11+ and two-thirds going to external applicants, competition is intense and the multi-stage assessment is demanding. The school discourages tutoring, but places are far from guaranteed.

A day school with a long day. There is no boarding, and the enrichment, sport and music that make the school distinctive often run late. The coach network helps, but families beyond the coach routes should think realistically about the daily commute.

A genuinely academic environment. This is a school built for able, motivated girls who thrive on pace and challenge. A daughter who would find selective, high-expectation classrooms a strain may be happier elsewhere.

Lady Eleanor Holles is one of the strongest girls' day schools in England, with GCSE results in the top 0.6% and A-level results in the top 1.4% nationally, held within a pastoral culture that is calm, inclusive and attentive to wellbeing. The partnership with Hampton School, the exceptional music, drama and rowing, and the 26-subject sixth form give it a range that its results alone do not capture. It is best suited to academically able, curious girls who want to be stretched and who will make full use of a demanding day, whose families can meet the fees or compete for means-tested support. The main caveats are the fierce competition for places and a careers programme that still has room to broaden beyond the university route. For the right girl, though, it is hard to think of a stronger all-round option in this corner of London.