The FMS Inspection Score is FindMySchool's proprietary analysis based on official Ofsted and ISI inspection reports. It converts ratings into a standardised 1–10 scale for fair comparison across all schools in England.
Disclaimer: The FMS Inspection Score is an independent analysis by FindMySchool. It is not endorsed by or affiliated with Ofsted or ISI. Always refer to the official Ofsted or ISI report for the full picture of a school’s inspection outcome.
For families looking for an independent early years setting that stays deliberately small, Annemount School leans into the advantages of scale. It educates children from age 2 to 7, finishing at the end of Year Two, and describes its aim as bringing out each child’s individuality while developing self-discipline, respect, and good character.
A defining feature is the outdoor space. The school’s garden is not treated as a break-time add-on; it is presented as a central learning and play environment, with designated zones and equipment used for lessons as well as physical development.
The current head teacher is Geraldine Maidment, who is also the proprietor, and the school was established in 1936.
The tone Annemount sets is intentionally calm and relationship-led. Its stated ethos centres on respect, effort, and consideration for others, with a balance between work and play and plenty of physical exercise. That framing matters in a school this small, because children move through the week with many of the same adults, and routines become the main “culture carrier”.
The garden plays a practical role in that culture. The site is described as canopied by a large oak, and structured into areas such as a Woodland Garden (designed by gardeners connected with the Woodland Trust and Kew) plus raised vegetable beds and a sensory herb garden. Younger children have a dedicated garden space presented as an extension of the classroom, which supports a smoother early years settling pattern.
The school also highlights pupil responsibility even at this young age. It references Head Boy and Head Girl roles, plus class councillors from Reception to Year Two. In a setting where pupils are still learning to manage emotions and collaborate, these small leadership structures can help children practise turn-taking, listening, and shared decision-making in age-appropriate ways.
For a nursery and pre-prep, the most meaningful “results” are readiness for the next stage: strong early literacy, secure number sense, independence, and the ability to learn in a group. Annemount’s published materials emphasise daily individual reading practice using a range of reading schemes, and position reading as a particular strength.
The latest ISI inspection took place 4 to 6 November 2025 and reported that all Standards were met.
Beyond the compliance headline, the same report points to steady progress across age groups and a curriculum that is taught effectively to support learning and development. It also includes a single clear improvement priority: strengthening pupils’ learning about how people live outside Britain, to deepen cultural understanding.
Because there is no Key Stage 2 data for a school that ends at Year Two, parents should judge outcomes through three practical lenses: (1) how well the school builds early literacy and numeracy, (2) how confidently children transition into larger settings at age 7, and (3) the breadth of experiences that widen children’s vocabulary, background knowledge, and social maturity.
Annemount describes a traditional spine of the National Curriculum for the older year groups, combined with specialist teaching and early years approaches that borrow from Montessori methodology. The “blend” matters: structured phonics and number work tends to sit well alongside child-led exploration when staff are clear about what is being practised and why.
Distinctive teaching features are most visible in the specialist strands:
Chess from Reception. Children begin by learning how pieces move, then progress into strategies and tactics through Year One and Two. Chess is taught by a specialist teacher described as having taught national teams, which is unusually ambitious for this age range.
Computing with devices and robots. Provision includes laptops, iPads, and programmable robots. Reception focuses on mouse control, basic sequencing, and simple algorithms; Year One moves into editing text and managing files; Year Two adds Scratch-style animation, robot programming, and building and coding a mini computer, alongside explicit online safety teaching.
Languages and memory-building routines. French is taught from Reception, and the school describes using creative resources and songs to build listening, memory, and confidence in speaking.
Artistic and performance work is integrated rather than treated as occasional enrichment. Music is described as a strong feature, with children singing, using instruments (and sometimes making their own), and focusing each term on a composer or genre. Year One and Two learn the recorder and music notation, and there is a choir offered through after-school provision that performs in local residential homes.
Drama provision is also unusually formalised for the age group. The school states that weekly LAMDA classes are delivered for Reception to Year Two by Achieve Arts Speech and Drama School, with pupils nominated for exams when ready. The provider is described as a LAMDA private centre with a 100% exam success rate.
The practical implication for families is clear: Annemount is not only trying to prepare children academically for a selective London prep landscape; it is also actively building habits of practice, memory, performance confidence, and structured thinking in ways that are not common in many early years settings.
Because the school ends at Year Two, “destinations” are a key signal. Annemount publishes a list of Year Two leavers’ destinations and offers covering academic years 2021 to 2025. The list includes a mix of London day independents and prep routes, including Channing, Highgate, South Hampstead High School, North London Collegiate School, City of London School for Girls, Haberdashers’ (boys and girls), UCS, St Paul’s Boys, and others.
The list is broad enough to suggest leavers move into both co-educational and single-sex routes, and into schools with different levels of academic selectivity. For parents, the usefulness lies in pattern matching: does the school regularly place pupils into the kinds of schools you are considering, and does it look like families make similar choices around single-sex timing, academic pressure, or commute?
A useful question at this stage is also pastoral: how the school prepares children emotionally for a move from a very small setting into larger cohorts. Annemount states that leavers are invited back for a tea at the end of their first term at their new school, which indicates an intention to support continuity beyond the final day of Year Two.
Admissions are handled directly by the school rather than through a local authority system, and the process is designed to be personal and low-pressure.
Key published elements include:
Tours with the head teacher are described as organised daily at 9:30am, with both parents asked to attend where possible, and tours are recommended as adult-only for comfort.
Registration can happen before or after a tour, with children added to an intake database once the form and registration fee are received.
Informal activity sessions are used for Pre-Reception and older, positioned as friendly play-based sessions to assess fit and readiness rather than coached testing.
Timing patterns. Nursery entry can begin from the term after a child turns two, and places may also be offered for January or April starts. Pre-Reception begins in September after the third birthday; Reception in September after the fourth; Year One after the fifth; Year Two after the sixth.
When assessments typically happen. Activity sessions for Pre-Reception and Reception are typically scheduled during the autumn term of the preceding academic year.
Offer mechanics. Nursery places are offered in registration-date order one year before entry; Pre-Reception and Reception offers follow the informal visit and the school’s judgement of whether the child would thrive. Acceptance confirmation and a deposit are due within a week of the offer.
Open days are published as September dates in the current admissions materials, which suggests an annual early-autumn rhythm for first formal visits.
Parents comparing several early years options should use the FindMySchool Map Search to sanity-check commute realities at peak times. In North London, five minutes on paper can become very different in practice.
Annemount makes wellbeing explicit, describing it as “top of the agenda”, and ties it to teachable self-regulation strategies rather than vague reassurance. The school describes using assemblies, circle time, yoga, singing sessions, and breathing techniques to help children move into a calmer state and manage worry, sadness, or overwhelm.
There is also a dedicated Healthy Minds and Healthy Bodies Week each spring, described as including skipping workshops and visiting speakers such as doctors and representatives from a heart health organisation.
On the operational side, the attendance policy sets out clear routines and timings, including early morning provision and staggered registration times by year group. That kind of predictability is often as important as any programme, particularly for children new to group settings.
Extracurricular life at Annemount is not presented as a long list of clubs for marketing effect; it is structured as specialist-led skill-building that starts very early and threads into the timetable.
Three examples give a good sense of the approach:
Garden-based learning and physical play. Children have access to designated areas including a woodland zone, vegetable beds, and a sensory herb garden. The garden also includes a Mud Kitchen and equipment used to develop balance, climbing, and coordination, with athletics and physical education taking place outdoors as well as lessons.
Sport with external facilities for specialist delivery. Gymnastics is taught at Hendon Sports Hall in a fully equipped gymnasium, and swimming is taught at Poolside Manor in ability groups, with children progressing through levels. Reception to Year Two also walk weekly and take part in the Mayor’s Golden Kilometre, blending routine exercise with a wider community initiative.
Performing arts with real milestones. Weekly drama teaching is linked to LAMDA, and the school describes nominating children for exams when ready. Music includes structured curriculum work plus after-school choir performances in local residential homes and a dedicated violin concert.
For parents, the implication is that Annemount may suit a child who benefits from learning through doing: building, programming, performing, and practising physical skills, alongside the usual early literacy and numeracy building blocks.
*Bursaries may be available for eligible families.
Basis: per term
The school publishes term dates for 2025 to 2026, including half term periods and holiday camp windows.
Daily routines in the attendance policy include early morning provision from 8.00am for those signed up, with doors opening at 8.30am for others, and staggered registration times that begin earlier for older year groups.
Holiday provision is presented as a structured programme during main school breaks, and is described as open to pupils, siblings, and friends.
Transport-wise, the location in Hampstead Garden Suburb means families tend to weigh walkability, parking constraints, and the reality of short but slow car journeys. For those using public transport, the key is often the final segment: bus plus walk, or a short drive after a station. It is worth modelling the route at drop-off time before committing.
For 2025 to 2026, the published fee schedule is termly and states that fees are gross per term and inclusive of VAT as required by HMRC regulations.
For the pre-prep years where most families are thinking about full-time education, published termly tuition is:
Reception: £7,000 per term for Autumn Term 2025 only; £8,220 per term for Spring and Summer Terms 2026
Year One and Year Two: £9,240 per term
Early years (Nursery and Pre-Reception) pricing is published by the school, but nursery fee figures are best checked on the official fee schedule so you are working from the correct session pattern and current basis.
The schedule also sets out one-off and optional items that can matter in year one budgeting. A deposit is listed as £1,200, and registration fees are shown as £150 for Nursery and Pre-Reception entry and £180 for Reception to Year Two entry.
On inclusions, the schedule states that fees include books, stationery, and trips (as planned).
The school publishes a menu of optional extras (for example, violin lessons, singing lessons, and after-school clubs), and families should treat these as elective spend rather than part of the baseline tuition.
No bursary or scholarship framework is clearly published in the materials reviewed, so families who need support should ask directly what may be available.
The school finishes at the end of Year Two. This is a positive for families who want a gentle start before moving on, but it also means you need a clear plan for age 7 transition and you should judge the setting partly by its track record of destinations.
Small scale can mean limited peer breadth. A smaller cohort supports strong relationships and attention, but children who thrive on a very large friendship pool may prefer a bigger prep earlier.
Culture and global awareness. The most recent inspection recommended strengthening pupils’ understanding of daily life outside Britain. Parents who prioritise international awareness may want to ask how this is being addressed in curriculum and enrichment.
Extras can add up. Optional clubs and specialist activities are a core part of the offer, but they can change the overall cost profile term to term.
Annemount School is a tightly focused early years and pre-prep with a strong emphasis on specialist teaching, garden-led learning, and structured wellbeing routines. Its destination list indicates regular movement into highly regarded London independent schools after Year Two, and the curriculum offers unusually early exposure to chess, coding, and performance work.
Best suited to families who want a small, calm setting for ages 2 to 7, with a clear transition plan into a larger prep or independent junior school at Year Three.
For a nursery and pre-prep, quality shows up in stability, routines, early literacy foundations, and how confidently children move on at age 7. The school publishes a strong set of destination schools for Year Two leavers, and its most recent inspection in November 2025 reported that all Standards were met, with one improvement priority around extending cultural understanding beyond Britain.
Fees are published on a termly basis for 2025 to 2026. Reception is listed at £7,000 per term for Autumn Term 2025 only and £8,220 per term for Spring and Summer Terms 2026, while Year One and Year Two are £9,240 per term. The schedule states fees are inclusive of VAT as required by HMRC regulations.
Admissions are direct and begin with a tour and registration. The admissions policy describes informal activity sessions for Pre-Reception and older, with Pre-Reception and Reception sessions typically held in the autumn term of the preceding academic year, which fits a 2026 entry timeline. Nursery entry can also begin at points other than September, depending on availability.
Early morning provision is available from 8.00am for children signed up, with doors opening at 8.30am for others. Holiday provision is also described, designed for pupils and open to siblings and friends during school breaks.
The school publishes a destinations list for Year Two leavers covering academic years 2021 to 2025, including schools such as Highgate, Channing, North London Collegiate School, South Hampstead High School, Haberdashers’ (boys and girls), UCS, and St Paul’s Boys, among others.
Get in touch with the school directly
Disclaimer
Information on this page is compiled, analysed, and processed from publicly available sources including the Department for Education (DfE), Ofsted, the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI), the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, and official school websites.
Our rankings, metrics, and assessments are derived from this data using our own methodologies and represent our independent analysis rather than official standings.
While we strive for accuracy, we cannot guarantee that all information is current, complete, or error-free. Data may change without notice, and schools and/or local authorities should be contacted directly to verify any details before making decisions.
FindMySchool does not endorse any particular school, and rankings reflect specific metrics rather than overall quality.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we accept no liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on information provided. If you believe any information is inaccurate, please contact us.
