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A double-fronted Victorian house on Mattock Lane sets the tone here, intimate scale, calm routines, and a deliberately small-school feel. Clifton Lodge School is an independent day prep in Ealing for boys and girls aged 3 to 11, with nursery provision and a published capacity of 160. Its location is practical for families commuting into central London, with Ealing Broadway within a walk and local parking close by.
Leadership is clearly presented. Mr Michael Belsito is named as Head, and he took up the role in September 2022.
The story the school tells about itself is consistent across its website and external reporting, a family-sized school that leans into personal attention, while still pushing hard on core academic skills and senior-school readiness.
“Small” is treated as a design choice rather than a limitation. The website repeatedly frames size as enabling safety, confidence, and stronger adult knowledge of each child. The physical setting supports that narrative, a homely building rather than a sprawling campus, with outdoor space structured around a large playground and a separate Early Years area.
Values language is explicit and specific. The school’s virtues are listed as Love, Integrity, Justice, Wisdom, Fortitude and Self-Control, and these are presented as a practical framework for behaviour, relationships, and decision-making, not just branding.
The most distinctive cultural cue is how the school describes learning resilience. The ISI report references the school’s use of a “learning pit” concept to help pupils reframe challenge and persist with difficult work. That matters for parents because it signals an attempt to build composure around stretch, which becomes increasingly relevant as 11+ preparation intensifies in Year 5 and Year 6.
Independent prep schools are not required to publish Key Stage 2 SATs data in the same way as state primaries, so parents usually need to triangulate using destination outcomes, internal assessment culture, and inspection evidence.
Early years outcomes are one area where Clifton Lodge does publish headline figures. The school reports that Reception achieved 86% Good Level of Development (GLD) in 2025, alongside a comparison figure of 68% nationally. (The school also cites 93% GLD for Reception 2024 on its “journey” content, which indicates strong consistency year to year in what it chooses to highlight.)
At the senior-school transition point, the school highlights scholarship and offer success. It states that Year 6 secured 10 academic, music and drama scholarships within its 11+ results for 2025.
The March 2023 ISI inspection judged pupils’ academic and other achievements as excellent, and judged pupils’ personal development as excellent, while also confirming the required standards were met.
The most concrete “results” evidence is concentrated at the two ends of the age range, strong early years readiness, and a deliberate pipeline to selective London senior schools at 11+. If you are comparing several local prep options, the FindMySchool Local Hub pages and the Comparison Tool can still help you line up practical factors such as size, age range, and travel convenience, even when exam results are not like-for-like across independent primaries.
The curriculum structure is framed around a steady build from EYFS into more formal prep expectations. The school explicitly positions Year 6 as 11+ preparation-focused, and also states that preparation begins earlier and is embedded through the years. The implication is a school where core literacy and numeracy are taught with a long runway, rather than a late sprint in Year 6.
Specialist teaching is part of the offer. The school fee schedule notes specialist teachers for areas including French, Music, Sport, Forest School and Dance (listed in the nursery fee row as part of what is provided). For Reception specifically, the school describes weekly Forest School sessions in a local park led by a trained teacher, a helpful indicator that outdoor learning is not purely ad hoc playtime.
Digital learning is presented as structured rather than occasional. From Year 3 upwards, pupils are provided with a one-to-one device, described as either a laptop or an iPad, intended to support learning both at school and at home. For parents, the practical question to ask on a visit is how the school balances device use with handwriting, reading stamina, and discussion, because those are the skills most senior schools still test heavily at 11+.
As a prep school, the key destination is entry to senior schools at 11+. Clifton Lodge publishes both the kinds of schools families choose and a table of offers for recent cohorts.
Historically, it lists popular boys’ destinations including Merchant Taylors’, City of London School for Boys, Hampton, The John Lyon School and St Benedict’s. That list matters because it signals the kind of 11+ pathway the school expects families to consider, highly academic London independents, with a meaningful competitive element.
The school also publishes a breakdown of Senior School Offers for 2024, including: St Benedict’s School (9 offers), John Lyon School (6 offers), Kew House School (4 offers), Latymer (3 offers), and a wider spread across schools such as Hampton, Merchant Taylors’, City of London, Brighton College, and others.
the destination pattern is not “one local comprehensive”. It is a managed set of selective options, with the school positioning itself as an active guide for parents making those decisions.
Admissions are school-run rather than local-authority coordinated. The school presents the process as straightforward, with tours and open events forming the entry point for most families.
For entry beyond the earliest years, Clifton Lodge publishes clear 7+ assessment timing. For 2026 it lists a registration deadline of Friday 6 February 2026, assessment morning in the week commencing 24 February 2026, offers from Friday 27 February 2026, and an acceptance deadline of Friday 13 March 2026.
Open events are actively promoted. The school advertises Saturday open days and also publishes specific upcoming dates, including a Saturday open day on 31 January 2026 and an open day on 11 March 2026 (with booking via the school’s event pages).
because independent entry is not distance-based, the key diligence is availability, timing, and fit. Families often find it useful to use FindMySchool Saved Schools to track visit notes, deadlines, and the admissions stages across several prep schools at once.
Pastoral messaging is concrete rather than vague. The school describes a buddy system for new joiners and older pupils supporting younger children in classrooms, intended to build belonging and confidence early.
For additional support, the school states that it partners with HelpingKids Ltd to offer life coaching for children, including individual sessions addressing anxieties, behaviour issues and confidence, alongside parenting seminars. This is useful context for families who want to understand what happens when a child is capable academically but emotionally wobbly, a common prep-school profile in the run-up to senior-school assessments.
Safeguarding and policy infrastructure is clearly signposted through a central policy library, which is generally a positive signal of operational seriousness and consistent procedures.
Clubs are updated termly and the school provides a specific list of examples rather than generic claims. Options it names include Programmable Robotics, Lego club, Chess, Fencing, Cookery, Touch Typing, Drama, Mathematics, and a “Travels around the World” club.
Sport is presented as both curriculum and club-based. The extracurricular list includes Rugby and Football, and the website has a dedicated section on sport and competition for families who want sport to be more than occasional games.
Creative subjects are given their own identity. The school states that Drama, Art and Music play a significant role both in curriculum and clubs, and this sits alongside the practical facility list that includes an art space and specialist rooms.
For younger pupils, the structure is also defined. Reception is described as having two extracurricular clubs per week run by EYFS staff, with ballet lessons available as an optional extra, and clubs running after school to 4.15pm.
*Bursaries may be available for eligible families.
Basis: per term
The school describes itself as close to the centre of Ealing, around a 10-minute walk from Ealing Broadway, and notes nearby parking across the road. It also highlights regular use of Walpole Park for outdoor learning.
After-school care is available each afternoon during term-time until 6pm (excluding the last day of each term), with activities running from 3.30pm to 6pm. The school also advertises an on-site holiday club offering activities for ages 3 to 11. Details of any breakfast provision are not clearly published in the same way, so families who need morning wraparound should check directly with the school.
Term dates for 2025 to 2026 are published, which is helpful for planning childcare and travel around London school holidays.
Fees are published for 2025 to 2026 on a per-term basis, with different rates by year group. Reception is £6,435 per term, Years 1 and 2 are £6,795 per term, and Years 3 to 6 are £7,029 per term. The school also states that VAT is charged from Reception upwards, and that nursery fees are exempt from VAT.
The published fee page also lists some common add-ons: lunches are £300 per term, and swimming for Years 1 and 2 is listed as approximately £95. Trips and residentials are charged separately.
Financial support exists in two forms. Scholarships are offered from Year 3 upwards, stated as up to a maximum of 20% of fees, and the school also offers a limited number of bursaries, set individually based on family financial disclosure.
A structured 11+ pipeline. The destination list and published offers show a clear emphasis on selective senior schools. That is a strong match for families who want that route, but it can create a more exam-aware culture in the upper years.
Fees change meaningfully by year group, and VAT is part of the picture from Reception. Budgeting should include likely extras such as lunches, swimming, and trips.
Bursaries exist but are limited, and not available in early years. Families relying on fee assistance should ask early about the process and typical award levels.
7+ entry has published deadlines. If you are targeting entry beyond nursery or Reception, it is not just a rolling conversation, dates matter.
Clifton Lodge School suits families who want a small, highly guided prep experience in West London, with a deliberate runway towards selective senior school entry at 11+. The combination of published senior-school offers, structured 11+ preparation messaging, and investment in specialist teaching and clubs will appeal to academically ambitious households that still want a close-knit scale. The limiting factor is fit, timing, and affordability, rather than catchment distance, so early visits and clear deadline tracking are central to the decision.
The strongest evidence points to consistent academic ambition alongside personal development. The school publishes strong Reception GLD outcomes for 2025, and highlights scholarship success at 11+. The latest ISI inspection (March 2023) judged both academic achievement and personal development as excellent.
For 2025 to 2026, fees are published per term and vary by year group, with different rates for Reception, Years 1 and 2, and Years 3 to 6. Lunches and some activities are additional. Scholarships (up to 20% of fees) and a limited number of bursaries are available, with bursaries not offered in the early years.
The school positions itself as an 11+ prep and publishes destination information. It lists schools such as Merchant Taylors’, City of London School for Boys, Hampton, John Lyon and St Benedict’s among historically popular choices, and it also publishes a table of offers for recent cohorts.
The school publishes specific 7+ key dates for 2026, including a February registration deadline and assessment window, followed by offer and acceptance timings. Families considering this route should work backwards from those dates and plan a visit early.
Yes. After-school care is available until 6pm on weekdays during term time (excluding the last day of term), and the school also advertises an on-site holiday club for children aged 3 to 11.
Yes, children can join from age 3. The school describes nursery as part of a dedicated Early Years setup, and it provides information on funding options for eligible families through its published fees and admissions material.
Get in touch with the school directly
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