Chepstow House School Review 2026: A Notting Hill prep with strong senior-school outcomes and a tech-forward co-curricular offer

For this school, published mainstream performance metrics are limited so the most concrete academic signals come from external inspection history and from the school’s own senior-school offer lists.

The January 2023 ISI regulatory compliance inspection concluded that the school met all required standards, including those relating to the Early Years Foundation Stage requirements relevant to the setting, with no further action required.

Chepstow House also publishes destination outcomes in a way many preps do not. In the “2025” offer list shown on the website, offers are itemised by senior school with counts. The list spans London day schools and co-educational options (for example, City of London School for Boys, City of London School for Girls, UCS, Godolphin and Latymer, Latymer Upper, Highgate, and others), plus selective boarding offers (for example, Harrow School and St Edward’s, Oxford) with numbers attached for the cohort.

The school also states that 56 scholarships have been awarded since 2018. That figure is not broken down by scholarship type on the same page, but it does indicate that a material minority of pupils are achieving senior-school awards rather than simply securing places.

Chepstow House describes a broad curriculum supported by subject specialists, and it highlights specialist teaching in areas including science, music, art, sport, and languages. The facilities narrative supports this, particularly the science laboratory used for practical work from Year 3 onwards, and specialist rooms for music and art.

The most useful way for parents to interpret this is through implication rather than slogans. A dedicated science lab at prep stage usually means practical work and disciplined routines around equipment and safety, which can suit pupils who learn best by doing rather than by worksheets alone. Similarly, a dedicated music room designed for both whole-class and individual tuition signals a school where instrumental learning is expected to be part of normal life, not an optional add-on for a handful of families.

Senior-school preparation is described as starting in Year 5, with parents supported through the assessment procedures, and the process continuing through Year 6. That is an explicit, early start compared with schools that only begin structured preparation late in Year 6.

This is where Chepstow House is unusually data-forward for a prep. The school publishes lists of offers by year, split into day school offers and boarding offers, with named schools and counts.

For families, the practical takeaway is that the school appears to support multiple pathways rather than funnelling everyone to one destination. The published lists include academically selective London day schools, co-educational options, and boarding schools at both 11+ and 13+.

The same page also frames the internal process: preparation begins in Year 5 and intensifies in Year 6, with guidance for parents as well as pupils. That tends to suit families who want a school to actively manage the senior-school process rather than leaving parents to assemble everything externally.

The school describes itself as non-selective at Nursery and Reception, with occasional vacancies in other years depending on movement. For Year 1 and Year 2, the admissions process can include a classroom-based taster morning; from Year 3 upwards, the school notes that a more formal written assessment may be required alongside a classroom-based taster.

Tours are a prominent part of the process. The admissions policy states that parents are invited to tour around two years prior to Reception entry, with nursery tours also offered.

For families timing their research cycle, the school is advertising a Prospective Parent Evening on Tuesday 17 March 2026 in the early evening.

If you are shortlisting several local options, the FindMySchool comparison tools are most useful here for keeping notes on admissions steps, entry points, and how each school handles year-group vacancies, since “occasional places” can change quickly during the year.

The school positions wellbeing as part of day-to-day practice rather than as a separate programme, and the inspection evidence available publicly for 2023 focuses on compliance rather than graded judgements. That said, the 2023 inspection report notes that safeguarding and welfare standards were met, and that arrangements were in place to promote welfare, prevent bullying as far as reasonably practicable, and maintain appropriate supervision and risk assessment.

For parents, the most meaningful next step is usually to understand routines: how the school manages transitions (Nursery to Reception, KS1 to KS2), and how it supports pupils with additional needs. The 2023 inspection report notes that the school had identified pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities receiving additional support, with no pupils holding an Education, Health and Care Plan at that time.

Chepstow House puts significant weight on its co-curricular programme, especially in the “skills for the future” lane. The extracurricular overview explicitly references coding, problem-solving, and AI-related skills as part of the club culture, alongside arts and sport.

The club brochure for Autumn Term 2025 gives the most concrete sense of what that means in practice. Examples include Blueshift Lego Robotics, Blueshift Creative App Design, and Blueshift Mini Engineers, alongside more traditional options such as Chess Club, Cookery Club, and team sports.

Music and performance also have named pathways. The brochure includes a Chamber Choir and a KS2 singing group called Chepstow Voices, and there are specialist “prep” style clubs aimed at scholarships, including Advanced Musicianship Club and an Art Scholarship Prep Club.

Trips are another clear pillar. The school describes a residential progression starting in Year 3 with a bushcraft-style overnight at Cornbury Park, then Year 4 at Little Canada on the Isle of Wight, Year 5 at Rockley Park in Poole for water sports, and Year 6 with a cultural trip to Normandy.

Sport is a mix of on-site and off-site. The extracurricular page notes that on-site outdoor areas cover sport and physical education up to Year 2, with off-site courts and pitches used from Year 3 onwards, and swimming at Kensington Leisure Centre.

For Reception to Year 6, fees for the 2025 to 2026 academic year are £10,234 per term, inclusive of VAT. The published one-off charges include a £175 registration fee and a £2,600 deposit payable after an offer.

Additional costs are itemised. The school lists individual music lessons at £340 per term, school-run clubs at £165 per term, and an education technology charge for Years 3 to 6 of £50 per year.

Financial assistance is available via bursaries, described as means-tested, with bursaries advertised for entry into Year 4 (age 9+) with a view to preparing for 11+ assessments. The school also references the Nsouli Scholars Programme within the wider Inspired group context. The key question for parents is eligibility and scale, since percentages of bursary recipients are not published on the same page.

Nursery fee details are published on the school’s fees page, and families should use that official source for current early years pricing and session patterns.

Commuting is a strong part of the pitch. The travel guidance points to local bus stops near Ladbroke Grove and proximity to Ladbroke Grove Underground Station (Circle and Hammersmith and City lines). It also describes a “kiss and drop” system for younger pupils during the morning travel window, designed to reduce parking pressure.

Afternoon collection is staggered by year group, with pick-up running from mid-afternoon for Reception through to later collection for Years 5 and 6.

Wraparound care is referenced through the co-curricular programme, which the school describes as running before school, at lunchtime, and after school, but specific daily start and finish times for childcare-style wraparound are not clearly published on the main pages used for this review. Families who need guaranteed early drop-off or later collection should confirm the current arrangements directly with the admissions team before relying on it.

• Senior-school focus starts early. The school describes senior-school preparation beginning in Year 5 and continuing through Year 6. That suits families who want a structured pathway; it may feel sooner than expected for those seeking a slower runway.

** Clubs are described as running before school, lunchtime, and after school, but a clear, standardised childcare timetable is not prominent reviewed here. Confirm timings if you need fixed hours.

• Sport is partly off-site from KS2. From Year 3, some coaching uses external courts and pitches, and swimming is at Kensington Leisure Centre. This is common in dense London locations, but it changes the texture of the week compared with fully on-site sports grounds.

• Bursary details are high level. Bursaries are clearly offered and means-tested, but published information does not include a simple percentage of families supported. Expect to discuss finances in detail during the application process if this matters.

Chepstow House is best understood as a Notting Hill prep that combines specialist teaching spaces with an unusually explicit set of published senior-school outcomes. It will suit families who value a busy co-curricular week, including modern STEM-style clubs, and who want structured guidance for 11+ and 13+ pathways. The main decision point is fit with pace and priorities, particularly how early senior-school planning begins, and whether your childcare needs align with the school’s current wraparound arrangements.