Claremont School

Become your best, runs the line that frames everything at Claremont, and the school backs it with one of the more unusual offers on the south coast: a single all-through journey from nursery to sixth form, day or boarding, with a double award-winning performing arts department and an international football academy bolted on. This is a co-educational independent school for ages 2 to 18, spread across two East Sussex sites near St Leonards-on-Sea, with around 545 pupils on roll and capacity for more. It is non-selective, which is rare for a school inspected as Outstanding in every category. Founded in 1925 and now part of the global International Schools Partnership, Claremont pairs a settled, family feel with serious specialist routes in sport and the arts. Families looking for breadth, flexible boarding, and a school that takes children as they are will find a lot to weigh here.

Claremont reads less like an exam factory and more like a community that happens to get strong results. It is, by its own and its pupils' account, an inclusive place where newcomers are welcomed quickly, and that sense of welcome is the defining note. Roughly half of sixth formers, including overseas students, join from outside, yet the school absorbs them without friction. Pupils form deep, lasting friendships across different cultures and ethnic backgrounds, and that mix is visible in the boarding houses, where children from Spain, Germany, Bermuda, China, and Ukraine live alongside local day pupils.

The school spans two beautiful sites in East Sussex. The Prep and Pre-Prep occupy a leafy estate at Westfield, with extensive grounds, woodland, and a recently opened Early Years and Pre-Prep teaching block; the Senior School and Sixth Form sit at Baldslow, near St Leonards-on-Sea. The early years environment leans on outdoor space and a key-person approach, so the youngest children settle into a calm, structured start rather than a rushed one. The two-site arrangement means the Prep keeps the intimacy of a village school while the senior site offers the labs, studios, and pitches of a much larger institution.

Tradition has its place here without becoming a constraint, and the curriculum is designed around an evolving, increasingly international cohort rather than around the past. That is a fair summary of the atmosphere: heritage without stuffiness, ambition without pressure. The founding story helps explain the tone. Claremont began in Hove in 1925 with just four pupils under its founder, Mr O'Byrne, moved to St Leonards in 1945, became a charitable educational trust in the 1960s, and turned fully co-educational in 1982. The Senior School is the newest chapter, established in 2011 and grown from a small start into a settled centre with a sixth form and two boarding houses. Today the school belongs to the International Schools Partnership, a global group, which underwrites capital projects such as the new Sports Park while keeping the day-to-day feel of an independent family school rather than a corporate one.

That all-through structure shapes the character as much as the heritage does. Children can arrive at age 2 and leave at 18 having known one community throughout, with siblings of different ages often spread across the two sites. For families, the appeal is continuity: one set of values, one pastoral team, and a known path from the nursery room to the Sixth Form Centre, without the upheaval of separate prep and senior entrance processes along the way.

Claremont is non-selective, so it is worth reading its results in that light: these are outcomes for a broad intake, not a creamed-off one.

At GCSE, on the FindMySchool ranking, a proprietary measure built from official data, the senior school sits 1,615th in England and first in its St Leonards-on-Sea local area, a profile in line with the middle 35% of schools in England across a Year 11 group of 81. A combined measure that blends GCSE and A-level performance lifts the school to 849th in England, a reminder that the sixth form pulls its weight. For a school that admits without academic selection, holding a typical national profile while ranking top locally is a creditable position, and it speaks to genuine value added rather than a high-attaining intake arriving pre-formed.

The sixth form is where the academic picture sharpens. At A-level, just over 59% of grades are A* to B, with around 9% at A* and 21% at A. That A*-to-B figure runs ahead of the England average of roughly 47%, a genuine point of strength, and shows the value the school adds by Year 13. On the FindMySchool A-level ranking, again drawn from official data, Claremont places 748th in England and first locally, comfortably above its GCSE standing. The Extended Project Qualification is taken seriously here, and more than half of students achieve an A* in it, which signals real capacity for independent research before university. The pattern across the school is consistent: a non-selective intake that is coaxed upward, finishing stronger than it starts.

Teaching is specialist and personal. Subjects are taught by dedicated, enthusiastic staff, classroom relationships are strong and respectful, and standards are held high through a shared determination to help every pupil be their best. Attitudes to learning are excellent, which matters more in a non-selective setting than in a hot-house: the engine here is culture, not selection.

In the early years and primary phase, reading is treated as a school-wide priority. A new phonics approach has been introduced with bespoke staff training, and older pupils are committed, enthusiastic readers. The youngest children are taught by early years practitioners working within the EYFS framework, with a key-person system that gives each child a familiar adult, before they progress into Reception and the Pre-Prep. Support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities is a clear strength too: staff identify need early and adapt teaching while keeping expectations high for everyone, so additional support never becomes a ceiling.

The sixth-form curriculum is broad for a school of this size. A-levels run from biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics through history, politics, economics, geography, psychology, and sociology to a strong creative cluster of fine art, photography, music, dance, and drama and theatre studies, with business, computer science, and sports and exercise science also on the menu. Level 3 BTECs sit alongside the A-levels in some subjects, and students can add Sports Leaders awards, Arts Awards, the Duke of Edinburgh scheme, and LAMDA qualifications. Sixth formers work in purpose-built spaces including science labs, creative studios, and a dedicated Sixth Form Centre, and the breadth means a student can build a programme around the sciences, the arts, or a sporting pathway without leaving the school.

Progression through the school is built in rather than bolted on. Pupils move up from the Prep into the Senior School and on into the sixth form within one community, and roughly half of the sixth form also arrives from outside, including international students, so Year 12 is a genuine fresh intake as well as a continuation.

At 18, destinations are broad. Official figures for 2023/24 show around 32% of leavers going on to university, with named destinations including Cambridge, Oxford, Exeter, and overseas institutions such as Harvard and MIT. A further 24% move into employment and a small proportion into further education or apprenticeships, which reflects the school's specialist pathways in sport and the arts as much as it does academic progression. On the Oxbridge route specifically, recent figures show two Cambridge applications yielding one offer and one place taken up, which is a respectable conversion for a small, non-selective cohort. Families can use the FindMySchool hub comparison tool to see how these outcomes line up against other schools in the area.

Claremont is non-selective, which shapes the whole admissions process. Entry is direct to the school rather than through the local authority, and the main entry points are nursery and Pre-Reception (from age 2), Reception, the start of the Prep at Year 7, the Senior School at Year 9, and the sixth form at Year 12. There is no competitive entrance examination in the way a selective school would run one; assessment is used to understand a child's needs and place them well, not to filter them out. Children join the nursery and Pre-Prep at Westfield and progress automatically into Reception and on through the Prep, so the early entry points are about settling a child rather than testing one.

For the sixth form, entry depends on meeting subject requirements at GCSE rather than a fixed high bar, and the school recruits actively from outside as well as promoting its own Year 11 students into Year 12. Roughly half of each sixth-form cohort is new to the school, so external applicants are genuinely welcomed rather than slotted in around existing students.

Boarding adds another route. Children can board from around age 10, in full or weekly and flexible arrangements, which gives families options as circumstances change. Registration and enrolment fees apply, and deposits vary by year group and country of origin. Because demand and intake details shift year to year, the most reliable course is to contact the admissions team for current availability at your child's entry point, and to use the FindMySchool map search to gauge travel and proximity to each site before booking a visit.

Pastoral care is the part of Claremont that stands out most, and it runs right through the school. The latest independent inspection judged the school Outstanding for behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management, and found safeguarding to be effective. The emphasis is squarely on the individual: tolerance and respect for others' views are embedded in the culture, and bespoke support programmes are available for pupils facing particular challenges in their lives.

Personal, social, and health education covers equalities and the protected characteristics, and relationships and sex education is taught in an age-appropriate way. For boarders, care is close and constant. House Leads oversee day-to-day welfare, a school nurse visits weekly, and around half of boarding staff live on site so help is available day and night, under a Director of Boarding. The result is a school where children feel known, safe, and supported to take risks in their learning.

Boarding at Claremont is split between two houses, Clyde House and Pyke House, separated by buildings but, in the school's own words, united in support, care, and inclusivity. Both are built in a traditional English style with modern comforts: spacious common rooms, large gardens, study areas, kitchenettes, and freshly prepared meals. Together the houses can accommodate a sizeable boarding community, and the mix is notably international, drawing students from across Europe and beyond.

The offer is flexible. Children can board full-time, weekly, or on a flexible basis, with weekly boarders typically leaving on Friday evening and returning on Sunday dinner or Monday morning. The school runs a three-weekly cycle of weekend activities for full boarders, from bowling and cinema trips to ice skating and visits to local attractions, while older students in Years 12 and 13 earn more independence, including supervised trips to London. Younger boarders in Years 7 to 10 are accompanied for pick-ups and drop-offs. Pastoral oversight sits with a Director of Boarding and on-site house staff, supported by a weekly nurse, so the day-to-day care is hands-on rather than remote.

Two specialisms define life beyond lessons at Claremont, and both are unusually serious for a school of this size.

Performing arts is the first. The department holds two national awards from the Independent Schools Association and works from a 220-seat purpose-built theatre, a dedicated dance studio, and a music suite. Recent productions show the range and ambition: Guys and Dolls, Romeo and Juliet, Grease, Macbeth, and Scrooge: The Musical, alongside a full-scale dance show. LAMDA provision runs to Gold standard, which is pitched at university level, and dance students work through the Rambert Grades as well as GCSE and BTEC routes. A team of named specialists leads it, including a Director of Performing Arts and separate heads of dance, music, and drama, so this is a proper faculty rather than a club. The implication for families is real: a child who loves the stage can take examined qualifications, perform in full-scale productions, and reach a university-level standard without ever leaving school for outside coaching.

Sport is the second pillar, and the Claremont International Football Academy is its standout. Open to talented boys and girls from 8 to 19, the academy was designed by coaches with experience at the highest levels of the game, including the Premier League, and it threads professional-standard training around a full academic timetable so promising players do not have to choose between the two. Players work on technical skills, game management, and nutrition, with scouts attending matches, and some graduates go on to professional contracts or into coaching, scouting, and performance analysis. The wider facilities back it up: a six-lane indoor heated swimming pool that hosts inter-school galas, a heated outdoor pool, a floodlit Astroturf, an indoor sports hall, around 50 acres of grass pitches, a running track, tennis and netball courts, and access to equestrian facilities. A full-size floodlit 3G pitch is being added at the Prep site to give year-round training and fixtures, part of the new Sports Park.

Around these two specialisms sits a broad enrichment programme: clubs and societies, outdoor pursuits, the Duke of Edinburgh scheme, a swim squad that competes in galas, and multilingual learning that takes in French, Spanish, Mandarin, and German. Inspectors singled out the breadth of this provision, from clubs and sports to theatres, pools, and science facilities across both sites, as one of the school's defining strengths.

Claremont publishes its fees per term, inclusive of VAT, and they rise with year group. Day fees for 2026/27 run from £3,465 a term in Reception, to £4,158 in Years 1 and 2, £6,430 in Years 3 to 6, £6,584 in Years 7 and 8, £8,547 in Year 9, and £8,855 a term across Years 10 to 13. Full boarding sits substantially higher, in the region of £15,000 to £17,500 a term at the senior end depending on year group, with weekly and flexible boarding offering lower-commitment alternatives.

On financial support, the school awards scholarships at entry, recognising talent in areas such as academics, sport, and the performing arts; families should confirm current scholarship values and any means-tested bursary thresholds directly with the school, as awards and eligibility change year to year. Practical reductions are clearer cut: sibling discounts of 10% for a second child and 15% for a third, plus support for Armed Forces families through the Continuity of Education Allowance, and a referral scheme that takes £750 off the bill. As with any fee-paying school, it is worth asking early about the full picture, including registration fees, deposits, and any extras, before committing.

Claremont operates across two sites in East Sussex, with the Prep and Pre-Prep at Westfield and the Senior School and Sixth Form at Baldslow, near St Leonards-on-Sea. The location is well served by mainline rail with fast connections to London, which matters for weekly boarders heading home on Fridays and returning on Sundays; the school runs on a three-weekly boarding cycle with organised weekend activities for full boarders. For day families, transport between home and the two sites is the main logistical question, and travel times will differ depending on which site your child attends.

For nursery and early years fee details, including the government-funded hours available to eligible families, see the school website and our guide to nursery funding. Wraparound care and exact daily hours are best confirmed with the school directly, as these vary by section and can change between years.

Results sit in the middle nationally, even as they lead locally. The GCSE profile is in line with the middle third of schools in England, and the headline strength is the sixth form and the local ranking rather than top-2% national outcomes. For families chasing the very highest academic league positions, this is a school whose value lies more in breadth, pastoral care, and specialist routes than in raw exam standing.

The specialisms are a draw, but not everyone needs them. The football academy and performing arts department are genuinely strong, but a child with no interest in either will still find a good all-round school rather than a transformed one. It is worth being honest about whether the specialist pathways are a reason to choose Claremont or simply a bonus.

Boarding spans a wide age and international range. Boarders join from around age 10, and a meaningful share of the community is international. That diversity is a strength for many, but families who want a small, exclusively local cohort should visit and see the boarding houses for themselves before deciding.

Two sites mean two journeys. With the Prep and the Senior School on separate estates, day families should factor in the specific travel to whichever site their child attends, particularly across the transition years.

Claremont is a warm, ambitious, all-through independent school that does something genuinely unusual: it takes a non-selective intake and turns it into top-rated outcomes, with the sixth form and specialist pathways doing much of the heavy lifting. The performing arts faculty and the international football academy give it a distinctive identity, the boarding offer is flexible, and the pastoral care is the standout, judged Outstanding and clearly felt by pupils. Academic results are solid rather than spectacular at GCSE, strong at A-level, and best read as the product of a school that develops children of all kinds rather than selecting the strongest at the door.

It is best suited to families who want one school for the whole journey from nursery to sixth form, value pastoral warmth and breadth over national league-table position, and are drawn to serious provision in sport or the arts, with day, weekly, or full boarding to fit around family life. The main caveat is academic ceiling: parents seeking elite, top-2% exam results may find the headline GCSE standing more modest than the top inspection grade suggests, and should look closely at the sixth form and the specialist routes to judge the real fit.