Broomwood Hall (Upper School)

The decision over where to send your child to school is one of the most important you will take on his or her behalf. The early years of a child's development are a crucial formative period during which its attitudes, values and work habits are established for life. A child's first school is therefore something that should be chosen with great care.

Broomwood Hall is well established now. The school I founded in 1984 has changed in so many ways, and yet - were any of those first twelve children, or their parents, to walk through the door today they would feel instantly at home, as though nothing had changed at all.

How does the school differ? Well, it is a good deal larger, although still small enough for me to know all the children and to take a personal interest in their achievements. It occupies four marvellous buildings, each with its own quite different character. The uniform, although still immediately recognisable, has changed in subtle ways. The staff, which to begin with consisted of me, an assistant, a part-time secretary (and a dog), has grown to seventy or more. The curriculum has been expanded and altered to stay in line with the National Curriculum and with the differing requirements of the schools our children go on to. 

Yet in other ways - those that matter - nothing has changed. The philosophy and attitudes that shaped the school still hold good: a belief in self-discipline and responsibility; in tolerance and a sense of duty; in firmness and fairness and, above all, in good manners. I believe in hard work too, and the satisfaction and sense of achievement that it brings; but never to the exclusion of happiness and of fun, or of a child's right to be a child.

I recognise that some of these words are no longer fashionable; nevertheless these are the things I aim to pass on to the children in my care.

One thing I need to emphasise: Broomwood Hall is not going to suit everyone, nor is it intended that it should. The purpose of the information on our website therefore is not in any sense to 'sell" the school but rather to enable you to make up your mind as to whether we are the right school for your child. I hope that it succeeds in that aim, and in answering your questions.

From the Principal - Lady Colquhoun