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In an educationally competitive marketplace, Hallfield School in Birmingham has already carved out a niche with its ‘three months to 13 years’ offering and a headmaster whose enthusiasm for educating the whole child is infectious. With a surprising 22 acres, it’s a city school with a rural feel, and a palpably friendly vibe that envelops a core of solid academic achievement.

As an ‘answer to our prayers’, according to some parents, Hallfield has made the well-considered decision to organically grow the school to 16, beginning with a Year 9 cohort in September 2026. This expansion meets growing parental demand for an academically selective school that combines small class sizes, first-class facilities, and a personalised approach to education. It also fills a gap in the Birmingham market for families seeking a smaller, supportive and more nurturing senior school option, offering families a seamless academic journey from (pretty much) birth to 16.

Hallfield School is an academic Tardis, accessed from the busy suburb of Edgbaston but opening up into a large campus with dedicated age-group playgrounds, playing fields and two Astros. High-rise flats visible over the tops of the forest-school trees are your only clue to your urban location once beyond the entrance – although take note that sat-navs may take you to nearby Edgbaston High School for Girls, so prepare to check the map before you go.

The site feels spacious and well-structured with dedicated outdoor play areas for different age groups and ample space for classroom, co-curricular and outdoor pursuits.

We defy anyone not to warm to Keith Morrow. He is welcoming, enthusiastic and thoughtful, but his amiable demeanour belies a commercial acumen and emotional intelligence that shouldn’t be underestimated. He knows exactly what he wants for his pupils, but he also understands what parents expect. Mr Morrow has navigated an impressively true course since he started here in 2018 – one that has resulted in striking improvements to the co-curricular infrastructure in particular, and has also turned the school’s academic reputation into the basis of a truly holistic education.

He is already the longest-serving head at Hallfield in quite some time, and his passion for progress shows no signs of dwindling. His ethos of ‘constant enhancement’ is evident throughout the school and in the last two years alone, the senior science lab has been completely refurbished, the food tech room updated, new senior classrooms built, forest school expanded, and the sports hall completely repurposed to provide a multi-functional space. As well as his commercially sensible avoidance of any risk, he also sees the value of the here and now, opting for smaller and more immediately deliverable projects that parents will enjoy seeing their own children benefit from and not just those who follow in their footsteps. Ultimately, delivering continuous affordable improvement is very much in Hallfield’s ‘children first’ wheelhouse, with desirable outcomes for pupils leading to affordable and timely changes to the curriculum or infrastructure.

‘A passion for learning and a belief in yourself are more important than anything else,’ insists Mr Morrow, ‘and will sustain you in difficult times when things don’t go your way.’ That said, he’s clear that parents should be able to take an excellent academic standard as a given in the independent sector and that it’s all the ‘other things’ that make a school stand out. A big fan of pupil voice, he says that ‘many of the best ideas come from the children’ and entrusts them with a very mature level of responsibility.

Mr Morrow exudes reassurance – thanks in part to his quarter of a century’s experience as a headmaster but also because he is a commercial realist and a savvy businessman with a wise aversion to risk and a steely eye for financial detail. Hallfield may become a little ‘taller and thinner’ as the senior expansion works its way through, but the enriched offering at this very hardworking and nurturing school will remain unchanged.

Although Hallfield is a popular school, there are often opportunities for places across all the year groups throughout the year – particularly for new starters in Years 7 and 8 in the steadily growing senior section. It’s three-form entry from reception to Year 6 (it's worthy of note that nursery places are only offered to children who have signed up for reception); younger children are invited for taster days; and from Year 1, prospective pupils complete an age-appropriate reading and maths assessment to help the school establish whether or not they will be able to access its whole curriculum. All pupils must also submit a reference from their previous school.

Hallfield has always been relied upon for its academic strength, and a whopping half of pupils emerge from here at 11+ with some form of scholarship, quashing any parental concerns that an extension to senior would dilute the focus on the 11+. But what struck us most was the way in which the school has evolved to adopt a growth mindset, championing confidence-building and giving children a safe place to take risks and build the resilience needed for the real world.

Facilities are excellent and there’s a very mature feel about much of the campus. Pupils from Year 3 use one or both of the science labs, and are each issued with a school owned iPad. Digital and personalised learning is one of the school’s three strategic pillars and the head is crystal-clear that devices are only used where they can enhance the lesson or enable the pupil to present their work in more creative ways. Teachers routinely record voice notes to offer feedback on assignments and for older pupils, lesson slides are saved on the school learning platform for revision or refreshers.

English may not be a first language for some pupils, but the excellent EAL department works closely alongside learning support to ensure that children feel fully able to access both the learning and social opportunities on offer. Learning support is also valuable for some of the most able pupils who might need a little bit of an extra challenge.

For most children, the 11+ and a local grammar is the route of choice, but with a senior-school offering now in place until 13+ (and soon to be 16+), parents and pupils can enjoy the luxury of options. The additional two years are often just what’s needed to gain the confidence to springboard to an independent boarding school or simply to extend the more nurturing style of prep-school care, as children mature at different rates.

Co-curricular provision has burgeoned on Mr Morrow’s watch and is properly all-encompassing. Absolutely everyone gets involved with music, drama, art, sport, clubs and D&T as an integral part of the curriculum, and a brilliant year-long sponsored music programme gives every Year 2 pupil the chance to learn an instrument. Groups range from violin to oboe and French horn – a wonderful opportunity to find a new passion and a clever sowing of the diverse seeds needed to propagate Hallfield’s 14 orchestras and ensembles.

There’s plenty of space for sport on campus, with multiple grass pitches, a large and functional indoor sports hall and a brace of Astros. Timetabled sport (taught by specialist staff) focuses on gymnastics, swimming, coordination and ball skills for the younger ones before leading into netball, football, hockey, cricket and athletics. Squash lessons (from Year 3) take place at the Edgbaston Priory Club; from Year 7 pupils take golf lessons at Edgbaston Golf Club, and all children take part in swimming lessons at the neighbouring University of Birmingham's Olympic-sized pool.

Drama is part and parcel of the curriculum and viewed as an all-round builder of confidence and a support for interview preparation. Last year’s astoundingly professional Lion King was staged in Hallfield’s main hall but this year’s Mary Poppins will christen the wonderful new multi-functional sports hall which can be transformed at the drop of a hat into a professional theatre space with retractable tiered seating, projector, light rig and blackout curtaining on all four walls.

The D&T room is already large and well stocked but is set to double in size as part of an imminent refurb which will enrich lessons for prep pupils but also provide the setting for GCSE options as part of the expansion to senior. Art too is given significant real estate with its own pottery kiln and a fantastic array of artwork adorning the walls and corridors beyond. Younger children use a transformed little outbuilding called the Creative Cottage, which is also home to the junior library and rather endearingly becomes Santa's grotto in December.

Hallfield boasts a superb and newly renovated food-tech room which hosts classes on knife skills and nutrition for older pupils, as well as the headmaster’s after school club, Ready, Steady Bake. The ‘Radio Room’ has been incorporated into a larger ICT suite with the introduction of green screen technology making it possible for pupils to extend their existing podcast and career talk success to videos too. And to add to the long list of accolades here, Hallfield pupils are also rather brilliant at chess (the school has the only chess league we’ve ever heard of with a waiting list), with a trophy cabinet bursting with silver pawns, including the IAPS Champion trophy for the past five years in a row.

At the heart of the school’s character education programme is the Hallfield Challenge, a carefully designed precursor to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award that involves every pupil from reception to Year 8. Through a series of age-appropriate tasks, family challenges and shared experiences, the programme provides a structured journey of personal development, building confidence, encouraging independence and fostering resilience. Best of all, it achieves this not through pressure or formality, but through fun, adventure and collaboration.

Finally, there is a surprising amount of fauna here for a city school, and the headmaster’s dog is a central part of life. There are numerous guinea pigs, a flock of 10 chickens and a rooster that are firm friends of the Hallfield community and are a superb example of the school’s breadth of offering - with this particular area of responsibility being brilliantly titled ‘Henrichment’.

Hallfield is a very diverse school, and culture, heritage and tradition are wholeheartedly embraced and celebrated.  ‘Parents ultimately just want to keep their children safe’, says Mr Morrow, and that understanding sits at the heart of the school’s approach to family engagement. The head of wellbeing is as welcoming of parents as pupils in her daily one-to-one sessions, and keen to share the school’s expertise and experience, staff work closely with parents, encouraging open conversations and providing practical, up-to-date advice on everything from online safety to setting age-appropriate boundaries. It’s all part of a wider commitment to helping families feel informed, supported and confident in an ever-changing world. ‘Valuing every child’ is central to a Hallfield education – and it shows.

Mr Morrow replaced his office door in week one, switching solid austere wood for a glass panel through which he could see out and pupils could peer in. A fitting metaphor for Hallfield itself, throwing off the rigid mantle of pure academic pursuit in favour of light, colour, curiosity and inclusivity – and the beauty of it all is that the door still functions every bit as well as it always did.