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Our View of Tower House School
This all-boys’ London prep is a shining example of the way kindness and careful nurturing can shape boys into charming and delightful young men. It is ‘a very happy school’, says head Neill Lunnon, where the offer is clear – ‘stretch, challenge and love the boys’. Pupils’ individual needs are at the heart of everything and they’re given as many opportunities as possible, from learning how to launch a start-up to exhibiting in the annual art fair. Proudly non-selective, the academics and co-curricular offering mean everyone thrives (the scholarship haul is impressive), but perhaps its hope-for-the-future magic is seeing the way the boys all support each other across the year groups. Much like its Tardis-like campus, there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye here.
Where is Tower House School?
The school sits on a residential street off Upper Richmond Road, a short walk away from Richmond Park – which the boys visit frequently for forest school, teddy bear picnics, orienteering challenges and sometimes even lessons. It’s a mix of old and new buildings: the original house, the junior school building, the music and dining room; and a newbuild housing a multi-purpose hall and four classrooms.
Most pupils come from Barnes, Sheen and Putney, scooting, cycling or walking to school. Others travel from Kew, Chiswick and Richmond. Two bus routes bring boys to school each morning, and a new shuttle bus also takes sisters of Tower House boys to Old Vicarage School in the mornings.
School headmaster
Neill Lunnon joined Tower House School in September 2023, arriving from his previous headship at Fulham Prep which he led for five years. Before that, he spent almost 25 years working at as a teacher, housemaster and deputy head pastoral, three of which were spent on secondment at Wellington College Prep, formerly Eagle House School. He describes Tower House as ‘a little bit of magic’, and his charges as ‘utterly charming – nice to be with, and with a nice level of confidence’.
Armed with plenty of wisdom and experience, Mr Lunnon is already a huge hit. He is approachable and driven, and his focus on balancing the many advantages of the global-city location within a local community is music to the ears of Tower House parents. He sees prep school as a time to sow as many seeds of possibility and opportunity as he can, telling us he ‘loves the extraordinary sponge-like nature of young children’. He’s a very visible head too, reading to reception and Year 1 pupils and listening to Years 2, 3 and 4 read every week. He holds regular ‘drop and stop’ coffee mornings throughout each term, and invites small groups of parents in for lunch every Wednesday so they can see the workings of the school first-hand and really get to know him.
He’s looking forward to cutting the ribbon on a brand-new library right in the heart of the school soon, and has overhauled the IT curriculum with the Year 7s and 8s due to be issued one-to-one devices from September 2025. He’s also forged a stronger bond with nearby (lots of Tower House boys have sisters there), creating a shared school bus route and aligning term dates and special events such as music concerts, including a joint biennial senior school fair each January.
Tower House School admissions process
Tower House is completely non-selective. The first 20 boys on the list are in, and they are nurtured and supported whatever academic challenges they may face. The reception teacher and the head visits each new pupil at home before they start and there’s a Saturday family morning and stay-and-play with parents in the preceding summer term. For entry in other years (if a place does become available), the younger pupils (Years 1 and 2) spend a trial morning with their year group to ensure they’d be happy in the environment and for Year 3 and above, they have a maths, English and reading assessment, as well as an interview with deputy head Ben Peyton.
Academics and senior school destinations
The reception classroom is delightful, with zoned areas for art, reading (on a lovely mezzanine) and role-play with an outdoor play area complete with new climbing equipment and an awning so they can be outside even if it’s raining. ‘The boys’ interests are the vehicle to deliver learning,’ says the reception teacher and to that end their first term is spent playing, bonding and socialising before more structured learning is introduced. They are assessed through play initially and when phonics and numeracy teaching starts, it is rigorous. Pupils settle easily after the summer term visits and there’s a fantastic sense of belonging. Every Friday morning, the children go to Richmond Park for forest school (this continues in Year 1 for half the year) where they learn about the environment and enjoy storytelling, often accompanied by hot chocolate and marshmallows.
In Year 1, each boy is given a target pencil, which is laminated with their own goal tailored to them. In the junior school, pupils have a dedicated class teacher and specialist teachers in French, computer science, music, sport and art. By Year 3, they have specialist teachers for all subjects bar English and maths. From Year 4, all their subjects are taught by dedicated subject teachers. The teachers come to them though, so throughout the school, the boys have their own classroom. They are taught French (which they start learning in reception) and Latin and are streamed in maths and languages. Sets aren’t always ability based; some are tailored to what the children might need for senior school. Year 5 onwards have classrooms in the new-build that opened in 2022. It also houses an amazing new hall, where plays and assemblies are held, as well as PE.
Year 7s have just started doing the new Tower Project, an entrepreneurship scheme which sees them learning how to launch a business from start to finish. Working in small groups of four, they are given a small start-up fund to support their business plan, with weekly lessons used to develop their business plan, manage a budget, roll out marketing and then produce and sell their product with money raised contributing to the school charity. Year 7s and 8s also undertake a Governors Project during the summer holidays – anything from designing a fishing rod to writing a manifesto for a European political party. A second new initiative for 2025 is the Tower House Art Fair, with every boy and member of staff in the school invited to submit a piece of art for exhibition and for sale, using a team of professional art curators.
Pretty much all of the pupils stay to Year 8 and then head off to a whole range of different senior schools, with plenty awarded scholarships – in 2024, nine out of 20 won scholarships in art, drama, music and academic, and this year’s Year 8 boys have already bagged eight, with academic outcomes still on the cards. Extra support is on hand to prepare for the exams and discussions about next steps start in Year 4 with one-to-one conversations between parents and the head in Year 5. Pupils also get interview technique support from an external exam preparation company, alongside internal practice. As well as King's College Wimbledon, St Paul's, Hampton, Epsom College and Reeds, Brighton College and Eton are popular destinations.
Co-curricular at Tower House School
Sport is spread across three venues – Wimbledon Qualifying and Community Sports Centre (formerly the Bank of England Sports Centre), East Sheen Cricket Club and the local pool a short walk away. Reception to Year 3 have weekly swimming lessons, as well as a PE lesson and a games session per week, and the senior boys enjoy a PE lesson and two afternoons of sport every week. Everyone has an opportunity to play in matches, with teams in football, rugby and cricket. Individuals and teams are entered for regional and national competitions such as IAPS swimming, and the senior football squad competes in the Prep4sport Challenge Cup at St George’s Park each year. Cross-country club is held at Richmond Park and an annual whole-school event sees all the boys getting sponsored for how many laps they complete. It’s a lovely event with the senior boys running with the younger ones to support them.
Art is strong at the school with many children awarded art scholarships – a special programme overseen by the head of art helps them put their portfolios together. There’s plenty of scope for creativity with pottery wheels and a kiln, painting and textiles – on our visit they were lino printing fish onto tote bags. A new art fair has just been launched which will see every boy exhibit a piece in whatever medium they wish. From reception to Year 5, pupils have a singing lesson and a music lesson every week. Plus, peripatetic teachers come in to teach everything from piano and drums to violin and bagpipes, with over 80% of the boys taking up this opportunity. There is a school orchestra, swing band and rock band, as well as a junior and senior choir and a new audition-only chamber choir.
Drama is a huge and important part of life here, and the annual productions are open to all senior boys and often boast casts of more than 80 pupils in speaking roles. This year’s production of The Hobbit included Year 7 and 8 boys being filmed on location in the Peak District and performances every night that week, with over 90 boys from Year 4 and above on stage or working behind the scenes.
Clubs run before and after school and there are many to choose from: sewing, music tech and garage band being just a few. Trips are also plentiful – to everywhere from Devon to Barbados. Every two years, the Year 7 and 8s can sign up for the Barbados Cricket Tour, for which they’re expected to raise £50 each to contribute to new cricket equipment for the schools they play against during the tour.
Tower House school community
A house system sees the boys competing for points (and ultimately badges) in academics, sport, music, drama, art and positive behaviour and good manners. Inter-house competitions are fun and there’s a cup to be won at the end of the year. The older boys have weekly PSHE lessons, some of which are led by pupils. There’s also twice-termly ThED Talks with invited guests including actor Rory Kinnear (ex-Tower House), the local MP and sporting commentators.
The ties with Old Vicarage School grow ever stronger; they recently held a combined Year 4 mental health awareness workshop day and have had their first inaugural music concert that saw the choirs and orchestras performing together. The schools share the teaching of a 10-week parenting course too.
They do joint workshops with other local girls’ school too and have a disco with Putney High School. An active parents’ association (Friends of Tower House) fundraises with quiz nights, film screenings and an annual ball, among other events. Every other year the staff put on a play for parents; previous performances include Fawlty Towers and Only Fools and Horses.
And finally....
This is a school full of confident, polite and wonderfully kind boys. It may be small but it has a huge heart and the nurturing and focused education it provides means its pupils’ ambitions are met and exceeded year after year.