Sussex House

68 Cadogan Square, London SW1X 0EA

Profile: Sussex House is a boys only preparatory school in Chelsea that serves as a major feeder to the UK’s leading boarding schools, particularly Eton and Winchester. Boys attend Sussex House from age 8 to 13, at which point they take the Common Entrance examination for transfer to senior school. It is a little gem not as well known among internationals as the other top boys’ preps, St Paul’s Junior and Westminster Under, wich serve as feeders to London’s top secondary schools.

As a small school with 180 boys and 20 staff, Sussex House is able to offer individualised learning, with the upper years limited to a maximum of 12 pupils per class. It is widely known for strength in music and drama, with the boys producing their own musical annually at the nearby Royal Court Theatre. In sports, boys mainly do cricket and fencing, the latter being a particular strength of Sussex House. The school has produced more national fencing champions than any other school in the last 25 years. Boys are also taught creative writing by the headmaster Nicholas Kaye., There is a long list of extracurricular activities the boys can engage in which is too long to list here, please see here for a full list of clubs offered at Sussex House.

Admissions: Sussex House admits 36 boys at 8+. The first step in the admissions process is for the parents to arrange a visit with the school, where they are individually met and shown around by the headmaster.

Entrance exams are held at the school in January every year. The boys spend a half day at the school, where they have an interview and take a written exam, which shows us their potential. The examination includes English, Mathematics and Verbal Reasoning. A confidential report from the boy’s present school is requested and taken into consideration. On separate occasions both the boys and parents have an opportunity to see the school in action.

The Registrar’s details are provided on the admissions section of the school website. Pre-preps that consistently send boys to Sussex House are Garden House, Eaton House Belgravia, Redcliffe School, Norland Place, Hawkesdown House.

Exit Results: The majority of the boys continue on at the leading boarding schools Eton and Winchester, while about 40% go on to the top London day schools, St Paul’s and Westminster School. It has an outstanding record in placing boys into one of the top schools of the country, and prides itself of its 100% success rate in the Common Entrance examination for the last 15 years.

The school has an outstanding record of results of Common Entrance and Scholarship entry to the most demanding senior schools. In the past five years, the top four schools of entry were: Eton College (32 boys), Westminster (25), St. Paul’s (18), Winchester (16). The Headmaster maintains close links with these schools, enabling him to give detailed advice.