Hello,
I am delighted to introduce myself as Head of the new Radnor House Prep School, which opened this September 2023. Having lived and worked in Richmond and Twickenham for over 20 years, I am very aware of the excellent reputation of Radnor House Senior School. I am so excited to be given this opportunity, and I look forward to working closely with parents, children, and the wider Dukes community to build upon Radnor’s established success.
I am very proud to be taking the school forward into its next chapter as a Nursery and Prep School for girls and boys aged 2 to 11. Education provides the best preparation for the next steps into senior school and life beyond, and in my view, children receive an education based on encouragement rather than pressure. The very best results come from a broad base, an interesting and challenging curriculum, and a strong and supportive network of parents, pupils, and school.
We have the chance to create something new and exciting at Radnor House Prep School, and our core principles of Resilience, Reflection, Respect, and Resolve underpin everything we do.
Radnor Prep is currently based in modern buildings at 41 Kew Foot Road in Richmond for the duration of the transition period before the opening of Kneller Hall senior school and our move to their current building and our final home, Pope’s Villa in Twickenham. As a prep school at Pope’s Villa, we will benefit from the wonderful riverside site, and the refit planned for before our move to that premises will provide us with even more outstanding resources for an exceptional educational experience. Our children also have the chance to progress directly into Kneller Hall School, the new Dukes senior school opening officially in Twickenham, in addition to Hampton Court House in Hampton. For those who want to look at other 11+ schools, the preparation is thorough and targeted.
Radnor House Prep places a holistic lens over the curriculum; teaching children to challenge the question and then find their answers. Teaching them to seek, explore, dare to try, and be unafraid to fail. To balance a healthy mind with a healthy body. To learn who they are and their place in the world.
Transitioning to Pope’s Villa
To ensure a smooth transition for both Kneller Hall and Radnor Prep students, current Radnor House senior pupils from Year 7 – Year 13 remain at Pope’s Villa while building works begin at Kneller Hall for the duration of the transition period. I am delighted to let you know that modern and newly refurbished buildings at 41 Kew Foot Rd, Richmond (next to Richmond Rugby Club) are Radnor Prep’s temporary home during this time.
One of the benefits of a relatively blank canvas is that we can create a new and exciting curriculum. Our teaching draws on all the subject specialisms together to link teaching and learning. I know a number of you express how much the children enjoy some of their project-based learning and this is the foundation on which our curriculum is based. There is a danger with the silos of individual subjects that you don’t share the contextual correlation that is particularly important for younger age children. By linking everything through the curriculum, we blend the academic rigour of subjects with the teaching of the real-life skills of teamwork and collaboration, investigation, and problem-solving, through topical examples.
The new temporary premises at Kew Foot Road provide us with all that we need. There are two superb STEAM spaces, a science lab, rooms for music, drama, and, now much closer, plenty of space for PE and Games for all, including competitive sports fixtures at Richmond Rugby Club. There is a lovely spacious playground, access to a swimming pool, school hall, and library. The brand-new STEAM rooms are fully equipped for a combination of traditional practical skills alongside the more focused product design. Exciting projects such as the Dyson Award, Formula One design, drone coding and building, motorized race-ready boats, and stop-motion animation all form part of our new and exciting STEAM curriculum.
Our core teaching team are excited about designing and implementing a new and stimulating creative curriculum. We have specialist teachers for Science, History, STEAM, French, PE and Games, Music, Geography, and Drama. Each pupil has their own iPad and is taught to use these as an additional tool to extend and expand their knowledge and skills, fully embedded in the teaching and learning.
I am still as excited as ever about being able to offer the essence of the Radnor House Prep School from September 2023 at Kew Foot Road. Radnor Prep has never been about physical space but instead, it is about a philosophical, creative way of teaching and learning which opens up young minds, encourages them to take on new challenges, and leaves them fully ready to embrace whatever lies ahead.
Our mission statement remains the same:
If you haven’t explored every turn? How can you be bold, if you’ve never felt nervous? How can you know what you want, if you haven’t discovered what you don’t? How can you enjoy the win, if you don’t know how it feels to lose? How do you know the answer, if you don’t understand the question? We champion our children to be ambitious and inquisitive. To try new things and be unafraid to fail. Challenge structures and norms. Uncover what their best is, not someone elses. Experiment and change their minds. Balance different passions and ways of learning. Embrace change and the unknown. Discover who they are not who they want to be. Because Radnor House Prep is a place where curious minds can explore.
I look forward to welcoming parents to Radnor this year. To book a slot at one of our upcoming Open Days, please visit our Eventbrite page
Best wishes,
Mrs Stephanie Piper
Head
