United Kingdom · London
The boys’ house on the Thames in Barnes shares a name with Brook Green and not a Monday. Most boys go home at night. Boarding starts at Year 9. The January 2025 inspection met every standard and asked the senior school to make PSHE land better.
Dit portret staat nog in het Engels. De andere talen komen school voor school.
Curriculum zoals de school het publiceert:GCSE · A-Level · EPQ
Onderwijstalen:English
St Paul’s School is a selective boys’ day and boarding house on Lonsdale Road, Barnes, London SW13 9JT. The Independent Schools Inspectorate, visiting on 14–16 January 2025, recorded 1,516 pupils, of whom 41 boarded, an age range of 7 to 18, and High Master Mrs Sally-Anne Huang. The chair of governors was Mr Richard Cassell. The charity number on the report is 1119619.
Do not confuse this door with St Paul’s Girls’ School on Brook Green. They share a founder’s name, a parents’ remission rule when three or more children sit across the two houses, and not a commute. Barnes is south of the river. Brook Green is a day school that will not sponsor a visa. Ask which St Paul’s you mean before you book the Open Morning.
The useful questions are not “is it famous.” They are: Can this boy live with a selective Tuesday on the Thames? Do you need a bed in School House or West House from Year 9, or will he come home? Are you registering for 13+ in 2029, which the school says is already open? And can you pay the deposit as well as the term?
The inspectorate called it a selective independent day and boarding school for male pupils, split into a junior section for Years 3 to 8 and a senior section for Years 9 to 13. Most boys are day pupils. Boarding is real, and small. The school’s boarding page says a small number of places may be available for Year 9; boarding is not available below Year 9.
It will suit a family that wants a boys’ house with a published GCSE and A-level range, a river campus, and a boarding option that is not a Home Counties valley. It will not suit a family looking for a mixed sixth form on this site, or a visa-sponsored boarder at 11. Read the international applicants page for the current overseas rule. We will not invent one.
Barnes, not the City. The inspectorate address is the same Lonsdale Road the school prints. School House sits on the banks of the Thames: common room, pool table, movie night, structured prep. West House, refurbished and opened in September 2021, is the flexi-boarding house — own rooms and a common room overlooking the river, meals with the full boarders, prep in the Kayton Library.
Ask to see an ordinary Year 10 classroom and a boarding corridor, not only the river. Time the commute from the flat you will actually rent. The school publishes a bus service page; confirm routes there, not from a forum.
Think in two bands.
Prep (Years 3–8). The junior section lives on the same charitable trust. Entrance is at 7+, 8+ and 11+. The fees page prices Lower First to Upper Third (Years 3–8) as one senior-prep band. The inspectorate noted a junior curriculum that runs from Greek to engineering, and said continuity between junior and senior sections is planned.
Senior (Years 9–13). Fourth Form to Upper Eighth. The inspectorate said older pupils choose from a wide range of GCSE and A-level subjects, with further mathematics and the EPQ as published extensions. Teaching, they wrote, fosters enquiry; pupils achieve highly at GCSE and A-level compared with national averages. That is one January visit, not a forecast for your child.
Most boys go home. The 41 boarders in January 2025 lived in two houses on the main site.
School House is the full- and weekly-boarding community — mainly senior boys. Weekly boarding is Sunday evening to Friday afternoon. The school also offers flexi-boarding, space permitting, when parents are away.
West House is flexi: one to four nights a week for a long commute, a parent away, or an early or late activity. Flexi boarders eat with the full boarders and do prep in the Kayton Library. The school points parents to a flexi flyer and to flexiboarding@stpaulsschool.org.uk. We will not reprint a night-rate from an older flyer. Ask for this year’s figure.
Inspectors wrote that boarding leaders create a friendly, supportive and inclusive community, and that communication between boarding and academic staff is effective. They recorded 232 pupils identified with SEND, a very small number with an EHC plan, and 62 with English as an additional language.
13+ (Year 9). Registration for September 2029 entry is open. A registration fee of £240 including VAT is payable and is non-refundable. The selection procedure and important dates live on the 13+ pages — read those, not a memory of last year’s Common Entrance. Confirm the live how to register page before you diary a test.
7+ / 8+ and 11+ into the prep have their own registration and exam fees on the same fees table. 16+ uses a £75 exam fee, then £150 including VAT plus the deposit on acceptance.
Bursaries — the school calls them Founder’s Awards — are means-tested and require a place on academic merit. The school says funds exist at all entry points. We will not invent an income cap.
All termly figures below are inclusive of VAT, as the school’s table labels them. Confirm the live fees page before you budget. Fees are payable by Direct Debit on the first day of each term.
| Pupil type | Per term (2026/27) |
|---|---|
| Prep, Years 3–8 | £10,221 |
| Senior, Years 9–13 | £12,666 |
| New joiners into Year 12 | £12,905 |
| Boarding (including tuition) | £19,181 |
| Boarding for new Year 12 joiners (including tuition) | £19,420 |
The basic fee covers tuition, games, loan books, stationery, libraries, medical inspection, careers aptitude tests, certain publications, and lunch, which all boys are required to attend. In the senior school, some books that become the boy’s own and public-examination fees are extra. Instrumental lessons are paid to visiting teachers — £38.84 per 35-minute lesson for 2026/27, reviewed annually and possibly rising in September 2027.
Registration and deposits
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| 7+ / 8+ and 13+ registration (incl. VAT, non-refundable) | £240 |
| 11+ and 16+ exam fee (non-refundable) | £75 |
| 11+ / 16+ acceptance administration (incl. VAT) plus deposit | £150 |
| Acceptance deposit (all listed entry points) | £3,300 |
| Additional deposit — normal residence outside the UK, or any boarder | £2,500 |
The £3,300 deposit is returnable when the boy leaves, on the school’s Standard Terms. For 13+, it can also return if he fails to keep the required academic progress and conduct before joining. For 16+, it can return if he fails to reach the required GCSE standard. The extra £2,500 sits in general funds until he leaves and is credited without interest to the final bill.
Governors make some remission when three or more children of one family are at St Paul’s School, the Prep, or St Paul’s Girls’ School. Apply in writing to the Finance Director. Remission starts the term after the application. It is not retrospective.
A first-year senior day place is not “about £38,000.” It is registration + deposit + three terms, and then books, exams, music, and the bus. Do the sum on the live page with your extras.
The January 2025 visit found all five Standards met: leadership and governance; education, training and recreation; physical and mental health and emotional wellbeing; social and economic education and contribution to society; and safeguarding.
Inspectors named the extra-curricular programme a significant strength. They wrote that the dynamic provision encourages new friendships and builds confidence, and that pupils achieve extremely well, including in national competitions. The school’s own inspections page quotes that language.
The recommended next step was specific: ensure that the PSHE curriculum and teaching in the senior school consistently engages pupils’ interests so the programme meets their needs as effectively as possible. The report said PSHE is suitable overall and includes an appropriate RSE component — and that senior-school PSHE does not engage pupils consistently. That is the inspectorate talking. Ask what has changed since January 2025.
They also wrote that pupils demonstrate respect and humility in line with five core values — respect, kindness, humility, integrity and resilience — and that the school is a welcoming and respectful community.
Ask which St Paul’s you are touring. Ask whether this boy needs School House, West House, or the 16:40 train. Ask how senior PSHE has been rebuilt since the 2025 next step. Ask to see Year 9 and Year 12, not only the river. If you live overseas, ask about the additional deposit and the current visa rule before you pay the £240.
We are not ranking St Paul’s against Westminster or Dulwich. We are not inventing a 2029 test date or a 2027–28 fee. The inspectorate’s 1,516 and 41 are a January 2025 count. Read the current fees, 13+, boarding pages, and the 2025 ISI report before you resign a flat. This is a map. The school still has to be the right Tuesday.
Officiële pagina’s en documenten die we lazen. Als een bedrag telt voor budget of aanmelding, open de link en check of die nog klopt.
Vriendelijke oriëntatie, geen aanmelding. Data, tarieven en programma’s schuiven. Check alles bij de school.
The useful London map is not a league table. It is which river, which leaving paper, and a commute you should time in January rain, not on Open Morning.
13 minSommige kinderen bloeien op in een gang van koffers en cacao. Andere hebben hun eigen kamer en de hond nodig. Allebei mag. De reis is ook een soort internaat.
15 minDe letters op het diploma doen ertoe. Ze zijn niet het hele kind. Hier hoe je ze uit elkaar houdt zonder hoofdpijn, en zonder te doen alsof elke deur openblijft.
16 minJe hebt geen perfect algoritme nodig. Wel een paar ware dingen over je kind, een saai lijstje op de koelkast, en de moed om een mooie campus te negeren die niet past.