We are joining Ardingly College

The two schools have enjoyed a close relationship for many years, with Great Walstead being a significant feeder prep school to Ardingly College’s Senior School. Crucially, both schools share a similar ethos of delivering an all-round education with a strong focus on the individual needs and interests of each child and inspiring their personal, academic, sporting, cultural and creative development.

This new partnership will allow Great Walstead School to enter the next phase of its strategic development, to grow and develop for the future, while ensuring its long-term stability. It also ensures that local families retain the choice of a ‘through school’ option from 3 to 18 with Ardingly College, or Great Walstead’s more traditional Prep School offer until 13, with entry into a range of Senior Schools.

“I’m really thrilled to welcome Great Walstead into our family of schools. We’ve worked together closely for many years and welcomed many fantastic children into our Senior School from Great Walstead. This partnership offers lots of mutual benefits and, above all, will ensure that our beautiful corner of West Sussex remains a hub of outstanding independent education for generations to come.”

The governors of Great Walstead and Ardingly have been considering opportunities for closer affiliation between the two schools for several years. While Great Walstead is in a strong position, there are obvious challenges and limitations to running a stand-alone Prep School in the current political and financial climate including, of course, the imminent imposition of VAT on independent school fees. By the announcement of the election, the talks between the two schools were already very advanced and the governors are delighted to be able to announce this new partnership at the start of the academic year, in order to give parents, staff and both school communities confidence for the future.

Great Walstead joins Ardingly College’s growing family of independent schools that includes Ardingly College Prep School as well as schools in China and Kazakhstan, with further schools being planned in other countries.

Great Walstead’s new partnership with Ardingly College also means the school will be incorporated into the Woodard Group of Schools, a significant educational charity started by Ardingly’s founder, philanthropist Nathaniel Woodard, which now educates over 30,000 pupils in the UK across academy, independent and state-maintained schools.

Ardingly College is a leading co-educational day and boarding school for children aged from 3 to 18. Ardingly was the TES STEM School of the Year and is among the top-performing schools in the UK for both the IB Diploma and for A-Levels. At the most recent ISI Inspection, in June 2024, the College became the first school in the UK to be awarded a ‘significant strength’ for boarding, the highest accolade available under the new inspection regime. Ardingly is a forward-looking school in a traditional setting, where every student is known as an individual and equipped to thrive in a rapidly changing world beyond school.

Media Enquiries
For media enquiries please contact Alex Horner on alex.horner@ardingly.com.