About us

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to our website in the knowledge that it will provide a window of insight to the fantastic school we have here. I feel very privileged to be part of St Martin’s School and play a role in the lives of our amazing children, families and staff. The warm, friendly, family atmosphere and nurturing nature of the school enables everyone to thrive and master exceptional achievements.

We ensure that we fully prepare our learners as well-rounded young people with the awareness that eventually our children will be responsible for our world and as such it is important that they are thoughtful and able to make informed, rationalised decisions that consider perspectives different from their own. We encourage our children to be spiritual by asking and pondering over deep and meaningful questions. We facilitate interesting discussion and debates about these ‘big questions’ respecting and valuing different opinions.

I am a huge advocate of life long learning and the foundations of this are being sewn here every day as we provide opportunities for our children to become independent learners. The safe, secure and happy environment ensures learners can succeed to their fullest potential. Our children leave us at 11 with exceptional results, many with scholarship offers from the school of their choice, but even more than that, they are self-aware, confident individuals who excel in their own areas of interest and talents. We celebrate all achievements from sporting success and academic achievement to those tiny breakthrough light-bulb moments which connect and solidify learning.

Our pupils are empowered to solve issues for themselves; not just in a respectful way through restorative justice for behaviour, but also on a wider community scale. Our children are team players and can often be seen helping and supporting each other in their learning and play. Their selfless attitudes extend into charity work throughout our global community and this concept of the world as one is reflected in our multicultural ethos.

If this peek into our world of learning and laughter piques your interest and inspires you, please feel free to arrange a visit by completing the form via the ‘Book a tour’ button on our homepage. We would love to welcome you.

Mrs S Mbah

Headteacher

St Martin’s school is an Independent, Co Educational school for pupils aged 3-11 years, founded in 1920; an exceptional community in which your child can begin their educational journey.  Boys and girls learn in a small, secure and stimulating environments and move on to some of the best schools in London at 11+.  We offer a broad curriculum delivered by our highly dedicated, experienced teachers who treat each of our pupils as an individual; supporting them to be the best that they can be.  Alongside our curriculum, we are delighted to be able to offer a multitude of after school activities encompassing the arts, sports and languages as well as a program of residential experiences that take place each year.

Our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) encompasses Nursery and Reception classes, taught through the most up to date methods of best practice, supported by research . At this crucial stage in child development, we foster each child’s love of learning and encourage positive attitudes, mindsets and approaches through our school values.  We nurture every child’s interests through a continuous provision of stimulating areas and activities that children access whilst our skilled practitioners use targeted questioning and play based interaction to develop every child’s personalised next steps. It is our individualised approach, including the daily phonics lessons and 1:1 reading, that ensures our pupils make good progress in all areas of the Early Years curriculum especially the strong levels of Literacy and Numeracy for which we are renowned.  In Reception, the strong academic focus continues with formal lessons of Reading, Phonics, Literacy and Maths in the mornings and the introduction of Year 1 content. Our EYFS is an integral part of the whole school;  the independent learning attitudes embedded, that are so often lost, are valued, developed and echo throughout St Martin’s in the variety of individualised work our children produce. Equally, our whole school ethos, values and curriculum approach, of Topic based learning based around a core text, all begin in Nursery. 

As children progress through Lower School in Form 1 and 2, we consolidate the building blocks of core learning and begin the teaching of Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning. We gradually teach the learning processes and skill sets that support each subject whilst increasing children’s knowledge base with every new curriculum unit studied.  Strengths are cultivated and areas of development are recognised then scaffolded so that every child reaches their full potential. Teachers encourage children to question, analyse and reflect, resulting in children becoming creative, critical thinkers. Homework supports core learning in class and provides children with the opportunity to follow their interests with their own projects which they present to the rest of the school – providing purpose and audience for their work. We instil a strong desire to achieve exceptional standards in all areas of learning throughout St Martin’s.  

Beginning in Form 3, Upper School is when children are encouraged to take ownership of their learning, becoming aware of their own goals in core subjects and planning a variety of investigations and projects that deepen their knowledge within foundation curriculum areas, thus demonstrating their increasing understanding of learning processes and approaches. We recognise that preparing for the 11+ exams is an integral part of learning at St Martin’s and whilst the learning attitudes established in EYFS and start of Reasoning lessons in Form 1 have paved the way, it is in Upper School where our accelerated learning system is most evident. Children study English and Maths content beyond their age to ensure full coverage of 11+ topics prior to examinations as well as having exam preparation and interview skills taught from Form 5. We don’t stop there though – after their exams, children take part in enterprise and community projects embarking on a journey of self discovery tackling some thought provoking curriculum content and challenging themselves in experiences designed to fully prepare them for their transition to secondary and life beyond!

Our Motto is quite simple, ‘Ex Parvis Magna Fiunt’; ‘From small things great things grow.’  We believe a strong academic and moral start in life that instils a love of learning will provide the foundations for a confident, adaptable and successful young adult who embraces the joys of life.