Developing remarkable people
Developing remarkable people
At Berkhamsted, we’ve been Developing Remarkable People since 1541. And at Heatherton, since 1912.
Our family of schools truly offer the best of both worlds: a distinguished and proud heritage combined with the latest and most innovative teaching.
During the last decade or so, we’ve accelerated our progress. Initially, by introducing a ‘Building Learning Power’ methodology to ensure pupils become confident, curious and independent learners – equipped with relevant habits and skills. Next, we implemented our three key values (as below) and embedded them at the heart of everything we do – to broaden and uplift our pupils’ school lives.
Aim High with Integrity
Be Adventurous Serve Others
Developing Remarkable People isn’t just relevant to our pupils. Learning by example, our staff consistently build upon their own knowledge too through courses and qualifications supported by the Group. Meanwhile, our Parent Partnership recognises that our children’s wellbeing and happiness relies on a strong partnership with parents and school. That’s why we all work so closely together to ensure each pupil’s success.
It all means we’re constantly looking forward, evolving and enhancing our approach to each child’s education.
Nicola Nicoll welcomes you to Heatherton
Heatherton is a forward-thinking, innovative school with a very special close family feel that is renowned in the Buckinghamshire area. We are in the enviable position of being a prep school within the Berkhamsted Schools Group, so we are able to retain our nurturing ethos while still benefiting from all the facilities, resources and teaching expertise that comes from being part of this outstanding and historic family of Schools. Heatherton was founded over 100 years ago and is a member of The Independent Association of Prep Schools with a kite mark for excellence and an admirable record for success.
Of course, what makes any school special is its pupils. Working with the Heatherton pupils has been a delight and inspiration; they are clearly so happy, excited, confident and love their School. The girls genuinely know and endorse the School’s values to aim high with integrity, to be adventurous and to serve others. These values are close to my heart as I passionately believe in the ability of education to change and shape lives. As we know, the world is rapidly evolving, and it is essential that an outstanding education enables good grades and qualifications whilst equally supporting the development of soft skills, emotional intelligence and character. Heatherton School offers a safe and supportive environment for pupils to learn from both successes and challenges and prides itself on a promise never to leave anyone behind.
With small class sizes, having a teacher and TA in every classroom, a team of dedicated, caring and passionate staff, broad opportunities in extra-curricular activities, each child is treated individually, empowering them to thrive.
My desire is that every pupil leaves Heatherton educationally enthused and motivated, confident, polite, curious, resilient, outward-looking and entirely ready to take on the next steps of her educational journey.
Choosing a school can be a little like househunting; you check the facts on paper to see if it could theoretically be the right place, but you don’t know that until you visit in person. Only then do you have a real sense of what it is really like and whether your child could be happy there. The minute I walked into Heatherton School, I knew it was the place for me - I felt the warm, friendly, family-like, buzzing atmosphere - and I hope you will too. I very much look forward to welcoming you to come to see for yourself.
Mrs Nicola Nicoll BSc (Hons), MEd Headteacher – Heatherton
Happy, safe and ready to learn!
Our aim is that every girl and boy develops a lively, enquiring mind and fulfills their potential within a genuinely caring environment. After all, these early school experiences will shape your child’s attitude to learning for a lifetime.
Through highly qualified staff (including specialist teachers for Music, Modern Foreign Languages and Ballet) and an extremely high staff-to-child ratio, we offer an individual child-centred approach. So your son or daughter will learn through planned, purposeful play, exploration and investigation.
Our outstanding learning environment includes a large indoor area with designated areas for continuous learning, a fully equipped IT zone, separate role-play space, a dedicated creative area and a ‘cosy’ zone for circle time. Meanwhile, our impressive outdoor play area has a new climbing and slide play equipment, features numerous ride-on toys, water play, a large sand-pit and a dedicated garden and digging zone.
Most importantly, we’ll ensure that your child is fully understood. That means they’ll have fun and enjoy challenges and successes, while making real educational progress at this vital developmental stage.
Pupils throughout the school show extremely positive attitudes towards their academic studies and make excellent progress, achieving at outstanding levels in relation to their ages. “
” –ISI Report
Nurturing Potential
Within our warm and welcoming atmosphere, we’ll ensure that your daughter is given the individual attention she needs and deserves. That means, for example, we have a teacher and teaching assistant within each class. In this exceptionally high-quality educational environment, your daughter can achieve her very best. Academically, literacy and numeracy remain the key foundation skills – and we bring in specialist teachers for other subjects (including Science, Modern Foreign Languages, History, Computing, Geography, and Religious Education) to give your daughter a significant head-start. Meanwhile, pupils also express themselves creatively in Sport, Art, Music and Drama. Above all, our enviable record of academic success means that the vast majority of girls progress to their preferred choice of senior school each year.
ACADEMIC
These girls can!
As girls grow and develop, our sporting aims for your daughter are clear: participation and enjoyment. In particular, swimming, crosscountry, netball, football, gymnastics and tennis are among Heatherton’s sporting passions. All physical activity provides girls with motivation and ambition, teaching them to aim high with integrity on the sporting field – as well as the classroom. We believe that friendly competition also boosts a child’s self-esteem and engagement, addressing her strengths and building resilience. Even at a young age, the skills which girls learn on the sports field often translate into real-life attributes, such as collaboration, communication and teamwork.
Creating Harmony
Learning music builds intellectual curiosity and discipline alongside the ability to think creatively. That’s why over 80% of our girls take individual music lessons from Year 2 onwards – choosing from piano, violin, cello, flute, clarinet, saxophone or voice. We encourage your daughter to try as wide a range of instruments and musical styles as possible at this stage. It’s all about instilling the joy of music and fostering a lifelong appreciation of it in all its wonderful forms.
MUSIC
Stage Presence
Drama is about more than being in the limelight: your daughter will learn to perform with assurance and poise on stage. As well as building her self-confidence, emotional intelligence and compassion, drama develops tangible life-skills – especially public speaking – that become second nature at such a young age, significantly benefitting their overall prospects. The high standards that our girls attain have resulted in many successful, memorable and high-quality productions.
DRAMA
Adventure Alert!
When girls are adventurous, it helps them deal with risk and assess danger, encourages them to think for themselves, builds self-confidence, and develops resilience. Experiencing the outdoors is a vital part of our education which gives your daughter first-hand experience of nature – so she’ll respect the natural world and want to care for it. That’s why we offer a variety of opportunities to engage in outdoor education, developing her self-belief, leadership and teamwork skills through a series of fun and challenging ventures, including access to the fantastic High Ropes course on our Haresfoot campus, plus other facilities at Berkhamsted. We also offer every girl an innovative, hands-on learning experience in natural woodland with our Forest School.
SCHOOL LIFE
Confident & Content
We’ll do everything possible to ensure your daughter is happy, healthy and secure, alongside equipping her with the skills to be increasingly independent and resilient. With our exemplary pastoral care, she’ll gain an enjoyable yet challenging experience, enabling her to develop into an assured, ambitious and motivated pupil. Central to life here, our Houses (Mars, Saturn and Venus –comprising Reception to Year 6) build a sense of belonging, friendship and fun. A network of specialist staff will nurture your daughter throughout their time with us. During every term, we shape a personalised programme for each girl that focuses on their wellbeing and academic goals. It’s a key part of our ongoing role to guide girls’ development.
As busy parents, you can also be reassured that we offer wrap around care outside core school hours, providing a ‘home at school’ experience, and with holiday activity camps run by Camp Beaumont here at Heatherton. Within our school, the Parent Partnership plays a key role in working together to help each pupil thrive and develop into a remarkable person during their educational journey.
Better Together
At Heatherton, we provide a co-educational nursery class (2-4) and single-sex education for girls aged 4 to 11.
As part of the Berkhamsted Group’s family of six schools, we benefit from all the size, scale and capacity of a significant educational institutional – while each school remains an individual small community that can really support and nurture each child.
From September 2024, we have replaced the Berkhamsted Entrance Assessment with an on-going teacher assessment for all pupils who wish to progress to the Berkhamsted Girls Senior School for Year 7 (with the ease of a network of coach routes across Buckinghamshire). Equally, we support all families with their daughter’s choice of Secondary School whether that be a Grammar School, Independent or Secondary Modern.
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Age 3 – 7 Co-Ed
Boys
Age 11 – 16 Day & Boarding
Girls
Age 11 – 16 Day & Boarding
Sixth
Age 16 – 18 Co-Ed Day & Boarding
Welcome to Heatherton
Our facilities include a dedicated Early Years learning environment and specialist areas for teaching Music, Science, Food Technology and Art and Design Technology. Founded in 1912, Heatherton is set in an idyllic leafy location on the outskirts of Amersham in vibrant Buckinghamshire, within just 30 miles of London.
