Virtual Open Days

We receive applications from over 80 primaries, preps and junior schools each year – enjoying a well-balanced intake from Independent and State schools. Our students start their school life on an equal footing, forming new friendships from their first day.

Applications must be in by 31 October of Year 6. They can be completed at any time in advance of this date. Our Registration Fee is £100, which should be paid at the time of submission. Our Registration Form is available here: www.swps.org.uk/admissions/registration

Open Mornings take place throughout the year. We also run Workshops, Taster Days and a weekend Open Day in our Summer Term. Once you have booked to attend an Open Event we will invite you to relevant future events (as long as you have provided GDPR consent). 

NOTE: For Spring and Summer 2020 our Event programme has been replaced by a series of Virtual Events online.

Registered children sit papers in Maths and English – two of each; and a reference is requested from your current school. No verbal or non-verbal reasoning takes place. Offers are made to the most academically able children within a week of sitting the assessments.

SWPS may be the right school for one child in a family, but not necessarily right for another. As such, all siblings are assessed on their own merit to ensure that they will thrive within the SWPS environment. This approach also applies to twins.

Scholarships are available for Year 7 and Year 12 entry. For Year 7, potential Academic Scholars are selected for interview following our entrance exams. We also welcome applications for Art, Drama, and Music. Year 12 applications can be made for Art, Drama, Music and Academic Scholarships. Awards are up to 50% fee remission for academic scholarships and up to 25% for art, drama and music.

Means tested Bursaries are available and do not have a fixed value. Please contact Admissions reg@swps.org.uk for further details.

SWPS is very accessible on foot and by car, coach and train (Chertsey station is a short walk from the school); as such our intake comes from within a 10-15 mile radius. We offer dedicated coach routes from Camberley, Cobham, Egham, Twickenham, Upper Halliford / Shepperton, West Molesey, Windsor and Woking. Find out more about our location and transport links: www.swps.org.uk/about/location-transport

At SWPS we have strengths in many areas, including Languages and the Arts, with students going on to join prestigious Universities, Foundation courses and Academies in these subjects. The school also has a strong and growing reputation for success across the range of STEM subjects, with high uptake at University Level.

At SWPS we offer a comprehensive timetabled programme of STEM subjects with complementary enrichment activities, clubs and competitions in place from year 7 onwards. Chemistry and Maths are our most popular subject choices at A Level, and are enriched by our popular Medics, Doctors and Vets Programme. Computer Science is the fastest growing subject in the school - in 2019 five of our students went on to study Computer Science at top universities. 

Yes we have established programmes for both. Our Oxbridge Programme includes detailed preparation sessions, mock exams, internal visits from Oxbridge Professors, personal statement support and much more. Each year we are delighted to send our students to Oxbridge Colleges to study a wide range of subjects.

Our MDV Programme is extensive and students are encouraged to join our MDV Society, where they will have access to a wide range of taught sessions from visiting experts. Students interested in MDV careers will receive assistance in choosing the right medical school, as well as access to professional tools and platforms, such as Observe GP and Anatomy Lab live.

To enable our students to reach their full potential we seek opportunities to stretch and challenge them wherever possible. In addition we hold our 'Academic Ambition' seminars after school, which seek to inform, and engage our intellectually ambitious students. The seminars are open to all SWPS students, though Academic Scholars are expected to attend most of these sessions.

These one hour sessions are led by the Head and introduce students to new ideas in philosophy and science, great texts from the western canon, as well as wider historical and political trends and theories. 

The Good Schools Guide 2020 says that SWPS is a 'Top-notch extra-curricular combined with unpressurised but robust academics, making this school a welcome antidote to some of the local hothouses. A golden ticket to a bright future, with lots of fun to be had on the way.'

We challenge our students to be the very best that they can be, however our over-arching aim is for our students to achieve excellence (and not perfection) in a supportive and nurturing environment designed with their happiness and wellbeing in mind.

We currently have around 150 activities on offer each week, including sports, languages, music and many more. These may change in nature according to the season – especially the types of sport on offer, but most are offered throughout the year. View examples of our co-curricular time-table here: https://www.swps.org.uk/senior-school-11-16/co-curricular

Our students compete regionally in a wide range of sports, including Hockey, Netball and many more. We also offer an elite rowing programme, which is open to all new students via our 'Ready to Row' sessions. We have our own Boat Club at Laleham Reach and our rowers dedicate lots of time to their sport.

Every year senior students are invited to attend training camps, many of which are abroad. We see strong competition among students to gain a seat in our top boats. In recent years students have competed for Great Britain at junior level as well as racing at Henley Royal Regatta against some of the best school crews in the world. Find out more here: https://www.swps.org.uk/swpsbc/swpsbc-home

We are proud of the rich programme of musical activities that we offer. Our Music Department provides a wide range of opportunities, from beginner-level to the more advanced performers.

We also offer private one-to-one lessons in a wide range of instruments taught by our peripatetic music teachers. 

We have a large school orchestra and chamber orchestra as well as school and chamber choirs; these groups regular perform concerts for the school as well as well as for family and friends.

Find out more about music at SWPS here: https://www.swps.org.uk/senior-school-11-16/co-curricular/music

We offer many opportunities to become involved in school productions, either as a performer or as part of a production crew; and we offer state-of-the-art facilities from our new theatre.

Each year we would typically offer an interhouse competition 'Junior Drama' which is a series of plays written and directed by our Sixth Form students for junior members of the 4 houses. This event has been running for over 50 years!  There are usually either Senior or Junior school productions as well and in some years there is a Whole School production directed by the Drama department. 

Another well-loved SWPS institution is our 'Production in a Weekend'. Auditions take place in the weeks leading up to the production, but rehearsals, set design and music accompaniment are pulled together in just one weekend with a public performance on the Sunday.

We also offer Speech and Drama lessons via peripatetic drama teachers with certification from Victoria College.

Find out more about productions at SWPS here: https://www.swps.org.uk/senior-school-11-16/co-curricular/drama

We have a thriving Duke of Edinburgh Award Programme, with one of the highest completion rates in Surrey. Most of our students complete a Bronze level Award, and in 2020 we saw ten students receive Gold Awards - a huge achievement!

We have over 60 adult volunteers, over half of whom are Surrey approved supervisors and assessors, and some are qualified Mountain Leaders. We are now recognised as a licensing authority in our own right, having been invested by the Duke of Edinburgh himself at St James's Palace.

Our students are assessed every term and outcomes are monitored by our Heads of Department. We have various intervention strategies we use if required: Sixth Form Study Buddies, revision mentors and weekly organisational support from the Wellbeing Room staff to name a few. Class teachers contact parents to work through any concerns.

We are strict about the importance of kindness and respect for one another and we communicate this message at every opportunity. We work hard at teaching students to recognise bullying and not ignore it. If we uncover any bullying behaviour we tackle it head on.

Many of our students come to us as the only person from their primary school. We place these students together in form groups, often with classmates who are on their bus route or who live nearby. Students are taught mainly in their form group for year 7. This means that they form friendship bonds very quickly. We do lots of ice breakers in their first week too. Our Year 11 mentors look after Year 7 classes for their first few weeks and help the groups to mix at break and lunchtime.

We have 3 members of staff in our SEND department who support students in individual lessons or small groups as appropriate. Sometimes SEND students have a reduced timetable and study periods are given over to SEND lessons.

Being a teenager can be tough and we know that being happy at school is more important than anything else, not least because it helps students get great grades. We promote wellbeing through special events in our termly Wellbeing Weeks and we also staff a dedicated Wellbeing Room from 8.00am – 6.00pm daily with specialist colleagues. They offer time out or directed support to any students who need it. We also make sure that there are lots of opportunities for fun – our Sixth Form panto, whole school Easter egg hunt and Tug of War to name a few. Down time is a very important part of school life at SWPS.