Welcome to Downsend School
We’ve always known that every child is brilliant at something, and that finding it can take time. As a co-educational, all-through independent school in Surrey, Downsend School gives them that time. Pupils can join us in nursery and stay right through to our purpose-built Sixth Form, growing up in one place with the same familiar faces, who help them find what they’re brilliant at and thrive at it. It’s why, for many of our families, we’re the only school their child will ever need.
Part of how we do that is taking sport, the creative arts and future skills as seriously as everything else on the timetable, because the world our children are growing into will ask for far more than exam technique. We give them room to grow at every age and in every direction, and along the way they come to feel known, not just taught, which is what makes a child want to keep going.
By the time they leave us, they carry the confidence they’ve grown, the curiosity they’ve found and the ambition they’ve always had, ready for whatever comes next. And the best way to see how it happens is to walk through our doors, so come and meet us at one of our upcoming open days or private tours.
Head's Welcome
Meet the Head
Rebecca Tear is the Executive Head of Downsend and the driving force behind its Future Skills vision. Her leadership is grounded in strong relationships, high expectations and a deep belief in what young people can achieve.
Previously Executive Head of Fulham School and Headmistress at Badminton School, Bex has led schools through growth, change and transformation, always with a clear focus on pupil potential. At Downsend, she brings that same ambition, championing innovation and an approach to education that prepares children not just for academic success, but for life beyond the classroom.
Her belief that great education is about skills, character and mindset, as much as results, sits at the heart of everything Downsend does.
Why families choose Downsend
Pupils can join us at six months old and stay until they’re 18. No starting over at a new school at 4, 7 or 11, just one place where staff know them well and each stage builds on the last.
They’re stretched in the classroom and encouraged to aim high, with staff who know how each pupil learns best. They find their voice on stage, in the art studio and in music. They compete, train and grow in confidence through sport. And through our Future Skills programme, shaped by research, they learn to think creatively, work as a team and speak up with confidence.
DOWNSEND'S EDUCATIONAL JOURNEY
Our Schools
From their first days in nursery to their last in Sixth Form, pupils grow up with us across four stages. Each one has its own space and character, and the people who know them best are never far away.
How pupils learn at Downsend
We want pupils to aim high and to understand why their learning matters. So rather than just taking in information, they’re creating, questioning and solving real problems. Our Future Skills programme runs through everything, helping pupils think creatively, work as a team and speak with confidence. You’ll see it in a science experiment, a design project, a debate or a piece of art. STEAM learning plays a big part, bringing subjects together so pupils see how ideas connect. It’s an approach that stretches every pupil and gets them ready for whatever comes next.
Beyond the classroom
Extracurricular Activities and Student Life
Some of the best learning happens outside lessons. Through sport, the creative arts and a wide range of clubs, pupils find what they love and build the confidence to go for it.
Creative Arts
From design and technology to art, music and drama, pupils create, build and perform, and share their work with a real audience.
Sport
From their first swimming lesson to county fixtures, pupils train, compete and learn what it means to be part of a team.
OUR FACILITIES
Excellent learning spaces & facilities
Pupils have the space to try new things and get better at what they love. They perform in our Creative Arts Centre, with its 200-seat auditorium, and experiment with drama in the Black Box Theatre. They train in the Fitness Suite, swimming pool and on the astroturf pitches, whatever the weather. And in our new Innovation Room, they design, build and test their ideas.
Downsend Sixth has its own purpose-built campus, while Little Downsend offers a home from home for our youngest children, with plenty of space outside to explore and learn.