Private Schools in Hammersmith & Fulham

Our directory lists about 20 independent schools in Hammersmith & Fulham. At the Hammersmith end they are mostly senior schools: St Paul's Girls' School on Brook Green, Godolphin and Latymer on Iffley Road and Latymer Upper School on King Street, which has its own Latymer Prep School for ages 7 to 11. St James Senior Girls' School in West Kensington completes the senior group.

Fulham is dominated by preps: Thomas's Fulham, Parsons Green Prep, the girls-only Kensington Prep and Fulham Prep. Around them are bilingual schools such as Kensington Wade (English and Mandarin), specialist schools for dyslexia and autism, and the audition-only London Vocational Ballet School.

Two things shape planning here. The senior schools are selective and their timetables are tight, with registration closing in early November of Year 6. Gender mixes are also changing: St James is moving to co-education, so check each school's current admissions page rather than relying on older advice.

Bute House Preparatory School for Girls allocates its 22 to 24 Reception places by ballot. Its main intake is at 7+, when 40 to 45 girls join Year 3. For that entry about 200 girls spend a morning at the school in January, doing activities that test reading, writing and maths broadly at Year 2 level. The school publishes no sample papers and warns parents that commercially sold 'Bute House papers' do not exist.

Ravenscourt Park Preparatory School (4 to 11) also uses a ballot. Children registered by their first birthday go into it, siblings have priority, and successful families are invited to an informal admissions morning about 15 months before Reception starts. In 2025–26 its leavers held 233 offers. The most acceptances were at Ibstock Place (8), Godolphin & Latymer (7), Latymer Upper (6), Hampton (5) and Thomas's College (5).

Kensington Prep School, a Girls' Day School Trust school on Fulham Road for girls aged 4 to 11, is selective at every entry point, and the application deadline for 2027 entry is 23 October 2026. In 2026 its girls received 25 offers each from Putney High and Wimbledon High, 24 from Francis Holland Sloane Square and 20 from Godolphin & Latymer.

Thomas's Fulham (4 to 11) takes most pupils at Reception. Its 2026 11+ offers were led by Emanuel (15), Ibstock Place (9), King's College School Wimbledon (7), Harrodian (7) and Latymer Upper (5). Some pupils instead move to Thomas's Clapham or Thomas's Battersea for Years 7 and 8, having secured 13+ places through pre-tests in Year 6.

Parsons Green Prep (4 to 11) is an independent school that does not belong to a group, and names Emanuel, Francis Holland Sloane Square, Ibstock Place, Putney High and St James Senior Girls among its destinations. Fulham Prep (2 to 13, part of Inspired Education) runs its pre-prep on Fulham High Street and its prep on Greyhound Road, with leavers at both 11+ and 13+. Latymer Prep School admits 44 children at 7+, 22 boys and 22 girls, who then move on to Latymer Upper. St James Preparatory School in West Kensington has been co-educational since 2022.

Hammersmith Bridge leads to Barnes, where St Paul's Juniors takes boys from 7 to 13 on the St Paul's School site and The Harrodian School teaches girls and boys from 4 to 18. Across Putney Bridge, Prospect House School (3 to 11) is on Putney Hill.

To the east, Glendower Preparatory School on Queen's Gate is a girls' prep that names St Paul's Girls' School and Godolphin & Latymer among its top destinations. Coach routes from Putney High School and Ibstock Place School also pick up in Fulham and Hammersmith, which brings those schools within reach.

St Paul's Girls' School (girls, 11 to 18) admits at 11+ and 16+. For 2027 entry at 11+, it assesses in three stages. First comes the ISEB Common Pre-Test, which can be sat at the school on 16 or 17 November 2026. Shortlisted girls then sit English, maths and general comprehension papers on 5 December, and the last stage is a 20-minute interview in January.

Godolphin and Latymer (girls, 11 to 18) is a member of the London 11+ Consortium. It selects by exam and interview, with the exam on 27 November or 1 December 2026 and interviews on 15 January 2027. It also advertises occasional places in Years 8 to 10.

Latymer Upper School is co-educational from 11 to 18, with entry at 11+ and 16+. The 11+ exam has one maths paper of 60 minutes and two English papers, and interviews follow in January. The school admits only British or Irish citizens, or children who can show a right to live in the UK.

St James Senior Girls' School takes about 48 pupils into Year 7. Around half come up from its own prep, leaving 25 to 30 external places, and the school interviews every applicant as well as setting the online Quest assessment. St James plans to admit boys into Year 7 and Year 12 from September 2027, subject to Department for Education approval, and to become fully co-educational by 2031–32.

London Vocational Ballet School, on Bulwer Street in W12, is a specialist option. Entry is by audition only, and pupils take GCSEs alongside their dance training.

Godolphin and Latymer offers a choice of two sixth-form routes, the IB Diploma or A levels. Latymer Upper takes about 40 new students into its sixth form each year. It asks for at least nine GCSEs at grade 7 or above, including four at grade 8 or 9 in the subjects to be studied, and sets three entrance papers in early November.

St Paul's Girls' School runs an early 16+ timetable. For 2027 entry the application deadline is 25 September 2026, followed by an online baseline test in early October, papers in four chosen A-level subjects on 9 October, interviews in November and offers on 1 December. St James will admit boys into Year 12 from 2027, and Burlington House School has a sixth form on Fulham High Street.

Burlington House School (7 to 19, part of Cavendish Education) specialises in dyslexia, dyscalculia and other specific learning difficulties. It has a prep and a senior site in Fulham, a sixth form on Fulham High Street, classes of 12 or fewer and on-site speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and counselling. Students take GCSEs, A levels and vocational courses such as BTECs.

First Bridge School at Imperial Wharf is a specialist school for children aged 2 to 11 with autism and related developmental needs. It combines personalised Applied Behaviour Analysis with primary teaching, and families should ask the school directly how places are funded.

For children with sensory difficulties, Latymer Upper warns on its admissions page that the school can be busy, loud and crowded, and parents should take that seriously. Where a local authority names an independent school in a child's Education, Health and Care Plan and pays the fees, it can reclaim the VAT on those fees.

For Reception, register early. Ravenscourt Park Prep enters children into its ballot only if they are registered by their first birthday, and Bute House also uses a ballot. For girls' 7+ entry at Bute House, registration and the assessment confirmation form are due by 31 October of the year before entry, and assessments take place in January.

For 11+ entry in September 2027, registration closes on 6 November 2026 at both St Paul's Girls' School and Godolphin and Latymer, and on 13 November at St James. Exams run from mid-November to early December 2026, and interviews follow in January 2027. St Paul's Girls', Godolphin and Latymer and St James all send offers on Friday 12 February 2027, with acceptances due in early March.

The ISEB Common Pre-Test now forms part of several processes. It can be taken in Year 6 or Year 7, and the 2026–27 window runs from 1 September 2026 to late May 2027.

Independent school fees have carried VAT at 20% since 1 January 2025, and the annual day fees below include it. For 2026–27, St Paul's Girls' School charges about £38,600, rising to about £41,600 for new sixth-form entrants. Godolphin and Latymer charges about £36,400 and Latymer Upper about £32,000, with Latymer Prep about £29,200. Among the preps, Bute House is about £31,700, the Thomas's schools about £33,200, and Ravenscourt Park Prep and Kensington Prep reach about £27,100 to £27,500 in the upper years.

Bursaries at the senior schools are substantial. Latymer Upper says one in four of its pupils has a means-tested bursary of 25% to 100%, with an average remission above 80%. Godolphin and Latymer offers means-tested awards of up to 110% of fees. St Paul's Girls' School gives bursaries from 5% to 100% to about 11% of pupils and aims to reach 20%, and families earning over £150,000 are unlikely to qualify.

The Hammersmith senior schools are well served by the Underground. Latymer Upper is a two-minute walk from Ravenscourt Park on the District line and about ten minutes from the Hammersmith stations. Godolphin and Latymer is a few minutes from Hammersmith Broadway and is well served by the Piccadilly, District and Hammersmith & City lines.

In Fulham, Thomas's Fulham runs minibuses through Vectare; for 2026–27 a return service costs £630 a term. Putney High runs coaches from Kensington via Hammersmith and Fulham, and from Sloane Square via Fulham and Putney Bridge. Ibstock Place runs a coach route from Kensington to Putney and another between Notting Hill and Shepherd's Bush.