About
Our School

Ravenscourt Park Preparatory School is an independent prep school in Hammersmith West London for girls and boys aged 4-11. We are about providing education of the highest quality while meeting each child’s individual needs and abilities.

We believe children thrive in a place where they are happy, valued, and feel safe. To create this kind of environment, we encourage a culture of kindness, respect, and consideration, taking time to regularly remind our pupils of the importance of these values, not just for them, but also for their classmates.

We also aim to engender confidence and self-esteem by encouraging our pupils to take risks and challenges, and to learn from their mistakes by talking about what happened, asking questions, and getting constructive feedback.

Our close proximity to Ravenscourt Park means that nature and the outdoors are never far from our pupils’ minds. This helps them to see the positive role of the environment while we guide and inform them towards making choices and decisions that are rooted in sustainability.

Parents are an essential part of the success of the school, and we aim to keep them at the centre of their child’s education by welcoming them into the school via our ‘Open Door’ policy, and to speak with us face-to-face whenever possible.

Our History

Ravenscourt Park Preparatory School was founded by qualified teachers Maria and Edward Gardener in 1991. Situated next to Ravenscourt Park and just off Chiswick High Street, RPPS is a highly successful and popular school, providing education of the highest quality.

RPPS is one of four schools which form the Gardener Schools Group. Its sister school, Kew Green Preparatory School (London, TW9) was established in 2004. The Gardener Schools Group also has two senior schools, Kew House School (London, TW8) which opened in 2013 and Maida Vale School (London, W9) which opened in September 2020.

Having taught in the state sector for 20 years, Maria and Edward Gardener started a Saturday morning school for local children in their own home. Their warmth, creativity and effectiveness as teachers of small groups proved so popular, the classes quickly moved to a nearby church hall.

Listening to enthusiastic feedback from local parents, the Gardeners soon identified a need for a co-educational, non-selective independent preparatory school in West London. So, in 1991, they bought the vicarage building on Ravenscourt Avenue and RPPS was founded.

Due to the school’s caring, family-centred ethos and the demand for this type of school, RPPS soon became oversubscribed and has been highly influential in the way independent primary school education has changed in London in the last two decades.