St Augustine's Priory

If you are looking for a school where your daughter will be cared for as much as she is taught, St Augustine's Priory is worth getting to know. It is a Catholic independent school for girls in Ealing, west London, set on 13 acres on a hill above the city. Its history is unusual and rather lovely: it was founded in 1634 in Paris by Abbess Mary Tredway, an English nun who left England to follow her religious vocation during a time of persecution, and it has been on its current Ealing site since 1915. The last nuns left in 1996, but the Catholic tradition still shapes daily life, and girls of all faiths are warmly welcomed and learn about a range of beliefs in an open, positive way.

The Good Schools Guide calls it "quietly brilliant", adding that "its shininess is becoming louder" and that it "has always been good but just gets better and better". Reviewers were gripped by almost every lesson they watched, even a Year 6 maths class. Drama is a real strength, woven through the year groups, and the sport runs from netball and hockey to tag rugby coached by a former Team GB player. Children love that there is even a small farm on site, complete with sheep, goats, ducks and hens.

The school suits a girl who will flourish with genuine care and room to grow, whatever her starting point. It has been led since 2023 by headteacher Christine Macallister, who was previously the school's deputy head academic. What parents tend to take away is the feeling that their daughter is known here as a person, not just a name on a register.