WHAT/ WHERE?

St Gabriel's School Seniors outside the main building

St Gabriel’s in Newbury is an all-through school and nursery (ages 0-18 years), set in 54 acres of Grade II listed Capability Brown parkland. It’s family focused, big on pastoral care and has a wholesome feel that allows children to be children, while developing independence at their own pace.

The Senior School has started to make the move to co-ed, welcoming boys into Y7 and Y8 for the first time in the school’s history. The transition will be gradual, with a second entry point for boys in Y9 and Y12 in September 2024 and fully co-ed by 2026. It makes sense, Nursery and Junior School have been co-ed for some time, so rather than sending the boys elsewhere, they can now go right through.

St Gabriel's NEWBURY PERIOD WINDOWS AND LAVENDER

The Grade I listed building dates back to 12th Century when it was known as Sandleford Priory. St Gabriel’s, founded in Mill Hill in London, moved here in 1948. Since then it has expanded dramatically, adding the Junior School and Nursery to the offering. Each class is a maximum of 20 and there are just 500-ish pupils across all ages groups. For an all-through school, that’s small.

FACILITIES

St Gabriel’s is not a place that spends money here there and everywhere, just for the sake of it. They are respectful of the building and wear its period past like a badge of honour. It’s actually what makes the place feel very homely. That said, there’s plenty of cool kit and refurbished spaces to ooh and ahh over, not least the Junior science lab and music studio, DT and art studios and the younger children get to enjoy a fun outdoor space near their classrooms and all the school’s stonking acreage too.

SPORT

With 54 acres to play, there’s a good offering. A large sports hall with new changing rooms, an outdoor pool, pitches for Junior cricket, rugby, hockey and football, hard courts for netball and tennis, climbing wall and a cross country course that stretches up to Greenham Common. .

Matches are arranged against other local prep schools, and the name of the game here, is to ‘have a go’, with football, gymnastics, athletics, tennis, netball, tag rugby, cricket and swimming on offer. Not bound by gender stereotypes, teams can be girls, boys or mixed.

St Gabriel's NEWBURY JUNIOR SCHOOL PUPILS OUTDOOR EDUCATIOn

Co-curricular clubs and regular house matches give everyone the opportunity to experience the emotional rollercoaster of winning and losing. It’s worth noting the quality of the sports teachers and coaching staff is excellent. A great asset, especially for talented/ elite young athletes.

An all-weather pitch is on the development plan, but when you’re caretaking Grade II listed grounds, there are many hoops to jump through before it gets signed off by the local planning department.

PERFORMING ARTS

St Gabriel's NEWBURY senior trombone player

The show-stopping space for me is the restored Oval Room. It’s an elegant room made for music lessons and concert recitals. Music plays a big part in St Gabriel’s life. I love that they cover everything from classical and 12-bar blues to Latin American dance rhythms and rock. Composing their own material is encouraged and the awesome teachers are on hand to nurture that enthusiasm.

If your child has been practicing their awards speech since birth, the black box theatre with tiered seating is a super space for drama fans and there is a specialist dance studio to perfect their arabesques. Dance is taught as a single subject from Reception to Y4, then it’s absorbed into Performing Arts in Y5-Y6. The studio is superb with sprung floor and walls of mirrors. It’s fair to say not only is it popular, it’s taken very seriously.

WHAT ELSE?

ST GABRIEL'S SCHOOL NEWBURY BERKSHIRE SCIENCE LAB AND LESSON

You’ll find Thinking Skills on the timetable. It’s a first for me, but these weekly lessons aim to develop pupils’ understanding of their own abilities and learning styles via the Multiple Intelligences approach of Howard Gardner. You’ll be thanking them for doing this when it comes to exams, knowing how to mind-map and apply lateral thinking, problem-solving and reasoning is not given enough importance in schools, so a big tick in my book.

St Gabriel's Junior School pupil painting in art room

The art and design technology studios are very good, boasting a kiln, photographic dark room and plenty of space to get creative with textiles, canvas or mixed media. Very inspiring and pretty tidy as Art Rooms go. The DT studio looks like the R&D lab of The Conran Shop.

It looks traditional but there’s just enough progression to satisfy forward thinkers. Blended learning is very much the norm here. Touch screen laptops and iPads are used by all age groups to support trad teaching methods. The idea is to enhance learning not replaces basic skills.

LITTLIES

Get them learning the St Gabriel’s way from a young age. The Nursery and Pre-school has its own building that’s very much part of the school, but safely tucked away. The home-from-home vibe starts here, which is a blessing for guilt-ridden mums heading off to work. Open 50 weeks a year (7.30am – 6.30pm), your littlies can join from 6 months to 4 years old, and will be based in one of the three rooms: Baby, Toddler and Pre-School. Having their own dedicated space means classrooms and facilities are age appropriate and designed to give the kids a safe space to learn, explore and grow. That said, it’s not a prison and the youngest St Gabriel’s pupis frequently use the sports hall, junior music studio, dance studio and theatre. They head out into the grounds every day for fresh air, bug hunts, sound walks, den building and tree climbing.

ACADEMICS

St Gabriel's NEWBURY JUNIOR SCHOOL PUPILS

There’s one word you hear a lot at St Gabriel’s – BALANCE! Although selective, it’s not aggressively selective to clamber to the top of the league tables. Expectations are high, but it’s not an academic hothouse. Academic results have gone from strength to strength, but the emphasis is still very much on being well-rounded, happy children.

The school also works very hard to ensure smooth transitions as the kids hit each educational stepping stone. There’s lots of support for the Y6s as they approach Y7 with classes physically taking place in the Senior School, as well as pastoral support, residential trips and activities to make sure they’re ready to fly the Junior nest.

PASTORAL CARE

ST GABRIEL'S SCHOOL NEWBURY BERKSHIRE CHILDREN IN OUTDOOR WOODEN PLAY AREA

One of its standout strengths. Pastoral care and wellbeing are not ‘nice to haves’ here, but integral to St Gabriel’s success. You’ll hear a lot about the six pillars of character – trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. It all adds up to someone who is kind and brimming with integrity. All attributes I’d want my own kids to have, so you won’t get any negative press from me. It’s worth noting, happy, well-rounded children also do well in the classroom. FACT. There’s a warmth that emanates throughout the school and children are free to be children. All ages climb trees and play outside – white markers gently reminding them how far they can go.

St Gabriel's Newbury Junior School pupils learning outdoors

Outdoor education is trending in UK schools and St Gabriel’s is fully on board. Making the most of the stonking grounds and the mental health benefits, outdoor learning is now a curriculum subject, with a Director of Outdoor Education appointed to ensure the kids are banking those softer skills like collaboration, communication, problem solving and team building. Fresh air and fun without really knowing it’s educational. I saw an army of Y1s booted up and heading out into the parkland. Not a single one was dragging their heels.

An orienteering course has been created and Y3-Y8 can now do a mini Duke of Edinburgh, before graduating to do their bronze, silver and gold. The school is mindful of the pressures that teens and tweens are under, being outside as much as possible to let off steam, gives them that all important balance and opportunity to decompress.

THE HEAD

Head ricki with students at St gabriel's School Newbury Berkshire

Principal Ricki Smith arrived at St Gabriel’s in 2016. He’s an English teacher by profession (Harper Lee’s To Kill The Mockingbird is his must-read), with a love for the dramatic. Ricki’s often roped into help bring subjects alive. Most recently playing the role of King Polydectes in a classics lesson, wearing a crown at his desk, speaking lines (although he would have liked more).

He has overseen the transition to co-ed, but wanted to ensure the school was ready to take the leap. He did a huge amount of research, speaking to other schools to find out what worked and what didn’t so they didn’t make any avoidable mistakes. This meant from the facilities and academics to the communication of the plan, everything was plotted to create a positive atmosphere of change.

St Gabriel's Newbury junior School pupils

He’s very mindful of the Y7 and Y8 ‘pioneers’ being the first, and welcomes feedback from parents and pupils. Planning was meticulous but he’s confident a small school means that problems are spotted and solved swiftly. Sport was an obvious concern for parents of boys joining the Senior School, but they forged strong links with Newbury Rugby Club and Falkland Cricket Club to get the boys off to a flying start – and the girls benefit too. In fact, the Senior School home cricket pitch is based at Falkland CC to avoid any costly sixes when a cricket ball goes through one of the heritage windows.

He’s also introduced blended learning, with each child using their own device to support their learning in class. Textbooks are now online, cool apps can be incorporated in lessons and feedback is speedy. No kids are complaining, the lighter school bags will save them a fortune with the osteopath later in life. Ricki is witty, engaging and mindfully ambitious. He’s got a great team around him and is always keen to give his teaching staff credit for St Gabriel’s success. Humility and humour – it’s a killer combination.

QUIRKS

The only school to have Dame Betty Day. It’s the name given to a day off on the last Friday of November. This was a gift from the late Dame Betty Ridley – a school governor and quiet trailblazer who spent her life campaigning for the ordination of women priests in the Church of England. Everyone downs tools to spend the day doing something or nothing. Nail the Christmas shopping, write Christmas cards, enjoy a movie marathon, go to the theatre… you decide. But it really is the gift that keeps on giving and there was not a single person I spoke to who didn’t say it was their favourite day. No school/work is the kind of joy we love. Well done, Dame Betty.

Not many schools boast Capability Brown gardens, but St Gabriel’s has the honour. In fact, the parkland here is Grade II listed and the old priory building is Grade I listed. This could be a nightmare for schools trying to adapt period houses so that they are fit for purpose. But there’s a real sense of the St Gabriel’s working with the building rather than fighting against it. The payback for the pupils is the unique and special classrooms.

FEES

Below average for this part of the world: Reception £4,303per term. Y1-Y2 £5,154, Y3-Y6 £5,783 – including lunch but bus travel, residential visits, music and individual needs lessons are all extra. Nursery fees vary depend on how many days and weeks you choose, but 5 days, 50 weeks of the year costs £67.90 per day, which covers the cost of nappies, wipes, breakfast, lunch, tea, snacks and formula milk.

WRAP AROUND CARE

Frazzled working parents, there is hope. St Gabriel’s runs a Breakfast Club from 7.30am to 8.15am (£5 per day) and supervised prep sessions from 4pm to 6.30pm which won’t cost you a penny more than you’re already paying. There’s also an excellent network of mini buses which head out to the surrounding villages scooping up kids from Ramsbury, Lambourn, Hermitage, Pangbourne, Basingstoke, Overton, and Andover, plus a shuttle from Newbury train station.

ISI REPORT

Rated Excellent & Outstanding in its most recent 2019 inspection report.

WORD ON THE GROUND

Very positive. St Gabriel’s is the antidote to those hot-housing schools that talk happiness and all-round ability but have a gimlet eye on silverware at every turn. Parents love the nurturing, family atmosphere and the teachers work very hard to ensure individuals thrive rather than survive. Although very happy with the sport provision, a few commented that they’re not exactly feared and revered on the pitch.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: Those looking for a homely, inclusive school that puts pastoral care and happiness at the top of the agenda, expecting achievement to follow from that. The academic results show it’s working.

Not for: St Gabriel’s is not flash, but the period drama is part of its charm. If you’re looking for all bells and whistles, move on!

Dare to disagree?! Be my guest! The next Whole School Open Morning is: Sat 28 Sept 2024. The Reception Open Event is on 13 & 14 Sept 2024. Individuals tours are by appointment only.

Read the St Gabriel’s Senior School review here.

St Gabriel’s School, Sandleford Priory, Newtown Rd, Newtown, Greenham, Newbury RG20 9BD. Tel 01635 555680

St Gabriel’s (Nursery & Junior School), Newbury

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