Beehive Preparatory School

Founded in 1926 by Mrs Agnes and Mr Hossack, Beehive Preparatory school is nestled in the heart of Ilford, a municipal suburb in the heart of the London borough of Redbridge, and mere minutes away from the outstandingly beautiful Clayhall Park, where the P.E lessons take place.

Being an independent school in London, they provide education from nursery to year 6 and purposefully keep classes limited to ensure the pupils are able to get individualised, specialist help with teachers liaising with both parents and pupils in order to find out where pupils are struggling, and how they would be able to move past it.

I was fortunate enough to be able to pay a visit to this quaint, community driven school in February of this year, in order to meet the staff and really find out who Beehive Prep is, and I would easily say that the staff of this school are the driving force behind this schools success, the care and dedication each and every member of the teaching team puts into their pupils is astounding. Another aspect of this school that shocked me, was everyone from the pupils to the teaching staff, knew the Head Teacher, Mr Jamie Gurr, who in turn knew all of the pupils by name, and was never too busy to give them some time out of his day. As a pupil, this attention from a senior member of staff can become so valuable as it allows the pupils to feel and be heard, and not just by the teachers, but to the very head of the school.
Immediately upon walking through the homely front gate and into the building, I was able to feel the community spirit between the entire school, as teachers for older classes would greet younger pupils by name, and ask how their day was going, and the decor on the walls proudly showed the children's work off.

Beehive provides a huge opportunity for pupils to flourish and grow as individuals, whilst experiencing and encouraging respect for people of all races and backgrounds, by sponsoring international tier 4 visas, Beehive gives the entire world the chance to join their community, and when speaking to the headmaster I learned that although it wasn't often they had international pupils, when they did they were always welcomed with open arms, and treated fairly by both their fellow pupils and staff.

Having over 80% of Beehive's alumni went on to study and grow further at prestigious London grammar schools or restrictive admissions Independent schools, Beehive’s mission is to work closely with pupils and parents to discover which school is suitable for their child, whether it's a local grammar school or any school across the entire country.


3 selling points of the school:
successful in achieving its aim in preparing pupils for secondary transfer, especially where academic success is a determining factor
giving children from first-hand experience of natural world in forest school
a rich extra-curricular programme, for instance, Friday Afternoon School runs from 1pm-3pm. Various activity stations are set up for the children to rotate around. These include Colouring, Puzzles & Games, Construction, Playdoh, Reading and Arts & Crafts.