13^th June 2019

On behalf of the Board of Governors, I am writing to announce exciting plans we have unanimously approved for the future of Willington.

As a Board of Governors we continually evaluate the environment in which we operate and have, over the past year, undertaken internal and external assessment of the local market. Working with the Headmaster, we have listened to parents, spoken to Headteachers of Senior Schools and have engaged experts in the field.

In response to this:

• From September 2021, we will become an 11+ school with all pupils leaving at the end of Year 6 to their Senior School.
• The boys in our current Year 5, 6 and 7 will continue to have the option of staying at Willington  to age 13.
• From September 2020, Willington will open a co-educational Nursery and will introduce girls into Reception.
• By September 2026, we will be a fully co-educational school for pupils aged 3 to 11.

The educational landscape is rapidly changing. The vast majority of schools which Willington feeds, now take increasing numbers of pupils at 11+. This trend within Senior Schools looks set to continue as the number of places at 13 are declining.  In order to give our pupils the best opportunity, the Governors have decided to change to 11+ to continue our outstanding success at this age (including 12 scholarships this year alone). 

With the introduction of girls, we are taking the opportunity to enhance our strong family ethos by creating a fully co-educational community at Willington. Girls will benefit from our broad curriculum and dedicated preparation for 11+ examinations, within the nurturing environment that the boys currently enjoy. The Governors are responding to the needs of our parents by providing a unique, independent co-educational experience in the heart of Wimbledon.

Our belief is that these developments will ensure that we maintain both our ethos and strong record of success into the future. We look forward to working in partnership with our parents, staff and the Headteachers of Senior Schools, to offer our pupils a seamless transition to the next stage of their education.

We will be holding a drop-in information afternoon on Thursday 20th June, from 3:00pm to 7:00pm, where all our parents are welcome to come and speak with Governors, the Headmaster, Deputy Headmaster and other members of the senior leadership team about these exciting changes. It is inevitable that some of the finer details will need to be clarified in due course and we have created the attached FAQ Guide (downloadable below), designed to answer some of your questions.

Yours sincerely
Rob Stewart
Chair of Governors