Choosing a school for your son is one of the most important decisions you will make as a family. You are choosing not simply where he will learn, but where he will spend some of the most formative years of his life: where friendships will be made, interests discovered, challenges overcome and, ultimately, where much of the person he is becoming will begin to take shape.
It is a responsibility we take enormously seriously at St Martin's School.
There is also real value, I believe, in educating boys alongside other boys at this stage of their lives. It gives a boy the freedom to explore every part of who he is, whether that is sport, drama, art and music, or the quieter pursuits of reading and building, without the social pressures that can sometimes shape those choices in a mixed environment. Our staff understand how boys learn, communicate and build confidence, and pitch every lesson, activity and conversation accordingly. It also creates a particular kind of camaraderie: boys who compete fiercely on the sports field one moment and support one another unreservedly the next. I have seen, time and again, how that combination, freedom to be himself, teaching tailored to how boys learn, and genuine friendship, gives a boy the confidence to take risks, try new things, and become entirely comfortable in his own skin.
Throughout my career in education, I have become increasingly convinced that the very best education develops character alongside academic ability. At St Martin's School, we want every boy to be inspired to achieve his academic potential while also developing the qualities that will serve him throughout his life.
We want our boys to leave St Martin's School with confidence in who they are, the resilience to respond when things do not go according to plan, the curiosity to keep asking questions and the kindness to consider the people around them.
I also believe strongly that academic excellence and wellbeing are partners, not opposites. Children are best placed to achieve when they feel happy, secure, understood and appropriately challenged. High expectations matter, but so too do encouragement, trust and the confidence to make mistakes and learn from them.
Early in my career, I worked closely with children in their earliest years, and I saw first-hand just how important those foundations are. Confidence, communication, curiosity, resilience and positive relationships established in a child's earliest years can influence everything that follows. As boys progress through St Martin's School, we continue to build upon those foundations, giving them increasing independence, challenge and opportunity while ensuring they remain known and supported as individuals. It is thinking that now shapes how I lead the whole school, not only its youngest pupils.
That sense of knowing each child is one of the things I value most about St Martin's School.
There is a warmth to St Martin's School that is difficult to capture fully on a page. You will often find me around the school itself, in classrooms, at pick-up, in assemblies, because that is where I really get to know our boys and understand our community. Walk through our corridors and grounds and you will find boys who are lively, inquisitive and engaged, strong relationships between pupils and staff, boys supporting one another, and a community in which different personalities, backgrounds, interests and talents are valued.
You will also see opportunities everywhere. Whether a boy discovers his passion in the classroom, on the sports field, through music and the creative arts or somewhere entirely unexpected, we want him to have the confidence to explore it.
As both an educator and a parent, I am increasingly conscious that childhood passes remarkably quickly. Schools therefore have an extraordinary privilege: not simply to prepare children for what comes next, but to ensure that the journey itself is happy, purposeful and memorable.
That, for me, is what being “Better Prepared” truly means.
It means leaving St Martin's School academically ambitious, certainly, but also confident, compassionate, resilient and ready to embrace whatever comes next.
I am immensely proud to serve as Acting Headmaster of St Martin's School and to lead this wonderful community during the Autumn Term. I hope these pages give you a sense of what makes St Martin's School special, but there is no substitute for experiencing it for yourself.
I warmly invite you to visit St Martin's School, meet our boys and staff, and discover what makes our community such a special place to learn and grow.
Ryan Steward
Acting Headteacher
"Pupils have excellent levels of self-confidence and empathy. They are resilient and highly reflective, with a clear awareness that the decisions they make will directly affect their success."
