Our History
THOMAS’S BATTERSEA’S HISTORY
Our History
Founded by David and Joanna Thomas in 1971, the Thomas’s London Day Schools group was established on an educational ethos that remains unchanged today. Our core value of kindness has been central since the earliest days, as has our commitment to academic excellence, a breadth of opportunity, and a steadfast focus on the joy of childhood. With ease, we bridge this heritage with modern values.
Fast forward to 1990, and Thomas’s Battersea was founded, and remains on its current site. The original Thomas’s school at Cadogan Gardens needed more space and the freehold was acquired for the former Sir Walter St John’s Grammar School in Battersea. Our school, which became Thomas’s Battersea Prep School, moved to its extensive new premises and the leasehold buildings in Cadogan Gardens were sold.
There is something beautiful about the history of Thomas’s. A blend of traditional excellence and radical innovation enables the pupils to flourish. Now over 50 years old, the family-run group’s established approach to education, which is forward-thinking and outward-looking, embraces its traditions without being set in its ways. Thomas’s Battersea is, in its very essence, a contemporary and yet traditional school of excellence.
The site’s historic and modern buildings are places of discovery, kindness and fun. A stunning courtyard garden, around which the day unfolds, breathes a potent combination of life and calm into the heart of the school.
Before Thomas’s Battersea existed, the site was used for Sir Walter St John’s School – a school for boys that was established in 1700 and closed in 1986, four years before Thomas’s Battersea first opened its doors. Each year, we find opportunities to invite the old boys from Sir Walter St John’s School to see the school again and to involve themselves in various events.
What we have been doing for 35 years, in using the fabulous space for educating young minds, Sir Walter St John’s School was doing for centuries before. We owe our deepest gratitude to the site’s former occupants and pupils. We continue to respect the history of the site. Etched into one of the school’s walls is the words ‘Be Kind’, the school’s founding principle. However, long before the words of our central value were literally cemented into the building works, the values of Sir Walter St John’s School were captured in the hearts and minds of the many who were educated on the extraordinary school site that is Thomas’s Battersea today.
