WHAT? WHERE?

Just outside of Rickmansworth, and a smidge over 20 minutes on the train into London’s Marylebone station, this impressive all-girls’ School and nursery boasts a 300-acre purpose-built campus (dating back to 1934) that would rival that of some universities – I mean it feels like a small village in its own rolling estate!

Royal Masonic school birds eye view — The whole school site

Pre-Prep and Prep are housed in the school’s original sanatorium, Cadogan House, while the Nursery is in its own designated building, Ruspini House, just across the campus. Naturally, there’s plenty of overlap with the Senior School, from the use of the expansive facilities to the transitional teaching that really creates a journey for each child throughout their time at the school.

Starting girls here as early as two really lays the groundwork for the rest of her school career, whether at RMS or elsewhere (although the majority do stick around throughout, and not just because there’s automatic entry into Year 7 – more on that later!)

There are 191 pupils in the Pre-prep and Prep and it’s two-form entry from Reception with over 70% coming up from Nursery, whereas all external candidates are assessed. It’s worth noting that while the Nursery used to accept boys as well, it’s recently made the switch to girls only.

FACILITIES

Well, where to start… the benefit of sharing a site with the Senior School is that the facilities (and those 300 acres of grounds) are open to all, even the littlies!

The jaw-dropping Sports Centre has its own gymnasium, with roll-out soft floor for tumbling and trampolines, plus a double-sized Sports Hall (we’re talking eight badminton courts!) with pull-out bleacher seats, viewing windows and large mezzanine areas, which are used for clubs like Judo. There’s also a super well-equipped fitness suite, Pilates room, Spin studio and four Squash courts. Plus there’s the Astro turf and Netball courts outside, too. Oh and did I mention there’s a Golf course? While all the facilities (yes, even the golf course!) can be used by Pre-Prep and Prep for clubs and specialist sessions, for ease (as it’s quite a walk for little legs), their weekly PE sessions are held the hall at Cadogan House.

There’s also an indoor swimming pool, which all ages (including Nursery from their final year) and upwards use. Reception and upwards have weekly lessons and there’s an annual House Swimming Gala.

Equally impressive is the Performing Arts Centre, Alex House. It’s very much a whole school facility and the Prep use everything from the Dance Studio to the practical Drama Studio and the 16 private music practice rooms. There’s also a super flashy sound proofed recording studio, with mixing equipment, glass fronted performance room and a green screen room.

Royal Masonic School The Space theatre seating — The Space

In addition to that, a brand new performance area, known as The Space, was developed and opened in September 2022. It has tiered open seating enough to fit the whole of the Prep and parents, and is used for things like Prep plays, Nativity and Carol services.

The huge, high-ceilinged Dining Hall is used by Prep pupils, too, and they mix with girls across the Prep at lunchtime, eating on round tables in teacher-allocated ‘family groups’, which really helps with vertical mixing up and down the school. Plus there’s a pretty chi-chi new serving area, which looks more like a healthy café with its pastel tiles, industrial lighting and plentiful bowls of healthy salads in every colour of the rainbow!

The teachers help the younger pupils to make healthy choices and ensure that they have a balanced mix of veg, protein and carbs on their plates, and the staff offer tasting spoons so girls can try before they choose. Incidentally there are occasional nutritionist-led workshops in Prep to teach the girls how to make things like healthy smoothies or fajitas.

Meanwhile, in Cadogan House itself, there’s a fab Art Room, dedicated Science lab and cosy library, just made for inspiring young readers.

NURSERY

There are currently 56 children in the Nursery, which is run by Mrs Vicky Greig and her team of highly qualified staff (many of whom have degree-level training). The big change since my last visit is that it no longer accepts boys into the Nursery, which, although may temporarily inconvenience parents of mixed siblings, in the long term it makes perfect sense for the girls’ school journey. Although boys are still accepted into the Pre-school.

It’s split into two main classes, by age and availability – Nursery for age 3 – 4 and Pre-school for age 2-3. Each class has access to two classrooms indoors, which feel fresh, modern, airy and spacious, with plenty of separate areas for play and learning, from reading corners and messy play to water activities and role play. Plus they all flow freely into their own outdoor learning spaces with mud kitchens, car tracks, sand play, obstacle course building and garden areas. There’s also a designated sleep and sensory room.

Nursery child and teacher RMS school for girls

They’re big on child-initiated learning here, but it’s combined with group-led activities so the childrens’ individual interests are matched to what they need to learn. There’s a focus at the moment on storytelling and narrative, which involves not only listening to stories but coming up with their own. The Nursery has designed its own curriculum ambitions and those act as aspirational check points used to track a child’s progress as they move through each stage of EYFS.

Nursery children at RMS learning phonics

Cadogan House’s version of Forest School, (but with a more extensive offering than the standard framework), is known as RMS Go. It’s quite far to walk for the littlies, so they have their own dedicated outdoor play area (in addition to the free-flow outdoor classrooms)under the trees with a wooden house, bridge, storytelling chair, bug hotel and wooden tractor – all the handiwork of the groundsman. The kids even get to spend a session with the school’s grounds team to learn about what they do and help wash their tractors! The sessions are led by the qualified Forest School teacher and all children take part once a week.

And thanks to the amazing facilities and experienced teaching staff on the doorstep, the experiences open to these little ones are better than most nurseries could dream of offering. To name a few, there are Library sessions with the school’s librarian, they can learn about space in the school’s own planetarium (yep, really!), the Prep Music teacher runs weekly morning sessions, they can try Woodwork and Cooking (with the Nursery’s own chef) and the 3-4-year-olds go swimming, which is organised by the school’s Sports department and the Year 11 girls help out which must be a lovely experience for them, too. They also get to use the Squash courts for physical activities. Plus there’s Spanish and PE sessions for all children.

All of this, naturally helps to ease the transition into Prep, added to the fact that there’s regular open discussion between the staff about individual children’s needs and joint staff training to make sure everyone is on the same page.

The Nursery day is 8.30am – 3.45pm with a wrapaound option that can extend the day from 8am – 6pm. Plus, for parents who have to work over the holidays there are Easter and Summer camps run by the Nursery staff.

PRE-PREP AND PREP

Class sizes start ats small as 12 in Reception, growing gradually year-by-year to a maximum of 23 in Years 5 and 6. This allows for a small number of new starters throughout, although be warned – it’s heavily oversubscribed from Year 5, when parents are starting to think about that all-important automatic entry into Year 7, so it is worth applying as early as possible if you’re keen for a place.

Cadogan House has a really colourful and fun vibe, with murals and creative corners at every turn, including cosy reading nooks and fairy doors to spot.

Reception classes are next-door to each other and semi-free-flow, so that some activities can be done across both classes. They are sweetly named Daisies and Buttercups and have their own dedicated outdoor area, while Year 1 and upwards have more ‘grown-up’ alpha-numerical class names.

The Year 1 classrooms also both open up on to a shared outside learning space, which is also home to the school guinea pigs, Buddy and Milo. The girls take responsibility for cleaning out their hutch every week and they can bring them indoors for cuddles. They make a great topic for writing tasks, too.

The other classrooms feel clean and modern (except for the traditional wooden school desks, which I rather like!) and one of the Year 6 classrooms doubles as a Science Lab (for use by Year 4 and 5, too), with high tables and colourful chairs.

There are four Houses in Prep – Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby and Topaz (which change in Senior School), and while the pupils can earn House Points for good work, behaviour or competitions, they also have the chance to earn coveted Golden House Points for extra special achievements (which they receive in person from Mrs Horn) and merits for outstanding ones. This all culminates in a whole school annual Prize Day, where pupils are awarded prizes such as book tokens in recognition of their efforts.

Cadogan House has its own Hall, which is used for assemblies, performances and PE. Language-wise, Reception to Year 2 take Spanish, then from Years 3-6 it’s French.

Reception – Year 2 have use of iPads in school, then all Year 3 – 6 pupils get their own Chrome Books. Year 6s also have their own lockers (an extra bit of responsibility in prep for Senior School).

Although there’s automatic entry into Year 7 from RMS Prep, the girls don’t get away with not taking the exam – it’s ensures that they are tracking with their peers at other schools and creates a fair playing field for all candidates. Typically around 8-10 Prep pupils are put forward for scholarships for Year 7, and in 2023 six pupils were awarded in Sport, Music and Academic.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the Prep uniform is now the same as the Senior girls’ (except they wear white, not purple shirts) – tartan skirts and jumpers. While in Pre-Prep they wear tartan dresses and cardigans.

ART & MUSIC

There’s a lovely Art Room which is a hive of activity and Years 4 – 6 have access to the Senior Art facilities, too. They cover everything from clay and papier-mâché to perspective in Prep, giving them a good grounding for Art in Senior School. And there are after-school clubs too, such as watercolour club for those who want to do more. And RMS hosts the SATIPS (an independent school teachers’ support and training body) National Prep Schools’ Art Exhibition, where member schools can showcase up to 8 pieces of work from their talented young artists from Reception – Year 8.

Music is popular. Everyone learns the Recorder in Year 2 then they try the Ukelele in Year 3, and there are numerous peripatetic teachers for individual lessons in whatever takes their fancy. The older girls are provided with high-vis jackets and walkie talkies so they can take themselves to their lessons in other parts of the school without getting lost (yes, it’s that big!).

There are three choirs – Pre-Prep, Cadogan House and an audition-only Chamber choir for Years 3-6, as well as a Wind and Brass Orchestra, String Ensemble, Violin and Viola Band (for Pre Prep), Year 5 and 6 Rock Band AND one of the most popular – Samba Band (so popular in fact that the school had to find a bigger space to host it and buy more instuments after its first year of running!). Last year Prep held its inaugural Pop Concert, which will be back this year with solo performances and a set from the Rock Band.

There are also plenty of seasonal concerts as well as a Pre-Prep Nativity and, this year there’s an optional Year 5 and 6 Musical. At the time of my visit, rehearsals were underway for Matilda. While nearly all of the year groups opt to get involved in some way or another, it is a commitment as rehearsals take place on Wednesday evenings as part of an after-school club, so as not to take out of lesson time.

SPORT

Cadogan girls are active in some form every day, whether that’s swimming, PE or Outdoor Education and Enrichment (OEE). The curriculum is multi-sport and includes Netball, Hockey, Football, Rounders, Cricket (RMS has its own pavilion) and Tennis with set games afternoons (with fixtures) for Years 4 – 6. The girls also have regular Gymnastics and Trampolining lessons, with the chance to join squads from Year 3 and take part in open development sessions from Year 1 to hone their skills. This is all paying off with excellent results – the U11 gymnastics team came first in the ISGA competition and went through to the Milano Gymnastics Nationals this year, while, the U10s achieved 5th place for their group routine and 6th overall, and the U9 team achieved 4th place for their routine and 7th overall. There are also masses of co-curricular sports clubs to join so plenty of options to explore and try out.

Swimming is extremely popular at RMS with no fewer than 16 Prep pupils applying for Swimming-based sports scholarships this year, and recent results, including silver medals in both medley and freestyle relays for the U11 swim team in the national finals, and the Junior team qualifying for the Hertfordshire county finals, are proof that it’s a real strength here.

WHAT ELSE?

There are lots of opportunities to take responsibility from Year 3 and above, from helping in class with jobs such as handing out books, to being on the school council and representing your peers. I mentioned Enterprise classes earlier, where the girls learn to debate and discuss pertinent issues. Well, they also have the chance to create a product to sell, which involves coming up with the idea, creating it, budgeting and learning how to make a profit.

Outside the classroom there are masses of co-curricular activities to try. There’s everything you could think of from Ballet and Street Dance to Swimming, Gymnastics and Golf (remember that Golf Course?), plus Chess, Mindful Art, Lego and General Knowledge. Some girls take different clubs every day of the school week and there’s plenty of flexibility to try new things and see if they like them. The only stipulation is that they commit to a club for at least a term to give it a good go.

There’s a dedicated Forest School teacher, which is all part of Prep Head, Mrs Horn’s move towards more outdoor-based education (she also takes some Forest School sessions), and why should just the little ones get all the fun? At RMS, Forest School is part of the curriculum all the way up to Year 8 (although from Key Stage 2 it’s called Go Outdoors, which sounds a bit more cool and adventurous doesn’t it!)

BOARDING

For parents who live further away or work long hours, flexible, weekly and full boarding is available from Year 4. The majority of Prep boarders tend to start from Year 5 and they have their own small wing, so as not to be too daunting, whilst also being integrated into the house. They even have the chance to invite their classmates for sleepovers – how exciting! There are around 12 boarders in Cadogan currently, with some just booking ad hoc when parents have to work away or once or twice a week when they have regular weekly commitments.

PASTORAL

The girls spend most of the day with their form tutor who is the first port of call for any concerns. There are also four trained ELSAs (no, not the Frozen version, but Emotional Literacy Support Assistants) in Cadogan House who can offer targeted support with anything from bereavement or anxiety to emotional literacy, and friendship issues – one of my guides confiently tells me how her ELSA time really helped her when she was struggling to make friends – there’s no shame or taboo over this either which is so refreshing to hear from the mouth of the girls themselves.

The girls are also on board with the confidence-boosting and resilience-building Bounce Back acronym, which includes important lessons like ‘Blame fairly’ and ‘Nobody is perfect’ – which is displayed on posters all over Cadogan House.

There are also plenty of learning support spaces and resources on offer for targeted small group or one-to-one intervention. And the girls learn some really nice initiatives in life skills – one of these being their imaginary buckets, which they ‘fill up’ when things make them happy, but more importantly, how to put a ‘lid’ on them, so others can’t take out of their buckets, to help them develop resilience.

As for diversity, it’s well and truly ingrained here, and not just limited to the boarding community, plus it’s expressed it all sorts of ways, from the artwork on the walls (Year 5 have been studying Black History Month) to debating a wide range of issues and topics in Enterprise sessions, where the girls learn to respect different opinions and arguements.

RMS diversity art — Some diversity-themed artwork

Also, it’s worth noting that classes are mixed up every other year (Years 3, 5 and 7) to encourage the girls to expand their friendship groups. My guides say they do feel nervous about this, but always make more friends in the end. They are also allocated partners of the week to enable more wider mixing. And that isn’t limited to year groups. Vertical mixing is promoted at RMS too. For example, Prep girls eat with their ‘family’ groups (girls of difference ages) on round tables (not the usual long refectory style ones) at lunch time.

THE HEAD

Mrs Melanie Horn joined RMS in January 2022 from her previous role as Assistant Head of St Martin’s in Northwood. Not only is she Head of Prep, she’s also a parent – her daughter has just moved up to the Senior School – AND she is an alumni, so RMS is practically in her blood!

Horn entrusts me to the guidance of two of her Year 5 girls to show me around – polite, confident and more than obliged to help they were too, (particularly as they were awarded a coveted golden house point for their efforts!) Afterwards I have chance to catch up with Horn to find out what makes RMS so special.

Horn is bubbly yet calm, with a sense of fun and approachability, which clearly contributes to the family feel here. She tells me how it was her teachers at RMS who inspired her to teach and that she has worked both in state and independent schools throughout her career to date. What drew her back to RMS was the way that the school really got to know the girls and nurture them as part of the ‘family’ – something Horn says she’s not experienced to the same extent at any other school. On that note, my young guides have huge enthusiasm for all their teachers, and can’t speak highly enough of them, which says it all.

RMS prep pupils in a computing lesson — Computing is a key skill

One of Horn’s main passions is outdoor learning. She’s been pushing and extending the OEE offering since joining. She has also brought in specialist computer teaching, including coding, for Years 5 and 6. And while these might seem like quite disparate areas, it’s important to Horn that the girls are prepared for the future but don’t lose sight of the wider world and environment around them. Makes perfect sense when you look at it like that.

WRAPAROUND CARE

Pupils can arrive from as early as 7.45am for supervised care, then there’s a ‘soft start’ to the morning with lessons starting at 8.25am. There are also plenty of after-school activities that finish at 4pm or later, and an after school provision until 6.10pm (including tea) for all pupils from Reception to Year 6.

FEES

Pre-school (age 2-3) starts at £1,755 per term (for the minimum of three mornings), while Nursery (age 3-4) costs £2,925 (for the minimum booking of 5 mornings per term). Prep fees (per term) are £5,313 for Reception – £6,847 for Year 6. Boarding costs from £11,940 to £12,008 per term.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: Parents who are looking to invest in their child’s education early won’t fail to be impressed by the wide range of facilities and opportunities here, as well as the joined-up thinking and consistency in teaching and pastoral care, which carries girls seamlessly through their school journey.

Not for: Those who feel daunted by the campus-style environment or who aren’t convinced by the idea of a holistic, all-through education. Apart from the fact that places become more limited as you go up the school, the real benefits of being part of the RMS family are realised by those who join as early as possible.

Dare to disagree? There is a Whole School Open Day on Sunday 20 September 2026. You can find out more here. You can also book a personal tour of Cadogan House with Head Melanie Horn; a tour of Ruspini House (Nursery) with Vicky Greig (email ruspinihouse@rmsforgirls.com to book); or a wider tour of the RMS campus. Call the admissions team on give 01923 725354 to book or fill in the form here.

You can also read our review of the Senior school and Sixth Form h ere.

RMS for girls, Rickmansworth Park, Rickmansworth WD3 4HF

RMS for Girls Pre-Prep and Prep

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