Join our community

Right from the start, Downe House families are encouraged to get to know one another facilitated by the annual Parents’ Drinks Receptions held in London and Parents’ Lunches at Downe House for each year group as well as regular invitations to concerts, drama and dance productions, Medley Lectures, sports fixtures, Founder’s Weekend, charity events and Parents’ Meetings.

A partnership with parents

Effective and regular communication is the key to building important relationships within any community. Teaching staff provide regular and detailed reports on academic matters and there is an annual Parents’ Meeting which gives you the opportunity to sit down with your daughter’s teachers. Perhaps most important of all, you will be in close and regular contact with your daughter’s Housemistress and Tutor who will keep you up to date with all that is going on in her everyday life.

More generally, there are weekly and termly newsletters that will keep you up to date with what’s happening during the week and at weekends and there is a wealth of event information in our Parent Hub. You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Instagram for photos and everyday insights into school life.

We aim for the best pastoral care possible, where each girl feels safe and secure in the knowledge that home and School are unified in our support of her.

Tooled Up Education

Downe House is committed to progressing and enhancing its continued support to parents and staff within the community. We are pleased to announce that the School has partnered with Tooled Up Education, the home of evidence-based resources on all aspects of parenting, education and family life.

Being part of Tooled Up Education enables Downe House to provide parents and teachers with access to exclusive resources, covering areas such as aspiration, resilience, mental health and behaviour. Founder and Head of Research at Tooled up Education, Dr Kathy Weston, believes in an evidence-based approach to parenting: ‘Combining my passion for parenting with my extensive academic expertise, I am committed to giving parents the practical tools they need to help their children flourish.’

Mrs Emma McKendrick, Headmistress, explains the value of Tooled Up Education:

The number of resources available across an excellent range of topics through Tooled Up will, I hope, be useful and I would certainly encourage you to explore these – they provide guidance on some of the more challenging aspects of helping young people through adolescence post the pandemic and in the age of social media.