Thomas’s College launches Founding Scholarship programme open to all

Free school places available for over 100 exceptionally talented young students

• Scholarships awarded based on Thomas’s groundbreaking selection test, for which over-preparation is strongly discouraged in order to protect childhood for applicants

• Selection process kicks off in September 2024 for admission in September 2025

• Deadline to apply for sixth form – Friday 4 October 2024 Midday and for the other entry points (Y7/8/9/10) it is Monday 4 November Midday 2024

Incoming founding Master of Thomas’s College Will le Fleming said – “Thomas’s College will be a socially inclusive school open to all talents and backgrounds. Our unique Founding Scholarships will allow us to tap as wide a pool of talent as possible. We offer a potentially life-changing, innovative and unique education designed to prepare and inspire our students to become 21st century citizens with purpose.

Founding Scholars will be central to the establishment and development of a school that will challenge and re-shape the secondary education experience.”

Thomas’s College, a major new entrant to London’s independent education sector, is pleased to announce the launch of its Founding Scholarship Programme, a remarkable one-off opportunity providing places entirely free of charge to exceptional young people.

Over 100 free school places are available across Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 in September 2025.

Scholarships in Year 7 will last for five years; in Year 8 for four years; in Year 9 for three years; and in Years 10 and 12 for two years. Founding Scholars in Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 will be able to apply for Thomas’s Scholarships into Sixth Form when their Founding Scholarship concludes, meaning that successful applicants could receive up to seven years of free schooling.

Founding Scholarships are open to all students regardless of financial means, educational history or background. Parents are invited to enter their child/ren as soon as possible by registering on the Thomas’s website. Scholarships are awarded based on performance in our ground-breaking selection test, which examines playfulness of mind, potential and character, and strongly discourages over-preparation in order to preserve and protect childhood for applicants.

All holders of Founding Scholarships are required to make an annual donation for the duration of their scholarship, worth 10% of school fees, to the Thomas’s Foundation, which exists to enable permanent and long-term support for families to access a Thomas’s education. These donations ensure that the benefit is circular and shared with future students. Founding Scholar families may apply for a means-tested exemption from this requirement to ensure that these awards are genuinely needs-blind. Where circumstances allow, families are invited to increase the level of donation to the Foundation up to 100% or more of the value of their fees to help widen the life-changing access their award represents.

Founding Scholarships are a one-off opportunity for September 2025, but mark the launch of a programme of philanthropy to ensure needs-blind scholarship places at Thomas’s College from 2026 onwards. We are committed to making opportunity available to all in perpetuity.

Thomas’s College

Thomas’s College will open in September 2025. The College will complement the four successful Thomas’s prep schools in Battersea, Clapham, Fulham and Kensington and Kindergarten.

The College offers a radical and ground-breaking education, including a three-year Sixth Form, and genuine choice and ownership for young people – giving them the ability to choose which of their subjects they take to GCSE and A Level, and which they take to remarkable in-house qualifications equipping them with the creative skills they need for their futures.

The College will be located at Queen’s Road, Richmond Hill, London TW10 6JP.

The main building is Grade II listed and is located within five acres of stunning landscaped gardens.

Thomas’s College will offer day places, weekly boarding and some flexi boarding to boys and girls from age 11 to 18.

thomas-s.co.uk/thomass-college