The Abbey School is a member of a variety of leading organisations within the independent school sector. Further information about these organisations can be found below.
GSA
The Abbey is a member of the Girls’ Schools Association. The GSA encourages high standards of education for girls and promotes the benefits of being taught in a largely girls-only environment. They also aim to inform and influence national education debate and provide us with professional development courses, conferences, advice and opportunities to debate and share best practice.
IAPS
The Abbey Junior School is a member of The Independent Association of Prep Schools. This is a schools association with around 650 of the world’s leading prep schools in membership. IAPS works with schools who are members to ensure excellent standards of education and care to their pupils.
ISC
The Abbey is part of the Independent Schools Council. ISC independent schools are ranked among the best in the world and educate more than 500,000 children in the UK. They provide young people with a bespoke well-rounded education that concentrate on developing character as well as academic ability.
HMC
HMC (the Headmasters’ & Headmistresses’ Conference) is a professional association of heads of the world’s leading independent schools. HMC has been providing support and advice to Heads for more than a hundred years. It is the oldest and most influential association of its kind in the English speaking world.
HMC members lead schools that are distinguished by their excellence in pastoral care, co-curricular provision and classroom teaching.
IB World School
The Abbey launched the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme in 2008. Our IB students have since maintained a high average points score, with this being 40 in 2020. This confirms The Abbey as a world-class provider of the programme.
NACE
The Abbey was accredited in 2009 by the National Association for Able Children in Education (NACE) in recognition of its provision for gifted and talented children. The school received re-accreditation in 2014. NACE provides high-quality guidance, support and training, enabling teachers to attain the best from able learners, whilst enabling all learners to flourish and achieve.
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award has become the most sought after non-academic qualification in the UK by universities and employers. The Abbey provides opportunities to enrol on the Silver and Gold levels of the programme. The Abbey is a Directly Licensed Centre, meaning that we have the expertise to licence our own programme of activities under the ‘DofE Award’ heading.