Testimonials
At St Nicholas' School, we pride ourselves in providing an exciting, thriving and nurturing environment for all our pupils. We are extremely proud of our engaging community of parents, pupils and alumni who aid and uphold the ethos of our school.
We thank you all for your kind words and are honoured to play a part in your child's educational journey.
Enjoy reading some of the testimonials received below.
"We are absolutely delighted to let you know that our daughter has successfully secured a place at her first-choice university.
We strongly believe that the foundations our daughter received during her years at St Nicholas’ School played a very important role in giving her the confidence, knowledge and work ethic that enabled her to perform so well in her A-levels and achieve this wonderful result.
We will always be extremely grateful to you and to everyone at St Nicholas’ for all the support, encouragement and dedication you gave our daughter throughout her time at the school. It is incredibly rewarding for us to see all that hard work reflected in her A-level results and in her admission to her first-choice university.
Finally, there is one additional point that we feel is worth mentioning. It is very easy to concentrate mainly on academic achievements and examination results, but sometimes we overlook the wider qualities that children develop during their school years. One thing we have consistently noticed in our daughter, and indeed in many of the girls we have known from St Nicholas’, is their good manners, confidence and ability to communicate and speak well in public.
We do not believe that these qualities are simply a matter of natural ability or personality. We are certain that the school environment and the opportunities and encouragement provided throughout their years at St Nicholas’ have played a significant role in developing them. This is something that should not be underestimated, as these qualities will remain with them well beyond their academic years.
Thank you once again for everything you have done for our daughter. We are very proud of her and very grateful for the important part St Nicholas’ played in her journey."
Almuni Parents, Class of 2024
"Our discussion today has gone even further to reinforce my feelings about your school and its leadership being second to none. It goes without saying that we are hugely pleased with our son's progress at St Nicks and believe it has given him a fantastic educational foundation to build from – you have some wonderful teaching staff and a fantastic school community."
Infant School Parent
"We would like to express our gratitude to all at St Nicholas' School for the efforts and endeavours with our daughter in the last twelve months. The reality is that we actually cannot put into words the change that we have seen in her since she started.
We had a daughter who was showing the hurt and anxiety she had experienced from the bullying at her previous school. We now recognise the immense impact that was having on her and all of us as a family. If you had told us then, where we are now, we doubt we would have believed you! In the last twelve months, we have seen unending patience, care and attention displayed to our daughter from all staff members.
As we look at our daughter now, we have a confident, kind, funny and clever young lady. We have a daughter who is learning and growing."
Junior School Parents
We feel very informed and impressed at the clear expertise of all subject teachers and their dedication. The teaching and pastoral team have enabled our daughter to flourish and we feel very lucky that she is at St Nicks."
Senior School Parent
"We are super proud of our daughter but also absolutely recognise the encouragement and support she had from her teachers at St Nicks in really helping her to achieve strong GCSE results. Her ambition and determination now are so very much down to the support she had at that time. Thank you and your academic team again and wishing you all the best for the future academic years."
Alumni Parents
EXPLORE MORE TESTIMONIALS
"Firstly, I wanted to thank the school very much indeed, to all of our daughter's teachers, it has been hugely appreciated by us and has certainly been worthwhile. As a St Nicks 'old girl' myself, there was no doubt in my mind that the school that I had attended (in the Branksomewood Road era from the age of 4) would be the right school for our daughter. We did not consider any other school. I knew that St Nicks would provide my daughter with discipline, excellent academic standards and would encourage self-confidence and independent learning.
From the very early days, when we came to visit the Nursery department, the teachers were wonderful with her. All the Nursery staff took the time to make my daughter feel secure so that ultimately, she ended up going from only coping with 2 hours in Nursery to whole days and loving it... by the time she was in Reception, she was thriving and loving all her learning.
Every child is special of course and has their own individual life story but how our daughter's life has turned around through her own hard work and efforts, our unending love and support and the education and guidance she has received during her time at St Nicks is wonderful to see and be a part of."
Alumni Parents
"I just wanted to say what a great Friday evening we had at the Sports Awards. The Sports Team did a fantastic job and the atmosphere and cheers from the students when their peers won an award was lovely."
Senior School Parent
"Myself and my colleague had the pleasure in working with a group of your Year 9 students at the weekend on their Bronze DofE expedition. I just wanted to say what a credit the students are to your school. They were great fun to work with and engaged with myself and my colleague really well. Your students did St Nicholas' a great credit and you should know they left a very good impression."
Expedition and Residential Manager (Hampshire Outdoors)
"I just wanted to say thank you for your love and support... my son has advanced massively, he is loving school life and we are delighted."
Infant School Parent
"I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the Senior Concert, every performance was top class.
What a talented bunch, both students and teachers. Fabulous!"
Senior School Parent
"I wanted to say how thrilled we are with how our daughter is doing and that we are so happy with how St Nicks is helping her reach her potential and grow in confidence. She is working so hard and is really motivated - a tribute to your staff."
Senior School Parent
"Thank you to you and the staff for all that you have done for both our girls. They are both blossoming and whilst we will wait for results day for our daughter, her character has been so helpfully shaped by the kindness and wisdom of your staff. Thank you!"
Alumni Parents
"I am glad that my daughter's attend St Nicholas' School where I know they are guided well to be good citizens."
Junior School Parent
"I wanted to write to you and the St Nicholas' team to say a big massive thank you for all you did for our daughter during her time at St Nicholas' School.
When Olivia joined St Nicholas' from her previous school, it was a very challenging time for her and you and the team made her settle in as part of the St Nicholas' family.
During her time she made some amazing friends which she still continues to have at college and is still thriving in her studies."
Alumni Parent
"I'm hugely proud of our daughter's tenacity and remarkable accomplishments.
St Nicholas' School provided my daughter the facilities to have a strong work ethic in order to make the most of her abilities and learn that with hard work and a positive attitude, anything is possible.
Thank you to the wonderful teachers who were supportive and nurturing. They all work extremely hard.
I wish St Nicholas' School and its new generation of students continued fun and success. This was a perfect school for our daughter. Thank you."
Alumni Parent
"Firstly, we just wanted to say thanks and that we really enjoyed the Open Day, our daughter was engaged in all the different items that were out on display in Branksomewood. She has asked about going back to the "magic school" soon.
We both wanted to say what a joy it was to meet Jessica, our Year 11 tour guide. She had the confidence to be able to show us around with knowledge and understanding of what we were looking to get from the tour. Her eye contact with all 3 of us was great and she added humour when appropriate to make us also feel at ease.
When in Branksomewood, we were talking to teachers and our daughter was looking to explore - Jessica took it upon herself to invite her over, hold her hand to reassure her, get down to her level and play with her. Our daughter can be shy with new people and it was lovely for us to see her interact with an older girl as she rarely has this opportunity.
Jessica is an absolute credit to St Nicholas' and we would be proud if our daughter grew into a young woman with similar confidence, personality and kindness."
Prospective Parents
"Wow what a production and a big congratulations to you. It was fantastic and I couldn't stop smiling throughout. Our daughter's godmother was moved to tears and couldn't believe how professional the girls were and how easy is was to forget they are only children. So well done again and we all look forward to the next."
Senior School Parent
"Thank you for all your help and support over the years. You have shaped me in the most practically perfect way to be confident in my abilities not only as a practitioner but as a person.
Thank you for always letting me learn from your teaching but also for having faith in my capability to work alongside you, for that I am truly grateful.
As I step forward into my studies at Norland and beyond I will always look back so fondly at my time working in the Nursery and Infants and know that my experiences here have become the backbone of everything I do.
From the bottom of my heart thank you."
Alumni
"I am writing to say a massive thank you to all the staff that spent the last week in France with the Year 7 and 8 girls. Our daughter thoroughly enjoyed herself and has been telling us all about the activities and the Château. What an amazing experience for her and an excellent opportunity to expand her independence and experience France in an authentic way. So once again, many thanks for taking care of the girls and giving them a wonderful opportunity."
Senior School Parent
"Our daughter, and the rest of the family, had been through a horrific time at her previous school as they refused to support her during the most difficult time of her life. It's fair to say that she did not want to move schools. She had to leave all her friends and everything that was familiar to her behind at a time when she was sick, weak and vulnerable.
She made friends instantly and found her "tribe" seemingly without effort. This says a lot about the wonderful St Nicks girls and the spirit of the school. So welcoming and so friendly, and so compassionate but without pity. I could not have asked for more. The teachers at St Nicks are so dedicated and really give of their time. They have encouraged her every step of the way and really gone out of their way to enable her to access lessons and learning material. We are so thankful to each and every one of our daughter's teachers.
When you are sick, it's not just academia that is important. Equally vital is keeping in touch with the school community and feel part of it. School trips is a great example of this. St Nicks have always tried to include our daughter despite the many challenges that her illness presents. It's not something we have ever had to point out, or ask for, it has just been done. I cannot emphasise enough how important this has been for us. She was not always able to go, but the key is that every effort was made by the school to try and make it happen. This felt extraordinary to us, and we are so grateful. At no point was she made to feel like a burden. Under the careful guidance and nurturing of St Nicks, she has flourished.
Our daughter now attends school almost full time, she has completed all of her GCSEs and she is still with her year group despite missing out huge chunks of her education and the stress of having to move schools in the middle of it all.
What a superb, nurturing, excellent school St Nicks is -we will forever sing its praises. Thank you does not seem enough. So many people have shown us kindness along the way and we will never forget you!
So thank you from the bottom of our hearts to Dr Wright, all the teachers, all the staff and of course all the girls."
Senior School Parents
"I would like to update you about my academic progress since leaving St Nicholas School in 2019. I gained 4 A* grades at A-level at Alton College before accepting a place at Durham University to study Biological Sciences (BSc). This week, I have received First Class Honours and can now start my PhD at Durham, where I will be studying the dengue virus under the supervision of Dr Liz Morris.
I would like to express my gratitude to you and my old school for such an excellent academic foundation. What St Nicholas School gave me was both the joy for learning and a structure to achieve my ambitions in a happy atmosphere."
Alumni
"A quick note to say congratulations and thank you to yourself and the music teachers for a lovely Informal Concert last night! You really enabled the girls to shine with some stunning accompaniment arrangements and I felt that the broad variety of pieces performed indicated that each girl had a connection with their chosen piece.
Bravo and thank you to all you and your team do."
Senior School Parent
"Just wanted to say congratulations in running an outstanding Junior Sports Day today.
The parent gazebo’s were perfect and seeing all the girls from different age groups interact with each other was lovely too. Music was great…caught some parents bopping away…great day all round…thanks very much."
Junior School Parent