Prince George will begin his first day at school this week – a major milestone for a little boy who will one day be king.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have chosen a fee-paying independent school in a south London borough for their four-year-old son.
Thomas’s Battersea will welcome the young prince and his parents on Thursday, the first day of the new academic year, with Helen Haslem, head of lower school, expected to greet the couple.
Prince George. (Jane Barlow/PA)
George will be smartly dressed in his new uniform, a navy v-neck pullover, matching Bermuda-style shorts, long red socks and black shoes.
The school, where fees cost from £17,604 a year, has been described by the Good Schools Guide as: “A big, busy, slightly chaotic school for cosmopolitan parents who want their children to have the best English education money can buy.
“That is what they want and, to a large degree, that is what they get.”
The guide, which said 19 languages are spoken in the homes of pupils, added: “The school celebrates and appears to make the most of this range of different cultures.”
Kate has already said she is not sure George “has any idea what’s going to hit him” when he starts school.
(Jonathan Brady/PA)
Thomas’s, which runs a number of schools in London, says on its website: “In each school, we aim to offer the highest academic standards, set within a broad and rich curriculum, which inspires enjoyment, learning and achievement.
“We expect every member of the schools’ communities to ‘Be Kind’.”
Like George, new headmaster Simon O’Malley starts at the school this week. An Aberdeen University graduate, he has taught in Kenya and previously was headmaster of Wellesley House School in Kent, a post he held for 11 years.
Thomas’s Battersea has 560 boys and girls aged from four to 13, with around 20 in each class.
Prince George on his first day at the Westacre Montessori nursery school. (Duchess of Cambridge/PA)
The four-year-old prince and his classmates will be taught a range of subjects and activities from ballet and art to drama, French, music and physical education.
George’s first day at school will also mark a new chapter for the Cambridges as they are now mainly based in their Kensington Palace apartment rather than their Norfolk home Anmer Hall.
William is a full-time working royal after leaving his job, at the end of July, as a helicopter pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance.
The expectation is he will now carry out more royal duties in support of the Queen and his own charity work and causes.