Founded in 1960 by David and Josephine Wilding, Claires Court is an Independent Day School, was owned and operated by their children, Hugh and James Wilding until  it was acquired by the LTC Education Group in February 2026. From the start, the school has been popular and successful, growing organically and by acquisition to encompass three sites, all within Maidenhead. 

 

A Fast Expansion

Originally conceived as a boys’ day prep school with some boarding and just 20 pupils, Claires Court expanded rapidly and by 1970 over 180 were enrolled. During the 1970s and 1980s boarding was dropped and the age ranges expanded from 6½ - 13 to 4 - 16. This was achieved by moving the younger age ranges to Ridgeway, the former boarding house which then became the junior end to Claires Court. By 1980, the school roll was 280 pupils; ten years later, following several building projects, the roll stood at 435, still all day boys.

1960

School Was Founded

Boys

Prep Day School

280

Enrolled In 1980

435

Enrolled In 1990

1993

Girls Joined The School

Joining with girls 

Maidenhead College for Girls unfortunately declared that they could no longer continue as an independent school and would therefore have to cease trading in July 1993. Following a successful approach, Claires Court took over the College Avenue site in April 1993, securing its future as a school including the co-educational nursery. In 1994, Claires Court duly opened its co-educational Sixth Form which, in an echo to 1960, started with 19 boys and one girl.

 

Forming A Diamond School

An early decision was to keep the boys and girls on their separate sites, while developing coordinated programmes of study based on grammar school precepts but without pure selection on academic ability. Schools that have co-educational younger years feeding into gender-separated senior years and then bringing all back together into a co-educational Sixth Form are said to follow “the diamond model”. Claires Court is the only school in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to offer families a diamond model education and, with the relocation of Hurst Lodge School from Ascot to Camberley in January 2018, Claires Court is now the only co-educational school in the Borough to offer an all-through education from 2 to 18 years.

Claires Court is the only school in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to offer families education from age 2 to18...

 

Our Local Staff

Claires Court is one of the largest employers in the Borough according to the Maidenhead & District Chamber of Commerce. A significant number of staff live within the Borough. Over time, the school has also forged significant collaborative links with local sports clubs and associations encompassing rugby, rowing, sailing, tennis, hockey and chess as well as supporting myriad local charities.

Junior Boys and Junior Girls

As of September 2026, our Juniors site will be fully co-ed.  Simultaneously, our Nursery site will move to Juniors from College Avenue. 

 

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