This award is for an independent school with no more than 275 pupils – any age, any academic profile. What we want from you is the story of your school in 2025–26. Tell it with pride. Let us see what makes your corner of the education world tick. Above all, show us why being small is not a limitation but your superpower – and why the children in your care enjoy something genuinely out of the ordinary as a result.

Bring your school to life. Share examples. Weave in evidence and outcomes where it helps your case (but do spare us the bullet-point data dump). Most importantly, help our judges feel what it would be like to step through your front door on a busy Tuesday morning. Why does small matter – and why does it matter so much?

Resilience is very much the watchword of the moment in our sector, prompting a clear-eyed focus on the future amongst leadership teams up and down the country. So please weave an explanation of how your school is taking sensible, forward-thinking steps to shore up its long-term stability into your answers.

Please structure your entry around the following questions, keeping the focus firmly on your strength as a great small school, not simply a great school.

• Why is your school special?
  What is it about the character of your small community that sets it apart? In a crowded independent sector, why do you stand out? Tell us about the moments, milestones and quiet triumphs that define you. What have been your signal achievements this year – the academic results, creative ventures, pastoral breakthroughs or community contributions – that make you ‘best in class’? We are looking for substance and self-awareness here. (Around 200 words.)
• How has being a small school enabled you to meet your pupils’ needs in 2025–26?
  In a year that will have brought its own challenges and opportunities, how has your size allowed you to be nimble, attentive and genuinely child-centred? Tell us about particular initiatives or projects you are especially proud of. Perhaps it was a bespoke academic pathway, a bold co-curricular programme, or a pastoral intervention that changed the trajectory of a child’s school life. (Around 150 words.) 
• What are the core values of your school community, and what difference do they make?
  What do you stand for – and how do your pupils feel that, day in and day out? As a small school, how do you equip them not just to pass exams, but to step confidently into adult life in a complicated 21st-century world? Show us how your ethos translates into character, resilience and responsibility. (About 150 words.)