Long Close School in Upton is one of three finalists for the ISA's Outstanding Sport award for small schools. Winners are named on 18 November in Kenilworth.
Long Close School in Upton has reached the final three of a national award for school sport. The Independent Schools Association (ISA) lists it as a finalist for its Award for Outstanding Sport (Small School) 2026.
The other two finalists are Bowbrook House School and S. Anselms. Cobham Hall was highly commended. The full list is on the ISA Awards 2026 page.
When the winner is announced
The ISA names its winners at an awards ceremony held during its Autumn Leaders Conference. This year the conference runs on 18 and 19 November at the Chesford Grange Hotel in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. The ceremony is hosted by the Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu.
The ISA says it will publish the judges’ reasons after the winners are announced. Last year’s winner in the same category was Mylnhurst Catholic Preparatory School and Nursery, according to the ISA’s page.
How schools get there
The awards are open only to ISA member schools. Each entry is a written case of up to 1,000 words, and the ISA asks schools to back their claims with “tangible outcomes or conclusive data”. Entries closed on 23 July and finalists were announced in September.
The school says the ISA received a record number of entries this year. The ISA’s own page does not give a figure.
About Long Close
Long Close is an independent school on Upton Court Road, SL3. It takes children from nursery age to 16, across Little Long Close, a prep school for ages 4 to 11 and a senior school for ages 11 to 16, according to its website.
Its school history traces it back to 1939, when a Hampstead teacher, Eric Millard, took a small group of London boys out of the city at the start of the war. The school formed at Farnham Royal in 1941 and moved to Upton after 1945, into the former home of Queen Victoria’s dentist. The senior school opened in September 2006. Dr Richard Robson became headteacher in 2024, and the school joined Redshift Education in 2025.
Another school near Slough is also on this year’s list. Claires Court in Maidenhead, about six miles west, was highly commended in the Outstanding Sport award for large schools.
What it means for you
- Long Close families: the result comes on the evening of 18 November. We will report it.
- Parents choosing a school: Long Close has an open morning on 20 November, two days after the ceremony.
- Half term planning: our Slough term dates page has the council’s dates for 2026/27.
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