History

Kensington Wade was established in 2016 by Professor Hugo de Burgh, an academic specialising in modern China.  The school received early support from a large number of prominent educationalists, diplomats, authors and politicians from both Britain and China. These supporters were excited by the prospect of launching the first prep school in Britain to offer a fully bilingual and bicultural immersive environment in which children could learn the world’s two most important languages – English and Chinese.

It is well recognised that learning in two languages offers considerable developmental advantages to children. The vision for Kensington Wade was also based on the belief that future generations of global opinion formers and decision makers should learn Chinese at an early age – so they could operate in a world in which Chinese was increasingly influential in culture, business, politics and international affairs.

From 2017 to 2021, Jo Wallace created or led on virtually every aspect of the school. Receiving the top grade of outstanding in the school’s first inspection was testament to her excellent leadership. She joined the executive board in 2021 as Principal, until her retirement in 2025.

Kensington Wade takes its name from Sir Thomas Wade (1818-95), a British diplomat and prominent sinologist who spent over 40 years in China in senior government positions. He later became the first Professor of Chinese at the University of Cambridge, wrote the first textbook of the Chinese language in English and originated the Wade Giles romanisation system which is still widely used today.