Acton is where Japanese education in London has its centre of gravity. The site at 87 Creffield Road, W3 9PU houses the weekday Japanese School in London, and on Saturdays the same building becomes the Acton campus of The Japanese Saturday School in London — the main campus of the capital’s Japanese supplementary school. If you live anywhere in West London and you have been searching “Japanese Saturday school Acton”, this is what you have found. Here is what the campus is, who it suits, what a Saturday actually involves, and what West London families do when it does not fit.
Two schools, one building — do not confuse them
This is the single most common source of confusion in London, and it is worth two minutes to get straight.
| The Japanese School in London | Japanese Saturday School — Acton campus | |
|---|---|---|
| When | Monday to Friday | Saturday mornings |
| Role | Your child’s main school | Supplementary to a British or international school |
| For | Families following the Japanese system, usually on a posting | Children at a UK school who need Japanese kept at grade level |
| Address | 87 Creffield Rd, London W3 9PU | Same site |
Most heritage families in London want the second one. You keep your child at their British primary or secondary school all week, and they attend Japanese classes on Saturday morning. The Saturday school also runs campuses at Brent (Whitefield School, Claremont Rd, NW2 1TR) and Croydon (Croydon High School, Old Farleigh Rd, South Croydon CR2 8YB), with primary, junior high and senior high divisions across the three sites.
Acton campus — official page · enquiries: sat-london@thejapaneseschool.ltd.uk
The Acton catchment — and the 8:00 start
Creffield Road sits between Acton and Ealing, a short walk from Ealing Common and Ealing Broadway, with the Central, District and Piccadilly lines and the Elizabeth line all within reach. In practice the campus serves Ealing, Acton, Chiswick, Hammersmith, Shepherd’s Bush, Richmond, Brentford and the western reaches of the M4 corridor — which is not a coincidence. West London has been the settled centre of London’s Japanese community for decades, and the school is a large part of why.
The practical detail that matters most: the Saturday begins at 8:00, with secondary classes from 9:25. That is not a soft start. If you are twenty minutes away it is manageable. If you are coming in from Watford or Reading, you are leaving home before seven on a Saturday, every Saturday, for years.
What is actually taught — and who it fits
A hoshuko teaches Japan’s national curriculum, in Japanese, to children expected to keep pace with their peers in Japan. The heart of it is kokugo: kanji, reading comprehension, composition, the same textbooks used in Tokyo classrooms. It exists so that a child can step back into a Japanese school without falling behind.
So the fit question is not “does my child like Japanese” but “can my child work in Japanese at their year level”. Families on a posting, or with strong Japanese literacy at home, get enormous value here and nothing else in the UK comes close. Families whose child was born in London, speaks Japanese with one parent and has never written a composition often find the pace hard — and a child placed two years below their age group can draw a conclusion about themselves that outlasts the enrolment.
Neither situation is a verdict on your child. It is arithmetic: three hours a week against the thirty a child in Japan gets. What closes that gap is homework and what language is spoken at home — not the Saturday itself.
Three things West London families should plan around
- Saturday is the whole morning, and then some. With an 8:00 start plus travel, most of the day is committed. That collides with football, swimming, music and birthday parties — and the child who misses all of them because of Japanese eventually decides how they feel about Japanese. Plan the trade honestly at seven, not at twelve when it has already gone wrong.
- Places and year groups vary by campus. Acton is the main campus, but availability differs by year group across Acton, Brent and Croydon, so ask about your child’s specific year when you enquire rather than assuming you can choose the nearest site.
- Literacy is what the school assumes, not what it starts from. If your child speaks well but does not read or write, build that before applying rather than hoping the Saturday will supply it. Two terms of steady reading and writing beforehand can change the year group your child is placed in — and that placement shapes how they feel about the whole thing.
The online option: keeping the other six days alive
Japan is nine hours ahead of the UK, eight during British Summer Time. That rules out a lot of things, but not everything: a class running in Japan’s evening lands in the late British morning or early afternoon, and TOMODACHI JAPAN runs three daily time bands with timezone adjustment so that European families get a workable slot rather than a theoretical one.
- The other children live in Japan. That is the difference no West London classroom can replicate. In a room where everyone also speaks English, English wins the moment the teacher turns away. Online with children in Japan there is no shared fallback — Japanese is simply how you take part.
- Unlimited attendance, one flat fee. One flat monthly fee for as many sessions as your child wants, in small groups of about eight with a homeroom teacher, taught by qualified, practising Japanese teachers.
- Grouped by conversation level, not school year. The child who would be placed two years down at a hoshuko is not the odd one out here — which, in our experience, is what finally gets a self-conscious child speaking.
If you are in Ealing or Chiswick and your child can work in Japanese, the Acton campus is the best thing available to you and worth the early alarm. It is also, on its own, three hours against a week of English. The families whose children are still speaking Japanese at sixteen tend to be doing both: Saturday for the literacy, weeknights for the friendships. Our fuller guides to the Japanese Saturday School in London and Japanese schools for kids in London set out every route.
FAQ from West London families
Is the Acton Saturday school the same as the Japanese School in London?
They share the Creffield Road site and are run by the same organisation, but they are different schools. The Japanese School in London is a full-time weekday school — your child’s main education. The Saturday school is supplementary, for children who attend a British or international school Monday to Friday. If you want Japanese alongside a UK education, you want the Saturday school.
Can we choose Acton over Brent or Croydon?
Ask when you enquire. All three are campuses of one school, and availability by year group differs between sites, so campus assignment is not always a free choice. Where you do have a choice, take the shorter journey — the commute, not the curriculum, is what ends most Saturday-school careers.
My child speaks Japanese but cannot write it. Should we still apply?
Contact the school and describe the level honestly — they will tell you what is realistic. Because lessons run entirely in Japanese at year level, placement follows literacy rather than age or spoken fluency. Many families find it kinder to spend two terms building reading and writing first and enter stronger, than to enrol and be placed well below their age group.
Can we do Saturday school and online lessons at the same time?
Yes, and it is the combination that works best. They do different jobs: the hoshuko delivers grade-level kokugo, kanji and the Japanese curriculum; online sessions deliver conversation and friendships with children in Japan. Because online attendance is unlimited and grouped by conversation level, it also flexes down in the weeks when Saturday-school homework is heavy.
Japanese friends on the other six days.
TOMODACHI JAPAN opens in December 2026. Get the free school guide by email — class times for your time zone, how the small-group classes work, plus tuition and scholarship details.
