Elstree School

Elstree School is an English preparatory school for children aged 3–13 at Woolhampton House in Woolhampton, near Newbury in the English county of Berkshire. The school has announced it is becoming fully co-educational from September 2020.

Elstree School
Photo of Elstree School Building from side
Address
Woolhampton Reading , Berkshire , RG7 5TD England
Coordinates	51.40383°N 1.17213°W
Information
Type	Other Independent School
Motto	Clarior Ex Obscuro (Brighter, out of the darkness)
Religious affiliation(s)	Christian
Established	1848
Local authority	West Berkshire
Department for Education URN	110140 Tables
Head teacher	Sid Inglis
Gender	Boys and girls
Age	3 to 13
Houses	North, South, East and West
Colour(s)	Blue, Red, Green and Yellow (respectively)
Website	www.elstreeschool.org.uk

History

1848–1938 in Elstree, Hertfordshire

As its name suggests, the school was founded in 1848 in Elstree, Hertfordshire, at Hill House on Elstree Hill,[1] an 18th-century Grade II Listed Building.[2] Today the building is used as Bupa Care Centre.[3]

Since 1938 in Woolhampton, Berkshire

With the approach of the outbreak of the Second World War, in 1938,[4] Elstree School was evacuated to Woolhampton House in the Berkshire village of Woolhampton, and has remained there ever since.[5][6]

The building

Elstree School House
Engraving before 1893

Woolhampton House is a 17th-century Grade II* Listed building.[7]

Notable former pupils

• Sir Alexander Robert Badcock (1844–1907), army officer.[8]
• James Blunt, singer-songwriter.[9][10]
• Edwin Bramall, Baron Bramall (b. 1923), Field Marshal.[5]
• Sandy Wilson (1924–2014), songwriter-lyricist.
• Christopher Bonham-Carter (1907–1975), naval officer.
• Felix Cassel (1869–1953), lawyer.[11]
• Charles Montagu Doughty (1843–1926), poet, writer, and traveller.[12]
• Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton (1845–1940), engineer.[13]
• Sebastian Faulks (b. 1953), novelist.[14]
• Walter George Headlam (1866–1908), classical scholar and poet.[15]
• J. Bruce Ismay (1862–1937), Managing Director of the White Star Line and survivor of the RMS Titanic.[16]
• Sir Philip Bennet Joubert de la Ferté (1887–1965), Royal Air Force Commander.[17][18]
• Archibald Campbell [Archie] MacLaren (1871–1944), cricketer.[19]
• John Whitehead (1860–1899), ornithologist and explorer.[20]
• George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848–1934), Anglican priest.

Notable teachers

• Danyl Johnson, singer on Series 9 of The X-Factor; dance teacher
• Frederic Meyrick-Jones (1867–1950), taught at the school from 1894–96
• Edgar Stogdon (1870–1951), athlete and cricketer, was headmaster from 1900 to 1903.[21]

Sports

• During the autumn term, soccer is the main sport, along with hockey and tennis. During the Lent term, rugby takes over from soccer, and hockey and cross country running continue. During the summer term, cricket is the main school sport, with swimming, athletics, and tennis also popular throughout the term. The school's sports day is the focus of a pupil's summer term.

References

1. Donald P. Leinster-Mackay, The rise of the English prep school, Publisher: Taylor & Francis, 1984, ISBN 0-905273-74-5, ISBN 978-0-905273-74-7, 398 pages (note 32, page 33)
2. Historic England. "Hill House, Elstree Hill South  (Grade II) (1263366)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
3. "Hill House Care Centre" at Bupa website, retrieved 19 Sep 2011
4. "Elstree School, Berkshire", ISBI school website, retrieved 18 Sep 2011
5. "Our History". Elstree School. Retrieved 13 September 2007.
6. "Berkshire History : Woolhampton". Nash Ford Publishing. 2004. Retrieved 13 September 2007.
7. Historic England. "Elstree School, Woolhampton House  (Grade II*) (1117267)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
8. [Anon.], ‘Badcock, Sir Alexander Robert (1844–1907)’, rev. *James Falkner, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006 accessed 18 Sept 2011
9. "Danyl Johnson Update Archived 2012-04-20 at the Wayback Machine" at Elstree School website, retrieved 18 Sep 2011
10. "Biography" at The Guardian, retrieved 18 Sep 2011
11. G. R. Rubin, ‘Cassel, Sir Felix Maximilian Schoenbrunn, first baronet (1869–1953)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008 accessed 18 Sept 2011
12. David George Hogarth, The life of Charles M. Doughty, Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1928, 216 pages (page 2)
13. W. L. Randell, ‘Crompton, Rookes Evelyn Bell (1845–1940)’, rev. Anita McConnell, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2011 accessed 19 Sept 2011
14. Chamberlain, Gethin (31 May 2008). "James Bond: Sebastian Faulks' schoolboy fantasy inspires 007 novel". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
15. N. G. Wilson, ‘Headlam, Walter George (1866–1908)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 25 Sept 2011
16. J. Gordon Read, ‘Ismay, Joseph Bruce (1862–1937)’, 20school&pg=PT92#v=onepage&q=elstree%20&f=false page])
17. Edward Chilton, ‘Joubert de la Ferté, Sir Philip Bennet (1887–1965)’, rev. Christina J. M. Goulter, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 18 Sept 2011
18. Frances Wilson, How to Survive the Titanic Or The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay, Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011, ISBN 1-4088-2111-7, ISBN 978-1-4088-2111-4. (Jan 2011 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/34244, accessed 25 Sept 2011
19. Michael Down, ‘MacLaren, Archibald Campbell (1871–1944)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 25 Sept 2011
20. B. B. Woodward, ‘Whitehead, John (1860–1899)’, rev. V. M. Quirke, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 25 Sept 2011
21. J. Venn and J. A. Venn. "Alumni Cantabrigienses: Edgar Stogdon". www.archive.org/Cambridge University Press. p. 49. Retrieved 5 June 2017.

Bibliography

• I. C. M. Sanderson, A history of Elstree School and three generations of the Sanderson family, Publ. Elstree School, 1978 (Privately Published)
• John Eddison, A History of Elstree School, 1979 (mentioned in: Frances Wilson, How to Survive the Titanic Or The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay, Chapter 3, Note 10)

External links

• Elstree School web site