Polwhele House School

Polwhele House School is a day and boarding prep school at Polwhele House, near Truro, Cornwall.

Polwhele House School
Address
Polwhele House

Truro
,
Cornwall
,
TR4 9AE

England
Coordinates50.28549°N 5.03700°W / 50.28549; -5.03700
Information
TypeIndependent day and boarding school
MottoKarenza whelas Karenza
(Cornish for Love begets Love)[1]
Established1981 (1981)
HeadmistressHilary Mann
GenderMixed
Age range3–13
Enrolment105 (2020) [2]
AffiliationIndependent Association of Prep Schools
Websitepolwhelehouse.co.uk

It follows the thirteen-plus Common Entrance Examination syllabus.

In 2020, the school announced plans to provide senior school education, slowly extending its leaving age to sixteen, with a Year 9 class to be launched in September 2021.[3]

History

In 1976 one the school’s founders, Rosemary White, launched a nursery and pre-prep school in her family home in Truro, calling it Boscawen Rose School.[4] This was a school for children aged between three and eight.[5] By 1981, the high demand for places had encouraged Rosemary and her husband Richard White to open a new school at Polwhele House, transferring most of the Boscawen Rose School pupils there and including older children. They were joint heads of the new enterprise, which was to be a co-educational non-denominational Christian preparatory school.[4] The leaving age increased to thirteen.[5]

After Truro Cathedral School closed in July 1982, its task of educating and training the cathedral's boy choristers was transferred to Polwhele House, and the number of choristers is now eighteen.[6] The Chapter of the Cathedral pays half of their school fees, and voice trials take place once a year in January, for boys aged between seven and nine.[7] Girl choristers attend Truro School.[8]

The Whites retired as joint heads in 2002, but remain the owners of the school,[4] and Richard White (born 1943) is chairman of the Managing Council.[3][9]

School site
Aerial view of the school

Polwhele House is a Grade II listed manor house, standing in 32 acres of parkland, playing fields, gardens, and woods, about two miles north of Truro.[5][10]

The earliest parts of the main house date from the 16th century, and granite arches from that time are the oldest features still to be seen.[10] Richard Polwhele, a clergyman and local historian, inherited the property from his father and in the 1820s renovated the coach house.[11] In the 1860s, Thomas Carne Polwhele had the house remodelled and enlarged by Giles Gilbert Scott. The Polwhele family motto, "Karenza Whelas Karenza", meaning "Love begets Love", is engraved on a stone chimneypiece in the drawing room of the house and has been adopted as the school’s motto.[1]

Curriculum

Polwhele House follows a syllabus leading to the Common Entrance Examination at 13-plus.[4] It gives a thorough academic grounding for that purpose, to prepare pupils for the next stage of their education, and also fosters strong moral values in a Christian framework. The school aims “to provide a friendly, stimulating and caring environment where every pupil feels valued and involved” and gives its children a wide range of opportunities, so that they can discover their areas of interest and those in which they can excel.[5]

There is a focus on music and drama, with concerts and productions taking place regularly throughout the year and most children taking part in them.[4]

A new Year 9 class will begin in September 2020, with the school’s leaving age then slowly rising to sixteen.[3][12] The head, Hilary Mann, said in January 2020 "The school will grow by one senior year group each year, slowly and steadily. Our current buildings give scope for the first year expansion, and in time we can plan a redesign of the buildings and look to add any necessary new buildings."[2]

Extracurricular activities

The school has its own ponies,[2] and most children learn to ride. There is a pony club at weekends and during the school holidays which is open to children who are not at the school.[4]

In May 2012, the Olympic torch came to the school.[13] In May 2017, it was visited by a Royal Navy Merlin maritime helicopter based at RNAS Culdrose, and children were able to explore and discuss it with its crew.[14]

List of heads

A deputy head of the school, Dominic Floyd, went on to become head of Ashdown House, and then of Hazlegrove and the Mount Kelly Prep School.[16]

Notable former pupils

References
  1. History of Polwhele House at polwhelehouse.co.uk, accessed 22 June 2020
  2. Charlotte Becquart, Everything we know about the new secondary school set to open in Cornwall, cornwalllive.com, 26 January 2020, accessed 22 June 2020
  3. Prep school to offer secondary school education, businesscornwall.co.uk, 15 January 2020, accessed 22 June 2020
  4. Head of Polwhele House: Information for applicants at cloudfront.net, accessed 22 June 2020
  5. Polwhele House School at TES, accessed 21 June 2020
  6. British Music Education Yearbook (Rhinegold Publishing Limited, 2008), p. 15
  7. Truro Cathedral Choir at archive.org, accessed 22 June 2020
  8. Music: Truro Cathedral Choir at archive.org, accessed 22 June 2020
  9. Filing History of Polwhele House Limited "Certificate of Incorporation", 7 Dec 2010, accessed 23 June 2020
  10. Polwhele at britishlistedbuildings.co.uk, accessed 22 June 2020
  11. "Rev. Richard Polwhele" (obituary) in The Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 163 (1838), pp. 545–549
  12. Hilary Mann, Thinking Long-Term: Polwhele House School, independentschoolparent.com, January 2020, accessed 22 June 2020
  13. Olympic torch visits Polwhele House school, falmouthpacket.co.uk, 25 May 2012, accessed 22 June 2020
  14. Peter Johnstone, Culdrose Merlin lands at Polwhele House, falmouthpacket.co.uk, 1 June 2017, accessed 22 June 2020
  15. New head at Polwhele House at businesscornwall.co.uk, 4 September 2019, accessed 22 June 2020
  16. New head of Mount Kelly Prep chosen for ‘commitment’, tavistock-today.co.uk, 23 March 2016
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