The Old Malthouse School (The OMH) was a preparatory school in the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

of Langton Matravers near Swanage in the

Isle of Purbeck The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the no ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The school was founded in 1906 by Rex Corbett, an ex-England football player, and started with ten pupils in a building that was formerly a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of bee ...

. Tom Pellatt, his

brother-in-law A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling, or the sibling of one's spouse, or the person who is married to the sibling of one's spouse.Cambridge Dictionaries Online.Family: non-blood relations. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referre ...

who ran

Durnford School Durnford School was an English preparatory school for boys which opened in 1894 on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. The school occupied Durnford House, in the High Street of the village of Langton Matravers near Swanage, and was notoriously spart ...

at Durnford Court in the same village had blasted out a swimming bath in the rocks at

Dancing Ledge Dancing Ledge is part of the Jurassic Coast near Langton Matravers in the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. Dancing Ledge is a flat area of rock at the base of a small cliff. A little scrambling is required for access. It is signposted on the ...

, a mile and a half away on the coast and the pupils of both schools used this daily in the

summer term Summer term is the summer academic term at many British schools and universities and elsewhere in the world. In the UK, 'Summer term' runs from the Easter holiday until the end of the academic year in June or July, and so corresponds to the Easte ...

. Durnford's most famous former pupil is Ian Fleming, author of the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

novels and '' Chitty Chitty Bang Bang''. In 1939, the school was sold by Corbett to Victor Haggard (H) and Evan Hope-Gill (Hopper) who inherited 37 boys. Durnford was requisitioned by the army later that year and the Durnford boys transferred to the Old Malthouse. Durnford was acquired by the owners of the Old Malthouse when the army gave it up in 1948. The main buildings were variously pulled down or sold, leaving the OMH with the grounds, which were levelled for playing fields. A third joint headmaster Peter Mattinson joined after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and the

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ruled until 1974 when the school, then with about 80 boys, was sold to a Trust under the headmastership of Quintin Ambler. Ill-health led to Ambler's early departure to be replaced as headmaster by Patrick Jordan in 1975 who expanded the school by adding a pre-prep department in the early 1980s. In 1988, Jon Phillips took over as

Headmaster A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

, remaining for 15 years. During this time the school became fully

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

. Richard Keeble became

in January 2004 and left the school in July 2006 handing over the reins to longtime deputy Moira Laffey. Through the 1970s and early 80s the school expanded to about 100 pupils but declining enrollment and increasing losses led to the decision to close the school in 2007. In April 2007, the local press reported that the school would close at the end of the 2007 summer term and the school subsequently closed its doors at the end of the summer.

Reopening

In 2008, the property was acquired and reopened by the Cothill Educational Trust as a science-based centre, running week-long practical science courses for schoolchildren aged 10–13.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Old Malthouse School, The Educational institutions established in 1906 Educational institutions disestablished in 2007 Defunct schools in Dorset History of Dorset Isle of Purbeck Science education in the United Kingdom 1906 establishments in England 2007 disestablishments in England