Downsend School is a co-educational

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

for pupils aged between six months and sixteen. In 2020, Downsend became a through-school, offering a three-year GCSE. It is located in

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon ...

, Ashtead and

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

, in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, UK. It is a school for boys and girls, and takes on pupils from 6 months to 16 years of age across its four schools in Ashtead, Epsom and Leatherhead. Unusually the school does not have charitable status, being run as a profitable business by Cognita Schools Limited. Downsend's

headmaster A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, 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. Role While s ...

is Mr Ian Thorpe, previously head of Chinthurst School.

History

Downsend was founded, owned for nearly a century, and headmastered by three generations of the Linford family. A. H. Linford had started Peterborough Lodge, a preparatory school for about 100 boys aged 5 to 15, including 5 to 10 boarders, at 143 Finchley Road, Hampstead, about 1898. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he opened Downsend for the boarders from Peterborough Lodge, and in 1940 after the beginning of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the two schools amalgamated at the Downsend site between Leatherhead and Ashtead. A. H. Linford's son Cedric T. Linford became headmaster. For about a year from 1942 the boarders were taken out of the London area to Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex, where they were under the control of the mathematics master, Denys Straker. C. T. Linford remained headmaster, also teaching Latin and Greek, until his son Christopher J. Linford took over in 1968. The school was run as a non-denominational preparatory school for boys aged 8 to 13. It achieved a good record for scholarships to leading public schools, especially during the long period when Denys Straker was the mathematics master. In 1968 the school had 220 boys; Christopher Linford expanded the business to four schools in the area educating a total of around 900 boys and girls. In 2002 no one in the family was willing to take on the heavy responsibility of running the school and it was sold to Asquith Court Schools Ltd.

The school

Downsend is situated at 1 Leatherhead Road, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 8TJ, just outside Ashtead. Three Little Downsend Nursery and Pre-preps are located in Epsom, Leatherhead and Ashtead, all surrounding the main site. The structure of the school is as follows: Little Downsend Ashtead caters for children aged 6 months to 4 years. Little Downsend Epsom and Leatherhead educate children from the age of 2 (First Steps) to age 7 (Year 2). The Main School in Leatherhead educates children from Year 3 to Year 11.

Facilities

There is a sports hall and an adjacent indoor, heated

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

with multiple changing rooms. There are a total of six tennis courts on tarmac surfaces, and a covered area. On 12 May 2007 the local Member of Parliament,

Chris Grayling Christopher Stephen Grayling, Baron Grayling, (born 1 April 1962), is a British politician and author who served as Secretary of State for Justice from 2012 to 2015, Leader of the House of Commons from 2015 to 2016 and Secretary of State for T ...

, opened the new Astro Turf. The junior and senior schools are all separate but connected. The junior school has its own hall and library and headmistress. This is the same with the senior school.

Sport

Downsend has grass playing fields and an astro-turf one located on site. This was opened to pupils in 2007. The school has several rugby,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, and

rounders Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a wooden, plastic, or metal bat that has a cylindrical end. The players score b ...

pitches. The tarmac area can be converted into

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

courts,

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

pitches,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

courts, or

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

pitches (although hockey is generally on the astro). The sports hall can be used for

as it has several hoops and pitches.

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

can be played in the hall as can

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

. Inside the hall, there are four cricket nets. The school has sports teams in soccer, rugby, netball, cricket, rounders, basketball, athletics,

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

, and hockey. These teams compete in inter-school matches as well as school games. The school competed regularly in the National Biathlon Championships, in 2012 held at Crystal Palace and, in 2012, maintained its record of seven national titles in a row.

Little Downsend Schools (Epsom, Ashtead and Leatherhead)

The three Little Downsend Schools are located around the main site in the towns of Leatherhead, Ashtead and Epsom. They take children from 6 months to 7 years of age and pupils can automatically transfer up to the main school. Little Downsend has its own headmistress and Heads of School.

Notable alumni

* Richard Stanley Leigh Jones (born 1940) — Australian parliamentarian * John Marrack (10 February 1921–7 November 2009) — naval officer, Queen's Harbourmaster 1962 * Dominic Sibley (born 1995) — England cricketer * Richard Williamson (8 March 1940 - 29 January 2025) — Catholic Bishop

References

External links

* {{Mole Valley Private schools in Surrey 1891 establishments in England Cognita Leatherhead