Dunottar School is a

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 ...

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

secondary

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children are given instruction during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compared to a regular s ...

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'', and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The ea ...

, Surrey, England, established in 1926 as a girls' school.

History

The school was established in 1926 by Jessie Elliot-Pyle in Brownlow Road with three pupils, and was named after

Dunnottar Castle Dunnottar Castle (, "fort on the shelving slope") is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the northeast coast of Scotland, about south of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire. The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th ...

in Scotland. She gave it the motto ''Do ut Des'', which is translated as ''I give that thou may'st give''. She chose for the school's crest a pelican mother nurturing her young. In 1933, the school moved to the High Trees Estate in a mansion called "High Trees" which had been built by Walter Blanford Waterlow, fourth mayor of Reigate, in 1867. In 1874, Waterlow remarried his younger brother's widow, Maria Waterlow (née Cross), mother of Sir Ernest Albert Waterlow. Additions had been made to the mansion in about 1908. In 1961, it changed from private ownership to being owned by a charitable trust. In 1975, it joined the Association of Governing Bodies of Girls' Public Schools, which is now called the

Girls' Schools Association The Girls' Schools Association (GSA) is a membership association for the heads of independent and state girls' schools in the United Kingdom. It is a constituent member of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), and works with the Association ...

. In March 2014 the school became part of

United Learning United Learning is a group of state-funded schools and fee-paying private schools operating in England. United Learning is the trading name for United Church Schools Trust (UCST) and United Learning Trust (ULT). It is one of the largest 10 char ...

and announced that it would become a co-educational school for ages 11 to 18 from September 2014. In early 2018, the school launched a partnership with Surrey Cricket to create a Surrey Cricket Development and Performance Centre at Dunottar. Other recent developments include a £240 million Sixth Form Centre, opened in April 2019, and the £786 million construction of The Castle Theatre and Performing Arts Centre, completed in January 2021.

Location

The school premises is a grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, and the grounds are adjacent to Redhill Common. The nearest railway station is

Earlswood Earlswood is a suburb of Redhill, Surrey, Redhill in Surrey, England, which lies on the A23 road, A23 between Redhill (in the direction of London) and Horley (next to Gatwick Airport). Earlswood Common is a local nature reserve that separates ...

Notable former pupils

Gillian Avery Gillian Elise Avery (30 September 1926 – 31 January 2016) was a British children's novelist, and a historian of childhood education and children's literature. She won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1972 for ''A Likely Lad.'' It w ...

, children's novelist and literary historian * Sue Hamilton, archaeologist * Kate Maberly, actress and musician * Polly Maberly, actress * Vivien Noakes, biographer, editor and critic *

Joanna Trollope Joanna Trollope ( ; born 9 December 1943) is an English writer. She has also written under the pseudonym of Caroline Harvey. Her novel ''Parson Harding's Daughter'' won in 1980 the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Ass ...

, author

References

External links

*
Profile
at the

Good Schools Guide ''The Good Schools Guide'' is a guide to British schools, both state and private. The guide's contributors are predominantly parents, but include researchers and former headteachers. It uses a conversational tone. Selection of schools is made ...

Profile
on ISBI * ISI Inspectio
ReportsUnited Learning
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1926 Private schools in Surrey Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association Grade II listed buildings in Surrey 1926 establishments in England Reigate United Learning schools