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
Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
. The school is co-educational.
History
1848–1938 in Elstree, Hertfordshire
The school was founded in 1848 in
Elstree,
Hertfordshire, at Hill House on Elstree Hill, an 18th-century
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 ...
. Today, the building is a
Bupa care centre.
Since 1938 in Woolhampton, Berkshire
In 1938 or 1939 at the start 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 ...
(sources differ), staff and 70 boys moved to Woolhampton House in Berkshire which, at the war's end, became Elstree's permanent home, owned and run by the Sanderson family until 1961 when Elstree School was incorporated. Ian Sanderson remained headmaster until 1969 when Terrence McMullen became headmaster.
The building
Woolhampton House is a 17th-century Grade II* listed building.
Notable former pupils
*Sir
Alexander Robert Badcock (1844–1907), army officer
*
James Blunt, singer-songwriter
*
Edwin Bramall, Baron Bramall (1923-2019), field marshal
*
John R. Buckmaster (1915–1983), actor
*
Sandy Wilson (1924–2014), songwriter-lyricist
*
Christopher Bonham-Carter (1907–1975), naval officer
*
Felix Cassel (1869–1953), lawyer
*
Charles Montagu Doughty (1843–1926), poet, writer and traveller
*
Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton (1845–1940), engineer
*
Sebastian Faulks (b. 1953), novelist
*
Walter George Headlam (1866–1908), classical scholar and poet
*
J. Bruce Ismay (1862–1937), managing director of the
White Star Line and survivor of the
RMS ''Titanic''
*
Sir Philip Bennet Joubert de la Ferté (1887–1965), Royal Air Force Commander
*
Archibald Campbell rchieMacLaren (1871–1944), cricketer
*
George Monbiot (b. 1963), environmental activist and writer
*
Richard Tice (b. 1964), politician
*
John Whitehead (1860–1899), ornithologist and explorer
*
George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848–1934), Anglican priest
Notable teachers
*
William Bather (1861-1939), first-class cricketer, was assistant master at the school 1884-1894
*
Danyl Johnson, singer on
series 9 of ''The X-Factor'', dance teacher
*
Frederic Meyrick-Jones (1867–1950), taught at the school from 1894 to 1896
*
Edgar Stogdon (1870–1951), athlete and cricketer, was headmaster from 1900 to 1903
Sports
*During the
autumn term,
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
is the main sport, along with
hockey and tennis. During the
Lent term, rugby takes over from soccer, and hockey and
cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...
continue. During the
summer term,
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 ...
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
Bibliography
*
Hugo Vickers, ''Elstree 175: Celebrating 175 years of Elstree School'' (London: Unicorn, 6 July 2023)
*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
*
Profileon the
Independent Schools Council website
{{authority control
Preparatory schools in Berkshire
Educational institutions established in 1848
1848 establishments in England
Private schools in West Berkshire District
Woolhampton