Mountbatten Primary School was a primary school in

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle (district), Celle in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller (Germany), Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

operated by the

Service Children's Education Service Children's Education (SCE) was an organisation of the United Kingdom government responsible for the education of the children of British Armed Forces families and Ministry of Defence (MoD) personnel serving outside of the United Kingdo ...

for children of British military personnel based there.

History

Celle School was founded in September 1947 to cater to children aged 3 to 14 of personnel and staff from RAF Celle and nearby stations. A second school, Grenville School, opened in 1954 and Celle School changed its name to Collingwood School, named so in honour of

Admiral Collingwood Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood (26 September 1748 – 7 March 1810) was an admiral of the Royal Navy. Collingwood was born in Newcastle upon Tyne and later lived in Morpeth, Northumberland. He entered the Royal Navy at ...

. Pupil numbers begin to decline after RAF Celle was closed in 1957 and the station returned to the German government. Collingwood and Grenville merged to form a single school in 1985 and renamed Mountbatten Primary School. The school was opened to a small number of English-speaking expatriate children, mostly from the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

and EU countries. The school closed in summer 2012 as part of the British Army's closure of Celle Station under the Strategic Defence and Security Review by the MOD, which envisages the British Army withdrawing from Germany by 2020.

Curriculum

In its last years, Mountbatten Primary followed the

National Curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or othe ...

and is inspected by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

. It was one of several feeder primary schools to

Gloucester School Gloucester School was a British military secondary school in Hohne, Germany. It was one of several secondary schools operated by the Service Children's Education in support of British Forces Germany in the post-Cold War period. It served children ...

Hohne Hohne () is a municipality in the state of Lower Saxony in Germany, east of the county town of Celle. It includes the three former parishes of Hohne, Helmerkamp and Spechtshorn. It should not be confused with the British Army camp of Hohne (Germa ...

about half an hour away.

References

External links

School Website
{{Coord missing, Lower Saxony Service Children's Education Schools in Lower Saxony Educational institutions disestablished in 2012 Educational institutions established in 1947 British international schools in Germany 1947 establishments in Germany