St Edmund's School is a coeducational nursery, pre-prep, preparatory and senior school located in Hindhead, Surrey, around 10.5 miles south-west from the town of Guildford. It was founded in Hunstanton, Norfolk, in 1874.[2]
| St Edmund's School, Hindhead | |
|---|---|
 The terrace, with chapel in the background at St Edmund's School | |
| Location | |
 | |
| , , GU26 6BH | |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent prep and senior school (boarding and day)[1] |
| Motto | Latin: Per manedo vincimus |
| Established | 1874 |
| Department for Education URN | 125347 Tables |
| Chairman of Governors | J. Alliss[1] |
| Headmaster | A. J. Walliker MA (Cantab.)[1] |
| Staff | 40 (approx.) |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Age | 2 to 16[1] |
| Enrolment | 420 pupils |
| Website | http://www.saintedmunds.co.uk |
History
editThe school moved to Hindhead, Surrey, in 1900, into a large country house named Blen Cathra, previously a home of George Bernard Shaw,[3] with grounds of some 35 acres (14 ha).
The school's original buildings in Hunstanton was purchased in 1901 by Howard Cambridge Barber and became the home of Glebe House School.
As the school developed through the 20th century it established itself as a traditional English Preparatory school, preparing its pupils for senior, public school education, regularly sending pupils to the likes of Eton College, Cranleigh, Charterhouse and Canford. In 1968 the school had 130 boarders, and 25 day boys "taken for the first two years".[2] In 1979 The St Edmund's School Charitable Trust was formed to help take the school forward, with Richard Saunders, an old boy, becoming its first Chairman of Governors.
For most of its existence St Edmund's was for boys only, however, with the first girls being admitted in 2008, the school is now co-educational.[1] In 2014 the ISI report listed it as having 249 pupils. 173 boys and 76 girls.[4]
The school's transition into a modern-day public school has seen it dropping traditional Saturday school for Optional Saturday Morning Activities which include a range of activities from Mountain Biking to cookery. In September 2024 there are 620 pupils with Dr Adam Walliker Headmaster since 2000 . A programme of refurbishments and building projects included a new teaching block (the W. H. Auden Centre), opened by Sir Bruce Forsyth CBE in October 2014, new sports Hall the Farley Hall in 2021 and dining hall in 2023.
In November 2024, the school merged with St Hilary's School, Godalming.[5][6]
Notable former pupils
edit- King Abdullah II - King of Jordan
- Prince Faisal bin Hussein - younger brother of King Abdullah II of Jordan
- Timothy Garton Ash CMG FRSA - British historian, author, commentator and Oxford professor
- John Bicknell Auden - Geologist, explorer and WHO official
- W. H. Auden[7] - Poet
- Marcus Brigstocke[8] - Comedian, television and radio personality
- Forde Everard de Wend Cayley (1915-2004) - MD, RAMC, MBE, FRCP, World War II POW camp survivor[9]
- Jonathan Dimbleby - Television and radio presenter, writer and political commentator
- Guy Farley - Musician and film composer [10]
- Christopher Isherwood[7] - Novelist
- Anthony Loyd - Journalist and war correspondent
- Iain Mackay-Dick KVCO MBE - Major General of the Household Division and GOC of the London District
- Harold Edward Musson - Buddhist monk and author
- Wilfrid Noyce - English mountaineer and author. He was a member of the 1953 British Expedition that made the first ascent of Mount Everest
- John Schlesinger - Academy award winning film director
- John Shearman - Art historian
- Guy Siner - Stage, television and film actor
- Anthony Trafford, Baron Trafford[11] - aristocrat, politician and physician
- John F. C. Turner - Architect and theorist
- Michael Ward - Expedition doctor of the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953[12]
Headmasters
edit- 1874 to 1899 Rev. J. Morgan-Brown MA (Oxf)
- 1899 to 1929 Cyril Morgan Brown,[13]
- 1929 to 1933 Ivor Sant [14]
- 1933 to 1952 Ivo Bulley
- 1952 to 1978 Peter Weeks MA (Cantab)
- 1978 to 1991 Tony Pull (Oxf)
- 1991 to 1995 Andrew Sangster
- 1995 to 2000 Andrew Fowler-Watt
- 2000 to present A. J. Walliker, MA (Cantab)[1]
Notes
edit- ^ a b c d e f Mott, Judy (1 September 2011). Independent Schools Yearbook 2011-2012: The 'Bible' for Information on Independent Schools. A&C Black. pp. 1068–. ISBN 978-1-4081-5206-5.
- ^ a b 'St Edmund's School, Hindhead', in The Public and Preparatory Schools year book, vol. 78 (London: A. & C. Black, 1968), p. 812: "ST EDMUND'S SCHOOL, HINDHEAD Tel. : 408 Hindhead. Station, Haslemere, S.R. Head Master.— Peter C. Weeks, MA, Dip. Ed. (Caius College, Cambridge). Number of Boarders. — 130. 25 day boys are taken for the first two years. Fees £160 a term... founded in 1874...."
- ^ Hindhead at visitoruk.com, accessed 20 April 2012
- ^ "St Edmund's School :: Independent Schools Inspectorate".
- ^ Hase, Georgia (19 November 2024). "St Edmund's and St Hilary's schools announce historic merger". Haslemere Herald. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
- ^ Shipp, Victoria (26 November 2024). "Surrey schools more than 10 miles apart set for 'exciting' merger". Surrey Live. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
- ^ a b Harry Blamires, A Guide to Twentieth Century Literature in English (1983), p. 130: "Isherwood, Christopher... Novelist, born in Cheshire, and educated at St Edmund's School, Hindhead, Surrey, where in his last year he made friends with W. H. Auden (qv), his junior by two-and-a-half years..."
- ^ Oglethorpe, Tim (21 April 2001). "Interview: Marcus Brigstocke - Savage past of Marcus; Marcus Brigstocke of The Savages on his misspent youth and how he got back on the straight and narrow". The Mirror (London, England). MGN Ltd. (archive)
- ^ "Forde Everard de Wend Cayley". BMJ. 329 (7469): 802. 30 September 2004. doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7469.802. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 521014.
- ^ "St. Ed's - OSE".
- ^ Dod's parliamentary companion, vol. 157 (1989) p. 299
- ^ "Michael Ward". Telegraph.co.uk. 18 October 2005. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
- ^ Peter Parker, Isherwood (2005), p. 35: "An even bigger change took place in May the following year, when Christopher started as a boarder at St Edmund's in Hindhead, Surrey, a preparatory school run by Cyril Morgan Brown..."
- ^ "No. 33995". The London Gazette. 14 November 1933. p. 7404.