Port Regis School
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 Main building |
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| Motto | Altiora peto (I seek higher things) |
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| Established | 1881 |
| Type | Independent preparatory school |
| Headteacher | Benedict Dunhill |
| Location | Motcombe Park Shaftesbury Dorset SP7 9QA England |
| Staff | 55 |
| Students | c. 400 |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Ages | 3–13 |
| Houses | 5 |
| Website | portregis.com |
Coordinates: 51°01′12″N 2°12′57″W / 51.019867°N 2.215725°W
Port Regis School is a preparatory school for boys and girls between the ages of 3 and 13. The school is located in 140 acres of parkland on the Dorset / Wiltshire border in Southern England.
In 2009 Which school? said of Port Regis that it had "long been a market leader in the prep school world".[1]
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[edit] History
Dr Praetorius' School, founded in 1881 in Weymouth Street, London, moved to Folkestone a few years later, and in 1921 to Kingsgate, Broadstairs, in the grounds of which stood an ancient arch, erected by Earl Holland to commemorate a chance landing by Charles II in 1683. This provided the name of the School, Port Regis, "Gate of the King".
In the 1930s, while at Broadstairs, the school was unusual in offering scholarships for the sons of physicians.[2]
In September 1943 Port Regis was evacuated to a wing of Bryanston School in Blandford.[3] After a brief stay at the Earl of Verulam's home at Gorhambury, the School moved in 1947 to Motcombe Park, one mile (1.6 km) from Shaftesbury in Dorset, where it has been ever since.
In 1972 the freehold of the property was acquired. More recent developments include the building of the Jowett sports hall, opened in 1980 by Anne, Princess Royal. The Centenary Hall was opened in 1984.
On 22 February 1991, the Queen's Hall, a new gymnasium and swimming pool, were opened by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, while their grandchildren Peter and Zara Phillips were at the school.[4]
The Cunningham Hall of Technology (1992), Farrington Music School (2003) and the JM Upward Academic Centre (2008) have all been further developments to the academic side of the school.
[edit] Boarding houses
The Prep school and Pre-Prep together consist of nearly 400 pupils, with gender mix at around 50%. There are five boarding houses:
- Stalbridge for boys aged 7–10
- Talbot for boys aged 10–12
- Prichard Hall for boys aged 11–13
- Huxley for girls aged 7–12
- Grosvenor for girls aged 11–13
[edit] Staff and governors
The headmaster of Port Regis is Benedict Dunhill and the deputy head is Kieron Peacock. Mr Dunhill began working life in the City and subsequently took up his first teaching post at Blundell's School in Devon. He was a housemaster at Worth School in Sussex before being appointed Headmaster of Moreton Hall Prep School in Suffolk. He became Headmaster of Port Regis in 2010.
A former headmaster, David Prichard, headed the school from 1969 to 1993, during which time he chaired the National Conference for Governors, Bursars and Heads, from 1981 to 1993, and simultaneously chaired the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools in 1989–90.[5]
The abstract painter Roger Hilton taught art at the school from 1946 to 1947.[6]
Lt. General Sir Hugh Cunningham was chairman of the school's governing body from 1982 to 1994.[7] Other governors include Tom Wheare.
[edit] Notable former pupils
Former pupils are known as Old Portregians.
- Sir Louis Blom-Cooper, barrister, author, and chairman of the Press Council[8]
- Jasper Conran, designer[9]
- Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy[3]
- Adrian Heath, artist[10]
- Peter Phillips, son of Anne, Princess Royal[4]
- Zara Phillips, daughter of the Princess Royal[4]
- Geoffrey Rootes, 2nd Baron Rootes, industrialist[11]
[edit] References
- ^ Wendy Bosberry-Scott, ed., Which school? (2009), p. xxiv
- ^ Homes and Gardens for May 1940, in vol. 21 (1940), p. 427: "Port Regis, Broadstairs, is a preparatory school which has scholarships for sons of medical men..."
- ^ a b Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, Half an Arch: a memoir (2004), pp. 55–56
- ^ a b c Tim Graham, The Royal Year, 1991 (1992), p. 46
- ^ 'Prichard, David Colville Mostyn', in Who's Who 2012 (London: A. & C. Black, 2011)
- ^ Adrian Lewis, Roger Hilton (Ashgate Publishing, 2003), p. 4
- ^ 'Cunningham, Lt-Gen. Sir Hugh (Patrick)' in Who's Who 2012 (London: A. & C. Black, 2011)
- ^ 'BLOM-COOPER, Sir Louis (Jacques)', in Who's Who 2012
- ^ Western Daily Press 20 March 2010 at jasperconran.com, accessed 8 February 2012
- ^ Julian Freeman, 'Heath, Adrian Lewis Ross (1920–1992), artist and art teacher' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (OUP, 2007)
- ^ Richard A. Storey, 'Rootes, (William) Geoffrey, second Baron Rootes (1917–1992), industrialist', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (OUP, 2007)
[edit] External links
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