St Andrew's School, Pangbourne
| St Andrew's School | |
|---|---|
| File:St Andrew's School, Pangbourne logo.png | |
| Location | |
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| , , RG8 8QA | |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent preparatory school Day and boarding |
| Motto | Altiora Petimus (Latin: "We seek higher things") |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Church of England |
| Established | 1934 |
| Founder | R. W. Robertson-Glasgow |
| Headmaster | Jonathan Bartlett |
| Staff | 50 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Age | 3 to 13 |
| Enrollment | ~300 |
| Houses | 4 |
| Colour(s) | Green and white |
| Publication | The Chronicle |
| Former pupils | OSA's |
| Website | http://www.standrewspangbourne.co.uk/ |
St Andrew's School is an independent preparatory school in the hamlet of Buckhold, near Pangbourne, Berkshire, England. Together with its 'Pre-Prep – Early Years' department, the school now educates girls and boys aged between three and thirteen. In 2011, there were 266 children at the school, of whom 155 were boys and 111 were girls. The school has a Christian ethos, and its chapel services are reported to be "broadly Anglican in style". The most important religious event of the school year is the Advent Carol Service, which because of the numbers attending is held not at the school but in the larger chapel of nearby Bradfield College.
Scholarships are awarded to some children above the age of eleven, based on merit. St Andrew's has a School Council to involve its children in decisions affecting them.
In March 2011 an Independent Schools Inspectorate report endorsed the school's success. [1]
History
The school was founded in 1934 as a boarding school for boys, and consisted of just two staff and eight boys.[2] Historically, as the school grew, boys would leave to go onto schools such as Eton, Harrow and Winchester, however its ties with these schools slowly deteriorated after it first admitted girls in 1971, going on to become fully co-educational.[1]
The school's main building is a listed Victorian Gothic country house called 'Buckhold', designed by Alfred Waterhouse set in fifty-four acres of woods and playing fields.[1] In 1991, Catherine Middleton, who was then attending the school, first saw her future husband Prince William when he was part of a Ludgrove School hockey team that came to play a match at St Andrew's.[3]
The school today
Now consisting of just under three-hundred pupils, the school is fully co-educational with a range of facilities including newly refurbished boarding houses, three science laboratories, music school, art studio and carpentry workshop, and a private chapel. The school also boasts extensive sporting facilities such as a 25 metre pool, all-weather astro playing field, sports hall, climbing wall, 9 hole golf course, 3 tennis courts (including one grass court) and multiple rugby/football/cricket/lacrosse pitches.
Although boarding houses are strictly single sex, pupils are divided up into four co-ed houses called 'sections'. These sections compete in both academic and extra-curricular competitions such as sports, singing and the hallowed 'progressive games'. On leaving the school at 13, most pupils move on to top Independent Schools.
Notable former pupils
Former students of the school are called "Old St Andrew's", and there is an OSA Association.[4]
- Adrian Liddell Hart, author and adventurer[5]
- John le Carré (David Cornwell), spy fiction writer[6]
- Sir Howard Hodgkin, artist
- J. K. Brunner, author
- Adam Hart-Davis, broadcaster
- Will Lyons (born 1976), journalist, broadcaster and wine writer
- Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, wife of Prince William[7][8]
- Pippa Middleton, events manager, columnist[9][10]
- Samuel Outram, professional in the Insurance industry
Notable staff
Headmasters
- 1934 - 1954: R. W. Robertson-Glasgow
- 1934 - 1945: Bill Ward-Clark
- 1945 - 1975: Jack Llewellyn-Smith
- 1952 - 1970: Rodney Stebbing
- 1949 - 1952: Bill Berkley
- 1975(?)- 1985: Bill Philipps
- 1985 - 1995: Bob Acheson
- 1995 - 2008: Jeremy Snow
- 2009 – : Dr David Livingstone
Notes
- ^ a b c ISI Report, March 2011, online
- ^ Donald P. Leinster-Mackay, The Rise of the English Prep School (1984), p. 340
- ^ Daily Telegraph Reporter, Kate Middleton 'first laid eyes on Prince William as a 10-year-old schoolgirl' dated 27 November 2010 at telegraph.co.uk
- ^ OSA page of St Andrew's School web site
- ^ LIDDELL HART, Adrian John (1922-1991) at aim25.ac.uk, accessed 3 May 2011
- ^ Harold Bloom, John le Carré (Chelsea House, 1987), p. 165
- ^ St Andrew's Celebrates the Royal Wedding at standrewspangbourne.co.uk
- ^ Julian Knight, The Royal Wedding for Dummies (2011), p. 10
- ^ Nick Curtis, Everything you never knew about Pippa Middleton dated 10 May 2011 at thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle, accessed 29 April 2012
- ^ Middleton, Pippa. "Pippa Middleton's favourite mascarpone and rocket penne recipe". UK Daily Telegraph, 13 September 2013 to 29 March 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
- ^ Patrick W. Montague-Smith, Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (Debrett's Peerage Ltd., 1980), p. 200: "William Anthony Nugent, 13th Earl... Assist. Master, St Andrew's Sch., Pangbourne".
External links
- Official website
- Profile on the ISC website
- Independent Schools Inspectorate Report (March 2011)
- Independent schools in West Berkshire
- Educational institutions established in 1934
- 1934 establishments in England
- Boarding schools in Berkshire
- Preparatory schools in Berkshire
- Member schools of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools
- Church of England independent schools in the Diocese of Oxford