- Downe House School
-
This article is about the school. For Charles Darwin's house, see Down House.
Downe House School 
Established 1907 Type Independent all-female Headmistress Mrs Emma McKendrick Location Cold Ash, Berkshire
RG18 9JJ
EnglandStudents 550 Gender Girls Ages 11–18 Colours green, red
Website downehouse.net 
Main entrance
Bird's-eye viewDowne House School is an independent girls' boarding school in Cold Ash, a village near Newbury, Berkshire, for girls aged 11-18.
Contents
History
Downe House was founded in 1907 by Olive Willis, its first headmistress, as an all-girls' boarding school. Its first home was Down House in the village of Downe, Kent (now part of the London Borough of Bromley), which had been the home of Charles Darwin. By 1921 this was too small for the school, so Willis bought The Cloisters, Cold Ash, Berkshire, to which the school moved in 1922 where it remains.
In 2005, the school was one of fifty of the country's leading independent schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times, which had allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents.[1] Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared.[2]
Before the cloisters were bought by Olive Willis they were part of a nunnery. One of the nuns, Elizabeth Day went crazy and killed herself.[citation needed] It is said that many of the girls in the house Tedworth in particular have seen her ghost roaming around the dorms at night. However, she in fact hung herself over a balcony in what is now a computer room.[citation needed]
Entry and education
The Good Schools Guide called[when?] Downe House:
“ A green and spacious school which leads its pupils into independence as they move round the campus and makes sure they experience life outside it.[3] ” Downe House educates girls between the ages of eleven and eighteen, taking them from the last years of junior school through to the sixth form and Pre-U. Girls can join the school at the ages of eleven, twelve, or thirteen, on leaving a primary or prep school, or at sixteen after completing GCSEs.
The school is selective, with most entrants needing to pass the Common Entrance Examination.
Notable former pupils
See also: Category:People educated at Downe House School- Aileen Fox, archaeologist
- Aletha Hayter (1911–2006), author and British Council representative
- Anne Ridler (1912–2001), poet
- Audrey Richards (1899–1984), social anthropologist who worked mainly in sub-Saharan Africa
- Betty Rea (1904–1965), sculptor and educationist
- HRH Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, then Catherine Middleton attended the school for a term before being moved to Marlborough College[4]
- Clare Balding, BBC sports presenter
- Elizabeth Bowen, author
- Evelyn Rothwell, oboist
- Georgina Rylance, actress
- Geraldine James, actress
- Kristin Linklater, vocal coach, now at Columbia University
- Lady Gabriella Windsor, journalist and member of the British Royal Family
- Laura Solon, comedian
- Lena Townsend, politician
- Mary Scrutton, philosopher
- Miranda Hart, comedian
- Philippa Middleton, socialite and sister of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge[5]
- Priscilla Napier (1908–1998), author
- Rosemary Murray, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, founder of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge
- Sophie Dahl, model and author
- Susannah Fiennes, artist
- Tessa Dahl, mother of Sophie, daughter of Roald Dahl and Patricia Neal
- Valerie Goulding, member of Seanad Éireann
Bibliography
- Ridler, Ann, Olive Willis and Downe House: an adventure in education (London: Murray, 1967)[6]
- Horsler, Val, & Jenny Kingsland, Downe House: a Mystery and a Miracle (London: Third Millennium Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1903942500 & ISBN 978-1903942505)
External Links
Notes
- ^ Independent schools face huge fines over cartel to fix fees - Times Online
- ^ The Office of Fair Trading: OFT names further trustees as part of the independent schools settlement
- ^ http://goodschoolsguide.co.uk/school/downe-house-school.html Good Schools Guide
- ^ Party Pieces Princess in News of the World dated 21 November 2010, p. 4
- ^ Anna Pukas, Kate Middleton's eligible little sister dated 20 November 2010 at express.co.uk
- ^ Olive Willis and Downe House at openlibrary.org
Categories:- Independent schools in Berkshire
- People educated at Downe House School
- Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association
- Educational institutions established in 1907
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
