Cheam School
Encyclopedia
Cheam School is a preparatory school
in Headley in the civil parish
of Ashford Hill with Headley
in the English
county of Hampshire
. It was founded in 1645 by the Reverend George Aldrich in Cheam, Surrey and has been in operation ever since.
The school started in a house called Whitehall, now the site of a museum and visited on an annual basis by the younger children. The first event of any real note in the School's history was the Great Plague of London
in 1665, when there was a great exodus from the City of London
and villages like Cheam were suddenly overrun by children who had been sent there by wealthy parents in an attempt to escape the ravages of the plague.
In 1719, the School moved to Tabor Court, where it remained for over 200 years. The move from Cheam to the present site took place in 1934, when the area was developing from a quiet leafy village to a busy suburb. Just before it moved, the Duke of Edinburgh
was a pupil there. His son, the Prince of Wales
, was also a pupil at this school.
The school occupies nearly a 100 acres (404,686 m²) of Hampshire countryside with grounds and gardens, near the border with Berkshire
.
Two mergers in the 1990s, with Hawtreys
and Inhurst House, have helped to establish Cheam as one of the leading co-educational schools in the country. Cheam School now educates boys and girls between the ages of three and thirteen. It has a combination of boarders and day-students.
The current headmaster of Cheam School is Mark Johnson, who has been there since 1998. Mark Johnson won the 2007 Tatler Magazine 'Best Headmaster of a Prep School'. The school has a high level of academic work, as well as drama productions, music and sports.
Nearly a third of pupils in the last two years have gained Scholarships and Exhibitions to Public Schools. Academic awards were earned in 2010 to schools such as Winchester, Radley, Marlborough, Cheltenham Ladies' College, Wycombe Abbey, Wellington and Harrow taking the current scholarship haul to seventeen for the year.
The school has also toured South Africa in a sporting capacity several times, most recently in 2009 when the 1st XI cricket and 1st VII netball teams secured victories in nine out of eleven matches as well as raising £10,000 for the local Red Cross Children's Hospital. Both these teams qualified for the National JET finals in the same year and the cricketers have repeated this achievement in 2010.
There are four houses (known as divisions): Aldrich (yellow), Beck (green), Gilpin (red), and Tabor (blue).
The school colours are red and blue.
Preparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
in Headley in the civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
of Ashford Hill with Headley
Ashford Hill with Headley
Ashford Hill with Headley is a civil parish in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England. The parish includes Ashford Hill, Plastow Green, Headley and Kingsclere Woodlands. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,216....
in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
. It was founded in 1645 by the Reverend George Aldrich in Cheam, Surrey and has been in operation ever since.
The school started in a house called Whitehall, now the site of a museum and visited on an annual basis by the younger children. The first event of any real note in the School's history was the Great Plague of London
Great Plague of London
The Great Plague was a massive outbreak of disease in the Kingdom of England that killed an estimated 100,000 people, 20% of London's population. The disease is identified as bubonic plague, an infection by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted through a flea vector...
in 1665, when there was a great exodus from the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
and villages like Cheam were suddenly overrun by children who had been sent there by wealthy parents in an attempt to escape the ravages of the plague.
In 1719, the School moved to Tabor Court, where it remained for over 200 years. The move from Cheam to the present site took place in 1934, when the area was developing from a quiet leafy village to a busy suburb. Just before it moved, the Duke of Edinburgh
Duke of Edinburgh
The Duke of Edinburgh is a British royal title, named after the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, which has been conferred upon members of the British royal family only four times times since its creation in 1726...
was a pupil there. His son, the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
, was also a pupil at this school.
The school occupies nearly a 100 acres (404,686 m²) of Hampshire countryside with grounds and gardens, near the border with Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
.
Two mergers in the 1990s, with Hawtreys
Hawtreys
Hawtreys Preparatory School was an independent boys' preparatory school, first established in Slough, later moved to Westgate-on-Sea, then to Oswestry, and finally to a country house near Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire...
and Inhurst House, have helped to establish Cheam as one of the leading co-educational schools in the country. Cheam School now educates boys and girls between the ages of three and thirteen. It has a combination of boarders and day-students.
The current headmaster of Cheam School is Mark Johnson, who has been there since 1998. Mark Johnson won the 2007 Tatler Magazine 'Best Headmaster of a Prep School'. The school has a high level of academic work, as well as drama productions, music and sports.
Nearly a third of pupils in the last two years have gained Scholarships and Exhibitions to Public Schools. Academic awards were earned in 2010 to schools such as Winchester, Radley, Marlborough, Cheltenham Ladies' College, Wycombe Abbey, Wellington and Harrow taking the current scholarship haul to seventeen for the year.
The school has also toured South Africa in a sporting capacity several times, most recently in 2009 when the 1st XI cricket and 1st VII netball teams secured victories in nine out of eleven matches as well as raising £10,000 for the local Red Cross Children's Hospital. Both these teams qualified for the National JET finals in the same year and the cricketers have repeated this achievement in 2010.
There are four houses (known as divisions): Aldrich (yellow), Beck (green), Gilpin (red), and Tabor (blue).
The school colours are red and blue.
Notable alumni or former pupils
- Prince Philip, Duke of EdinburghPrince Philip, Duke of EdinburghPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
, consort of Queen Elizabeth IIElizabeth II of the United KingdomElizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,... - Charles, Prince of WalesCharles, Prince of WalesPrince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
, heir to the thrones of the Commonwealth realmCommonwealth RealmA Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² , and a population of 134 million, of which all, except about two million, live in the six...
s - Lord DunsanyEdward Plunkett, 18th Baron DunsanyEdward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany was an Irish writer and dramatist, notable for his work, mostly in fantasy, published under the name Lord Dunsany...
, writer - Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount BledisloeCharles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe-External links:*...
, GCMG, KBE, PC (September 21, 1867 – July 3, 1958). - Ivo Bligh, 8th Earl of DarnleyIvo Bligh, 8th Earl of DarnleyIvo Francis Walter Bligh, 8th Earl of Darnley DL, JP , styled The Honourable Ivo Bligh until 1900, was a British cricketer who captained the English team in the first ever Test series against Australia with the Ashes at stake in 1882/83...
, England's first Ashes winning captain - Lord Randolph ChurchillLord Randolph ChurchillLord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill MP was a British statesman. He was the third son of the 7th Duke of Marlborough and his wife Lady Frances Anne Emily Vane , daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry...
, Conservative cabinet minister and father of Winston Churchill - Arthur Kinnaird, 11th Lord KinnairdArthur Kinnaird, 11th Lord KinnairdArthur Fitzgerald Kinnaird, 11th Lord Kinnaird KT was a principal of The Football Association and a leading footballer....
, footballer and banker - Reginald DraxReginald DraxAdmiral The Hon. Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, KCB, DSO, JP, DL was a British admiral...
, admiral - William FletcherWilliam Fletcher (rower)William Alfred Littledale Fletcher was an English rower and coach. Fletcher was born at Allerton, near Liverpool, the eldest son of Alfred Fletcher, a Director of the London and North-Western Railway. He was educated at Cheam School and Eton...
rower - Jake MeyerJake MeyerJake Meyer is a British climber. He achieved fame by becoming the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest in 2005, aged 21 years 4 months. The record is now held by Rob Gauntlett who was 19 at the time...
7 summits mountaineer - Robert S de RoppRobert S de RoppRobert Sylvester de Ropp was a biochemist and a researcher and academic in that field. He became a prominent author in the general fields of the realisation of human potential and the search for spiritual enlightenment.-Early life:...
researcher and writer on human potential