Eagle House School
Eagle House School is a coeducational preparatory school near Sandhurst in Berkshire, England. Founded in 1820, it is one of the country's oldest preparatory schools.
Eagle House School | |
---|---|
Address | |
![]() | |
Crowthorne Road , Berkshire , GU47 8PH England | |
Coordinates | 51°21′22″N 0°48′02″W |
Information | |
Type | Preparatory day and boarding |
Motto | Sublimiora Petamus (Aiming High) / Learning For Life |
Religious affiliation(s) | Church of England |
Established | 1820[1] |
Local authority | Bracknell Forest |
Department for Education URN | 110133 Tables |
Chair of Governors | Howard Veary |
Headmaster | Andrew Barnard - Headmaster [1] |
Gender | Coeducational[1] |
Age | 3 to 13[1] |
Enrolment | 418 (2018) |
Houses | Senior - Ospreys, Merlins, Kites and Harriers. Junior - Kingfishers, Robins and Jays. |
Colour(s) | Gold, Red, Blue |
Website | http://www.eaglehouseschool.com |
History
Eagle House was founded in 1820[2] at Brook Green, Hammersmith. In 1860 it moved to a house named Brackenbury's at Wimbledon, then in 1886, after a major fire,[3] moved to its present home at Sandhurst.[4][5] In 1930 a severe outbreak of chicken-pox and measles reduced the school's numbers from twenty-nine to five, but the school soon recovered.[6] The school was purchased by Wellington College in 1968 and shares most of its governors.[7]
Between 1957 and 1962 Nick Drake, later a singer-songwriter, attended the school and became head boy. He was taught French at the school by John Watson, who while still at Eagle House came second in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 with his song Looking High, High, High.[8]
Lieutenant-General Sir John Cowley chaired the school's Governing Body from 1968 to 1976.[9]
Present day
Originally for boys only, Eagle House now caters for boys and girls between the ages of two and thirteen.[1] It is in the same ownership as Wellington College, forming part of the same registered charitable organization. A majority of pupils continue their secondary education at the College. Before the College went fully coeducational in 2005, most girls left at age 11 for secondary school.
The school releases its own publication titled "The Eagle" regularly which is available to pupils and parents in hard copies, paper-back copies, and also on the school's website.
Notable former pupils
- Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, soldier
- Stuart Burge, actor and director[12]
- James Chalmers, actor
- Nick Drake, singer-songwriter[8]
- John Gardner, composer[13]
- Lewis Moody, rugby player
- John Bruce Lockhart, schoolmaster and cricketer
Further reading
References
- Alex Sharratt, Preparatory Schools 2011 (2011), p. 72: "Eagle House School 5096 (Founded 1820) Headmaster: Mr CEG Taylor BA(Hons), PGCE, appointed: September 2006 / School type: Coeducational Day & Boarding / Boarders from 7 years / Age range of pupils: 3–13 / No. of pupils enrolled as at 1/9/10: 346 / Boys: 212, Girls: 134 / No. of boarders: 60... Teacher/pupil ratio 1:8"
- Wendy Bosberry-Scott, ed., John Catt's Preparatory Schools 2010 (2010), p. 34
- J. S. Cockburn, H. P. F. King, K. G. T. McDonnell, A History of the county of Middlesex: Volume 5 (1995), p. 375
- Country Life, vol. 171 (1982), p. 25: "THE FIRST EAGLE HOUSE SCHOOL, AT BROOK GREEN, HAMMERSMITH, moved to Wimbledon in 1860, and to Sandhurst in 1886..."
- Donald P. Leinster-Mackay, The Rise of the English prep school (1984), p. 126
- Eagle House Magazine dated Lent Term, 1930
- 2009 ISI Inspection Report Archived 2 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- Patrick Humphries, Nick Drake: the biography (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 1998), p. 22
- 'COWLEY, Lt-Gen. Sir John Guise' in Who's Who 1990 (London: A. & C. Black, 1990)
- Thomas Moore, Nicholas Lee Torré, Cantus hibernici, vol. 2 (1858), p. viii: "Huntingford, Rev. Edward, DCL, Head Master of Eagle House School"
- Alfred Hiley, Recapitulatory examples in arithmetic (1882), p. ii
- 'BURGE, Stuart', in Who Was Who (A. & C. Black, 1920–2008); online article (subscription site), by Oxford University Press, December 2007, accessed 20 April 2012
- 'GARDNER, John Linton', in Who's Who 2012 (London: A. & C. Black, 2012) online article (subscription site), by Oxford University Press, January 2012, accessed 20 April 2012
External links
- School Website
- Profile on the ISC website
- Profile on the Good Schools Guide