Dulwich Preparatory School

Dulwich Preparatory School
Established 1938
Type Independent school
Religion Church of England
Headteacher Paul David
Location Golford Road
Cranbrook
Kent
TN17 3NP
England
Coordinates: 51°26′03″N 0°05′07″W / 51.4342°N 0.0852°W / 51.4342; -0.0852
Gender Boys and girls
Ages 3–13
Website Dulwich Prep School

Dulwich Preparatory School is a co-educational preparatory school for children aged 3-13 near Cranbrook, Kent. The school has 537 pupils and is divided into three sections: Upper School (9-13 year olds), Little Stream (5-9 year olds) and Nash House (3-5 year olds).

Since September 2010, the Headmaster has been Paul David B.Ed (Hons).

History of the School

In 1938, John Leakey, the then Headmaster of Dulwich College Preparatory School in London, established an evacuation camp in the orchard on his father-in-law's land at Coursehorn, near Cranbrook, Kent. Despite the danger in 1940, the school in London was reopened and run along with the school in Cranbrook. There were plans to move the school to the West Country, but when these fell through Dulwich Prep in Cranbrook was evacuated to Betws-y-Coed in Snowdonia (there remains a memorial planting of trees in that village in memory of this period). Meanwhile, Coursehorn was being used as a camp for the troops, and in 1944 soldiers had been gathered there in preparation for D-Day.

After the war, Mr Leakey decided to take over Coursehorn from his mother-in-law and use that as the junior boarding house when the army had vacated it. The school was then scheduled to re-open in September 1945.

Coursehorn began with forty junior boarders (aged six to ten), who then moved on to Brightlands in Dulwich before leaving for a variety of Schools, and fifty day boys, mainly the sons of local farmers. The school has gone from strength to strength since those early beginnings and is now one of the best known and most successful prep schools in the country.


The school, which is run as a charitable trust, shares the same governors as Dulwich Prep London but is separate from Dulwich College, despite the historical links. The school dropped the "College" from its name in the mid 1990s, and replaced it with the local town's name, 'Cranbrook'.

Curriculum

The curriculum follows broadly the requirements of the National Curriculum. In Years 7 & 8, pupils follow the Common Entrance syllabus in each subject. There is also an extensive programme of extra-curricular activities.

Notable Alumni

Sophie, Countess of Wessex,
Tana Ramsay,
Olly Freeman (triathlete)

External links

Dulwich Prep School's Website

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, April 27, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.