St Aubyns School

History

St Aubyns was founded by C. E. F. Stanford in 1895 as a boys' boarding prep school. Stanford had been a housemaster of Kingsgate School in Winchester and moved with his wife, his deputy R. C. V. Lang, a maintenance man and six pupils to start a new school.

The premises which Stanford occupied had been a school for much of the 19th century. Thomas Hooker, Vicar of Rottingdean from 1790s to 1830s, was known as an educator of pupils who lodged with him at the vicarage. He then rented rooms in the former Rottingdean Manor House, and employed a second master as an extension to the school. After his death a school continued and changed hands several times. From 1863 a Mr Hewitt ran Field House School on the site; there Ralph Vaughan Williams and the later Earl Jellicoe were educated. The school was bought in 1887 by two brothers called Mason; they gave the name Rottingdean School to their establishment. They vacated the site in 1894 and moved Rottingdean School to another site in the village. Thus Mr Stanford came upon an empty site when he arrived in 1895.

The school remained in essence unchanged for its first 100 years, with numbers between 60 and 100 pupils for most of that time. A chapel was built in 1912 and dedicated the following year. This records the names of 102 old boys who died in the First and Second World Wars.

The school was privately owned by Stanford who passed it on to Lang who succeeded him as Headmaster in 1919. Lang in turn passed the school on to his successor W. H. Gervis in 1940; one of the other masters, E. K. Webber, had a financial share in the business. The school became a limited company and a charitable trust in 1969.

During the Second World War the school was evacuated to North Wales. A family called Wynne Finch made their mansion, Voelas near Pentrefoelas, available to the school in 1940. Here school life continued as if unchanged, including sporting fixtures against other prep schools evacuated to the area. The Voelas Cup is still awarded each year to a pupil who has gained the most section marks.

In 1995 a Pre-Prep Department was opened and with this came an increase in the proportion of day pupils. Girls were first admitted to the school in 1996 (although the first girl was Molly Stanford, daughter of Mr Stanford, in the first decade of the 1900s). In 2002 a Nursery was opened. Full boarding ended in 2003, although weekly- and flexi-boarding continued until the school's closure.

In July 2013, St Aubyns closed.

School name

Mr Stanford founded the school as St Aubyn's. The reason for the choice of name is not known. The apostrophe was used in the name until 1940. Without any explanation or comment the apostrophe was dropped after the Spring Term 1940. This can be seen in the school magazines for the Spring and Summer Terms of that year. The change coincided with the new Headmaster, Mr Gervis, and with the school's evacuation from Rottingdean at the start of the war. The name St Aubyns has been used consistently by the school ever since.

Headmasters

Notable former pupils

Inspection

The Independent Schools Inspectorate highlighted a "stimulating and tolerant atmosphere", "outstanding" pastoral care, and the focus on personalised learning as "an area of outstanding practice". "Achievement in drama, art and sport ... is outstanding for a school of its size", the report stated. The behaviour of the children and the excellent relationship between pupils and staff were also singled out for praise. The Nursery Inspection (Ofsted 2008) emphasised the outstanding nature of the provision at that level. The boarding provision was judged to be outstanding in the Boarding Inspection (Ofsted 2009). A press article described the school as having 'the intoxicating combination of small classes and a big heart".