Established 1883 Chairman Colin Willis Founder Rev. Philip Crick | Founded 1883 | |
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Motto Floreat Saint Ronan's(Let Saint Ronan's Flourish) Type Preparatory school, Independent school Headmaster William Trelawny-Vernon BSc Profiles | ||
Saint Ronan's School is an independent co-educational preparatory school for boys and girls from 3 to 13 years located near Hawkhurst in Kent, England. It currently has about 200 boys and 100 girls, all of them day pupils, although boarding is available from Tuesday night through to Thursday night for all pupils from Year 5 upwards. The present headmaster is William Trelawny-Vernon.
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History
The school was founded in 1883 and was originally located in Worthing. During the Second World War, the school was evacuated to Bicton Park in Devon, but afterwards moved to its present location in Tongswood House.
The house was remodelled in the late 19th century for William Cotterill, owner c. 1868 to 1892, of a mercantile family from Birmingham. Tongswood later belonged to Charles Eugene Gunther (died 1931), head of the Liebig Extract of Meat Company which later became known as OXO, who was High Sheriff of Kent in 1926. Tongswood was sold in 1945 by his widow, Lena Gunther, to W. B. Harris, who bought it with the sole purpose of housing St Ronan's.
Sir Richard Vassar-Smith, Bt., was headmaster from 1957-71, and was succeeded by his son, Sir John Vassar-Smith, Bt., who was headmaster of the school until his retirement in 1997. He was succeeded by Edward Yeats-Brown, who in turn was succeeded by the present headmaster, William Trelawny-Vernon.
Classes
The school is divided into two parts: Pre-Prep and Prep. The Prep School contains Year 3, i.e. 8 year olds to Year 8, 13 year olds. Originally, each class tended to contain a mixture of ages since advancement was based most of all on academic ability. From 2004 onwards, pupils have advanced in academic year groups.
Like many independent junior schools, the classes are named in an unusual manner:
Year 3 - Class 3
Year 4 - Class 4
Year 5 - Shell
Year 6 - Midway
Year 7 - Upper
Year 8 - Remove
Old boys
Former pupils of Saint Ronan's School include: