Marlborough House School

Marlborough House School is a co-educational preparatory school situated in 34 acres (14 ha) of countryside in Hawkhurst, Kent. The school currently has just over 320 pupils between the ages of 3 and 13 with a teaching staff of 40. Marlborough House is predominantly a day school, but operates a flexi-boarding policy for pupils over the age of 9. The school is a member of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS). The current headmaster is Martyn Ward.

History

Marlborough House was founded in 1874 in Hove and is one of the oldest preparatory schools in the country. It was later moved to Hawkhurst, Kent by then headmaster Arthur Harrison, who bought the New Lodge estate and converted the 18th-century building into an educational facility for the 25 boys who moved with the school.

During the Second World War the school relocated to Great Bidlake, an Elizabethan country house near to Bridestowe in Devon.

Arrangement of the School

The school is arranged in year groups with years from Nursery to Year Eight. Those 10 years are managed in three sections: Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep school. The Nursery caters for the ages of 3-4 in a purpose built building within the heart of the school site. The Pre-Prep consists of years 2, 1 and reception in a separate recently expanded building adjacent to the main school building. The Prep school, years 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 and 3, occupies the 18th century main building as well as various surrounding buildings with years 5, 4 and 3 having moved into a new building in September 2006.

Curriculum

The curriculum diversifies into specific subjects as the pupils get older in preparation for Common Entrance or other entrance examinations to senior schools. The school currently offers Art, Citizenship (only in form 1), Classical Civilisation (initially taught to pupils who opt for Latin instead of Spanish), Design and Technology, English, French, Geography, History, Latin, ICT, Mathematics, Music (taught together in classes as part of the general curriculum, pupils can opt for private weekly tuition in a wide variety of instruments), Physical Education, Science and Spanish.

Sports

Sports play an important part of life at school. All pupils are encouraged to take part, and the school caters for a wide variety of abilities. The boys play soccer, rugby, hockey and cricket as main sports whilst the girls play hockey, netball and rounders. The school also offers cross country running, shooting, swimming, athletics, sailing and lacrosse among others. The school is fortunate to have a purpose built Sports Hall, opened in 1998 for indoor sports as well as an all-weather astro-turf and three outdoor tennis courts offering almost unrivalled facilities for a school of this size. The school takes part in numerous competitive fixtures against other local schools with usually three teams for each age group.

Houses

There are four houses at Marlborough House, named after four pupils killed during World War One: Awdry, Egan, Dunbar and Hawkings. All members of the school are allocated to a particular house upon entering the Prep school. The houses play an important role in fostering a collective spirit within the school. The school operates a discipline policy whereby pupils are awarded a 'good mark' for good behaviour whilst a 'bad mark' is received for poor behaviour. The respective numbers are added to find the winning house each week. The school also operates inter-house tournaments, mainly sporting (but sometimes academic) allowing pupils who do not always get the chance to represent the school the opportunity to play semi-competitive sport. The House Cup is awarded yearly to the house who is judged to be the best overall in all areas of school life.

Facilities

The school has a wide variety of facilities, but is always looking to improve upon what is existing and has recently embarked upon a major project in the addition of 6 new classrooms. The school has dedicated classroom facilities for all major subjects, including a superbly equipped science laboratory, observatory, rooms for art and design technology as well as the Old Gym which includes the school's theatre and drama facilities. Many classrooms have computers together with Smart Boards, with ICT playing an important part in life at the school. The school has its own outdoor swimming pool, sports hall, tennis courts, shooting range and all-weather astro-turf as well as numerous grass pitches.

Flexi-boarding

The school operates a boarding policy called Flexi-boarding whereby at the start of term a pupil can choose which days to board during the week. A pupil can thus board one, two or three days a week depending on circumstance. Flexi-boarding helps give pupils a 'taster' of boarding before deciding whether to board at their senior school, ease pick up congestion for both parents and the school as well as being great fun for the pupil.

Notable alumni

• Rev. W. V. Awdry, author of Thomas the Tank Engine
• David Gower, former England cricket captain
• Patrick Muirhead, television presenter
• Stephen Poliakoff, acclaimed playwright, director and scriptwriter
• Peter Vansittart, novelist.

External links

• School Website
• Profile on the Independent Schools Council website