Downe House School

Downe House was founded in 1907 by Olive Willis, its first headmistress, as an all-girls' boarding school. Its first home was Down House in the village of Downe, Kent (now part of the London Borough of Bromley), which had been the home of Charles Darwin.Atkins 1976, pp. 106–110.

By 1921 Down House was too small for the school, so Willis bought The Cloisters, Cold Ash, Berkshire, from the religious order known as the Order of Silence. The school moved to the Cloisters in 1922, where it has since remained. It now accepts day pupils but is still predominantly a boarding school.

Downe House won Tatler{{'}}s "Best Public School" award in 2011.{{cite news|title=Cold Ash school named Tatler's school of 2011|url=http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2011/old-news-article-18054|publisher=Newbury Weekly News|date=7 October 2011|url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603231457/http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2011/old-news-article-18054|archive-date=3 June 2013}}

As most girls at Downe House are boarders, the house system is incorporated with the boarding programme. Three boarding houses home the youngest students, after which they progress to a mixed-age house until Sixth Form{{Cite web|url=http://www.downehouse.net/boarding.asp|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509154823/http://www.downehouse.net/boarding.asp|url-status=dead|title=Boarding|archivedate=9 May 2012}}

The houses are:

• Lower School (ages 11–13)
• Hill
• Hermitage
• Darwin
• Upper School (ages 13–16)
• AGN (Ancren Gate North)
• AGS (Ancren Gate South)
• Aisholt
• Holcombe
• Tedworth
• Sixth Form (ages 16–18)
• Willis
• York

Students in the Lower Fourth year spend a term boarding at Downe House's campus at Sauveterre near Toulouse, France.{{cite web |title=Downe House Sauveterre |url=https://www.downehouse.net/dh-international/downe-house-sauveterre/ |website=Downe House School |publisher=Downe House School |access-date=6 May 2022}}

Downe House educates girls between the ages of eleven and eighteen, taking them from the last years of junior school through to the sixth form. Girls can join the school at the ages of eleven, twelve, or thirteen, on leaving a primary or prep school, or at sixteen after completing GCSEs. The biggest intake of girls is at 11+.

Entry into Downe House is competitive, with entrants needing to pass the Common Entrance Examination.

The core subjects at Downe House are English, mathematics and science as well as humanities, classics and social sciences subjects and there are options such as fine arts, foreign languages and business studies.{{Cite web|url=http://downehouse.net/view_curriculum.asp|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130703051812/http://downehouse.net/view_curriculum.asp|archive-date=3 July 2013|url-status=dead|title=curriculum|access-date=11 April 2013}}

In 2010, the Cambridge Pre-U was introduced as an alternative to A Levels at Downe House.{{Cite web|url=http://downehouse.net/cambridge_preu.asp|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811225023/http://downehouse.net/cambridge_preu.asp|url-status=dead|title=Liberated learning, through liberated teaching|archivedate=11 August 2011}}

{{Main|Independent school fee fixing scandal}}

In 2004, as reported by The Times, Downe House was one of about sixty of the country's leading independent schools which were accused of running an unlawful price-fixing cartel, contrary to the Competition Act 1998, enabling them to drive up fees charged to thousands of parents.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070310233300/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article588559.ece Independent schools face huge fines over cartel to fix fees - Times Online] After an Inquiry later that year, in 2005 the school was ordered to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000, and with the other schools agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in question.{{cite news|title=OFT names further trustees as part of the independent schools settlement |url=http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2006/182-06 |publisher=Office of Fair Trading |date=21 December 2006 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610055129/http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2006/182-06 |archive-date=10 June 2008}} However, the Independent Schools Council said the investigation had been "a scandalous waste of public money". Jean Scott, its head, said that the schools had always been exempt from anti-cartel rules applied to business, were following a long-established procedure in sharing the information with each other, and had been unaware of a change to the law, on which they had not been consulted. She wrote to John Vickers, the Office of Fair Trading director-general, "They are not a group of businessmen meeting behind closed doors to fix the price of their products to the disadvantage of the consumer. They are schools that have quite openly continued to follow a long-established practice because they were unaware that the law had changed."{{cite news | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1455730/Private-schools-send-papers-to-fee-fixing-inquiry.html | title = Private schools send papers to fee-fixing inquiry | newspaper = The Daily Telegraph | location = London | date =3 January 2004 | access-date = 27 September 2014}}

• Margaret Aston (1932–2014), medieval historian{{cite news|last1=Sheppard|first1=Martin|title=Margaret Aston: Historian who illuminated the study of religious life in England between the late Middle Ages and the Civil War|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/history-of-the-first-world-war-in-100-moments/margaret-aston-historian-who-illuminated-the-study-of-religious-life-in-england-between-the-late-middle-ages-and-the-civil-war-9924131.html|access-date=3 January 2015|work=The Independent|date=14 December 2014}}
• Clare Balding (b. 1971), BBC sports presenter{{cite news|title=Clare Balding: 'I want to make the world better, for women mainly'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2013/jan/11/clare-balding-interview-world-better|work=The Guardian|date=11 January 2013|location=London|first=Kira|last=Cochrane}}
• Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973), novelist and short story writer{{cite book |first=Elizabeth |last=Bowen |author-link=Elizabeth Bowen |title=Collected Impressions |chapter=The Mulberry Tree |publisher=Longmans Green and Co |location=London |year=1950 |pages=185–194 }}
• Tessa Dahl (b. 1957), writer and actor{{cite news|title=Out of the Shadow|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1989/04/09/out-of-the-shadow-17/|publisher=Chicago Tribune|date=9 April 1989}}
• Amaryllis Fleming (1925–1999), cellist{{Cite book |last=Cook |first=Andrew |title=The Ian Fleming Miscellany |publisher=The History Press |year=2015 |isbn=9780750960915}}
• Aileen Fox (1907–2005), archaeologist{{cite odnb |first=Henrietta |last=Quinnell |title=Fox [née Henderson], Aileen Mary, Lady Fox (1907–2005) |year=2009 |id=96247 }}
• Miranda Hart (b. 1972), comedian and actress{{cite news|title=Miranda Hart: 'I was never in the cool gang'|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/miranda-hart-i-was-never-in-the-cool-gang-6270552.html|work=The Independent|date=3 December 2011|location=London|first=Gerard|last=Gilbert}}{{cite news|title=Not too Cool for School! |url=http://downehouse.net/downloads/DHSA%20Cloisters%20Issue%201.pdf |publisher=Cloisters|date=Summer 2011|issue=1|page=5}}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• Marina Hyde (b. 1974), columnist for The Guardian{{cite web |title=An interview with Marina Hyde (Dudley-Williams DH 1992) |url=https://foundation.downehouse.net/news/alumnae-news/62/62-Marina-Hyde |website=Alumnae News |publisher=Downe House Foundation |access-date=19 December 2019 |date=18 January 2019}}
• Geraldine James (b. 1950), actress{{cite web |title=Downe House |url=https://www.tatler.com/article/downe-house-tatler-school-guide |website=Tatler |access-date=28 January 2023 |date=20 November 2022}}
• Catherine, Princess of Wales (b. 1982){{cite news|title=Royal wedding: 50 things you may not know about Kate Middleton and Prince William|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8139417/Royal-wedding-50-things-you-may-not-know-about-Kate-Middleton-and-Prince-William.html|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=6 May 2014|first=Laura|last=Roberts|date=17 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140605220120/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8139417/Royal-wedding-50-things-you-may-not-know-about-Kate-Middleton-and-Prince-William.html|archive-date=5 June 2014|url-status=live}}
• Mary Midgley (1919–2018), philosopher{{cite news |last1=Heal |first1=Jane |title=Mary Midgley obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/oct/12/mary-midgley-obituary |access-date=28 January 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=12 October 2018}}
• Rosemary Murray (1913–2004), chemist, lecturer and the first woman to hold office as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge{{cite news |title=Dame Rosemary Murray, First woman to be Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University (Obituary) |work=The Independent |date=18 October 2004 |access-date=11 April 2021 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/dame-rosemary-murray-544028.html }}{{cite odnb |first=Alex |last=May |title=Murray, Dame (Alice) Rosemary (1913–2004) |year=2009 |id=94367 }}
• Countess Alexandra Tolstoy (b. 1973), writer and presenter[https://www.burkespeerage.com/featured_families_Tolstoy.php Tolstoy family] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018030546/https://www.burkespeerage.com/featured_families_Tolstoy.php |date=18 October 2020 }} at burkespeerage.com, accessed 6 January 2019
• Edith Holt Whetham (1911–2001), agricultural historian and economist{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/feb/15/guardianobituaries|title=Edith Whetham|date=15 February 2001|work=The Guardian|access-date=12 April 2021|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|first=Jean I. |last=Currie}}
• Annette Worsley-Taylor (1944–2015), fashion entrepreneur and the founder of London Fashion Week.{{cite web|first=Meredith |last=Etherington-Smith |date=31 August 2015 |title=Annette Worsley-Taylor: London Fashion Week founder whose passion for the best design helped turn British fashion into a global success |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/annette-worsleytaylor-london-fashion-week-founder-whose-passion-for-the-best-design-helped-turn-british-fashion-into-a-global-success-10478760.html |work=The Independent}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |first=Hedley |last=Atkins |title=Down: the Home of the Darwins: the story of a house and the people who lived there |chapter=Downe House School |publisher=Phillimore |place=[Chichester] |edition=2nd |year=1976 |isbn=0-85033-231-1 |pages=106–110 }}
• {{cite book |first=Elizabeth |last=Bowen |title=Collected Impressions |chapter=The Mulberry Tree |publisher=Longmans Green and Co |place=London |year=1950 |pages=185–194 }} (Describes life at Downe House during World War I)
• {{cite book |last1=Horsler |first1=Val |first2=Jenny |last2=Kingsland |title=Downe House: a Mystery and a Miracle |place=London |publisher=Third Millennium Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-903942-50-5 }}
• {{cite book |last=Ridler |first=Anne |author-link=Anne Ridler |title=Olive Willis and Downe House: an adventure in education |place=London |publisher=John Murray |year=1967}} [https://openlibrary.org/b/OL5591298M At openlibrary.org]

• {{Official website|https://www.downehouse.net/}}
• [http://www.isc.co.uk/schools/england/berkshire/thatcham/downe-house Profile] on the ISC website

{{Schools in Berkshire}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Private schools in West Berkshire District

Category:Church of England private schools in the Diocese of Oxford

Category:Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association

Category:Educational institutions established in 1907

Category:Boarding schools in Berkshire

Category:1907 establishments in England

Category:Girls boarding schools