Private School News

WINDLESHAM HOUSE SCHOOL CELEBRATES ITS CENTENARY YEAR 1910-2010

Former pupils at Windlesham House School in Washington, West Sussex, are celebrating an historical landmark this year as their organisation marks its 100th birthday.

The Windlesham House Association began at a dinner held at the School, which was then based in Brighton, in 1910. The dinner’s Chair was Alfred Scott who had been the school doctor for many years and it is only in the last few years that the last of his great-grandchildren have left the School. The oldest former pupil whom the School is currently in touch with is aged 95 having left the School in 1927.

Windlesham House School originates from a school set up for a dozen or so pupils by Reverend Worsley at Newport on the Isle of Wight in 1826. It was bought by the Malden family in 1837, initially for the children of naval officers, and was moved to Brighton in 1837. In 1913, the School moved to Portslade and in 1934 went to its present site at Washington.

The Maldens are central to the history of Windlesham House School with five generations involved from 1837 to 1994. Charles and Elizabeth Ann Malden were the joint Heads from 1957 to 1994 and their eldest daughter, Lucinda, became the Chairman of Governors in 2009.

The Chapel also plays a major part in the School’s history – originally earmarked for being torn down in Oxford in 1896, the Maldens saved the building and it has moved with the School each time, now in its fourth home in Washington.

The Windlesham House Association will be marking its centenary year with a reunion on Sunday 4th July as part of a spectacular festival weekend called Odyssey. For more information, please visit the website at www.odyssey10.com.

Headmaster, Richard Foster, said: “It is a real privilege to have such a wealth of history here at Windlesham and the former pupils, and indeed former parents and members of staff, all play a huge role.”

Secretary of the Windlesham House Association, Richard Martin, said: “The organisation is extremely active with nearly five thousand members and regular events either here at the School, in London, or indeed around the world. It is always exciting to hear the news of members as they progress in life and they do love to hear what is happening at their former prep school.”

PHOTO: The opening of the new school at Southern Cross in 1913, otherwise known as Portslade.