Arms:Gules, a chevron Vair between two escallops Argent in chief and a cross flory Argent in base. Crest:A lion rampant guardant Proper, armed and langued Gules, holding a cross pattée Gules and statant upon an escallop Argent.
Hill House International Junior School, known simply as Hill House, is an independentpreparatory day school primarily in the Knightsbridge district of London (with a boarding house in Glion, Canton Vaud, Switzerland). It was founded in September 1949 by athlete and Liberal Party politician Lt-Col Stuart Townend along with his wife, Beatrice. Initially only in Switzerland, the school soon established branches in South West London. It is the largest preparatory school in London and was originally an all-boys school, turning fully coeducational in 1981.[2][3] The school educates children belonging to over 60 nationalities, and most pupils are bi- or trilingual.[4]
In 2025, Hill House was ranked by Spear's to be amongst the “100 leading private schools in the world” alongside other British prep schools including the Dragon School and Westminster Under School and senior schools including Eton College, Wellington College, and Wycombe Abbey.[5] Besides notable alumni in politics and the arts, Hill House is famous for its distinct and eccentric uniform, designed by Beatrice Townend to be all-purpose and from the belief that “Grey school uniforms make for grey minds.” The uniform includes thick golden cable-knit jumpers, burgundy-coloured corduroy knickerbockers, cravats in the school colours, and backpacks in British racing green.[6]
History
Early years and the Swiss Connection
Hill House was originally founded in 1949 at La Tour-de-Peilz in Canton Vaud, Switzerland. The original schoolhouse was called "La Colline", French for “the hill”, hence Hill House. The founder, Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart Townend, and his wife, Beatrice, established the school’s London branch in 1951, which soon became its centre, expanding to four buildings total across Kensington and Chelsea. The Townend family have always retained the school’s connection to Switzerland, however: by 1960, they had moved twice within Canton Vaud to settle at a chalet in Glion, overlooking Lake Geneva. In 1966, a new schoolhouse at Glion was purpose-built by Lt-Col Townend, and today this is the site of multiple annual trips for older pupils, revolving around the subjects of geography and art as well as music, singing, and skiing. The diversity and frequency of these trips are partly designed to provide as many pupils as possible with the experience of a boarding school environment.[7]
"The Colonel"
In his lifetime, Lt-Col Townend, dubbed simply "the Colonel", chose his pupils solely on the basis of his approval of their mothers.[8][9]Prince Charles (now Charles III) went to Hill House, following advice from then-Prime MinisterHarold Macmillan, some of whose young relatives had been pupils at the school.[10][11] It was the prince’s first school and was the first time that an heir to the British throne had been to a civilian school, as princes were educated either by tutors or at a military or naval academy such as Osborne.
At the time of Colonel Townend’s passing in 2002, Hill House was reportedly the world's largest private junior school, educating over 1,100 pupils. [12] As of 2018 there are 690 pupils at the school from the ages of 4 to 13.[1]
The Townend family
As of 2025, Hill House is the only London school “in which the day to day administration of every aspect of the school remains in the care and control of the founding family.”[13]
Three generations of the Townend family have been headmasters of Hill House:
Richard Townend, son of Stuart Townend (Headmaster 2002–2022; Warden 2022–present)[15]
Edmund Townend, younger son of Richard Townend (Headmaster 2022–present)[16]
The title of Warden of the school was created for Richard Townend upon his retirement from the role of headmaster in 2022. His elder son, William Townend, is the school’s Bursar.[17]
The school was outlined on page 74, chapter 3.1 ("Learning to be Sloane: Sloane Education"), of Peter York's and Ann Barr's 1982 guide book The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook as an appropriate calibre of school on the "third rung of the ladder" of a "Sloane boy's" education: describing it, amongst other things, as "Prince Charles's old school. Outdoorsy, musical, for energetic extroverts."
On 22 February 1989, headmaster Stuart Townend appeared on Season 9 Episode 22 of Wogan, alongside Desert Island Discs presenter Sue Lawley and future Labour PartyHome and Foreign SecretaryJack Straw. Hill House was also featured in the 23 February 1989 documentary episode "Knickerbockers in Knightsbridge", part of the ninth season of the BBC series 40 Minutes, in which school life under “Colonel” Townend is narrated.[18]
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