Royal Alexandra and Albert school | |
---|---|
Address | |
Rocky Lane , , RH2 0TD England | |
Coordinates | 51°15′42″N0°10′29″W / 51.2617°N 0.1746°W |
Information | |
Type | Voluntary aided Day and boarding school |
Established | 1758 |
Founder | Edward Pickard |
Local authority | Surrey |
Department for Education URN | 125279 Tables |
Ofsted | Reports |
President | The Duchess of Gloucester |
Headteacher [1] | Morgan Thomas |
Gender | Mixed |
Age | 7to 18 |
Enrolment | 1000 |
Houses | Gatton Hall Rank Weston Elizabeth Edinburgh Albert Kent Gloucester Alexandra Cornwall |
Former pupils | Old Gattonians |
Website | www.raa‑school.co.uk |
The Royal Alexandra and Albert School is an all-through co-educational boarding school near Reigate, Surrey. [2] The headmaster as of 2022 is Morgan Thomas. The Royal Alexandra and Albert School Act, of 1949, united The Royal Alexandra School, which was founded in 1758, and The Royal Albert orphan School, which was founded in 1864 as a national memorial to Prince Albert, late husband of Queen Victoria. It is one of 36 state-maintained boarding schools in England and Wales, [3] and the only one to educate children from primary school years to sixth form. [4]
The earliest link in the school's history goes back to the Orphan Working School which was founded in 1758 by fourteen men meeting in an inn [5] led by Edward Pickard, a dissenting minister. [6] The school expanded under the secretaryship of Joseph Soul in Hampstead. It continued to expand and it opened a linked convalescent home in Margate. [7]
The other part of the school was known as the Royal Albert Orphan Asylum. It opened in Camberley in 1864. The second school was intended for children between the ages of five and eight and was founded by the Orphan Working School, with Joseph Soul as the first honorary secretary. [5] In 1867 Queen Victoria planted a Wellingtonia Gigantica tree during an "Inauguration Ceremony" for the school. A stone at the site was engraved VIR 1867 and is mistakenly thought by some to be the foundation stone of the building. The Wellingtonia survives to this day. A later patron of the school was Victoria's son Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. [8]
After the school left, the site was for a while used as the WRAC College. Boys at the school were required to work in addition to their schooling: for example on the farm, in the gardens, in a tailor's shop and in a cobbler's workshop.
The two schools, the Royal Alexandra Orphanage and the Royal Albert School, joined together in Gatton Park, near Reigate, just after the Second World War. Over the years it evolved from an orphanage to a state boarding school. There are around 36 state boarding schools in the UK, where education is provided by the state and parents pay for board. [3]
The school's foundation still supports some children whose home circumstances make a boarding education desirable.
The school's grounds, Gatton Park, were previously owned by Sir Jeremiah Colman of Colman's mustard, and were extensively landscaped by celebrated 18th century landscape gardener Capability Brown.
Gatton Hall, the stately home built within the grounds, is now used as a boarding house for Sixth Form students.
The Royal Alexandra and Albert School is a true boarding school in that all its pupils are boarders and there is school on Saturday mornings so that boarders can have longer holidays. Around half are full boarders who go home at weekends and for holidays. The rest are Flexi Boarders who stay for the extended day and stay overnight for between 7 and 10 nights a year. [9]
The School has its own riding stables and around 20 horses. [3] Pupils can learn to ride for pleasure; lessons are arranged at lunchtimes or after school. The school is a member of the British Horse Society. [10]
Former pupils of school are known as Old Gattonians. [11]
Reigate is a town in Surrey, England, around 19 mi (31 km) south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as Cherchefelle and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for human activity is from the Paleolithic and Neolithic, and during the Roman period, tile-making took place to the north east of the modern centre.
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Loreto Convent is an English-medium girls' primary and secondary school located in Chauk Bazar, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. It is run by Loreto Education Society of Darjeeling. The school is affiliated to the ICSE and ISC boards of Delhi.
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Gordon's School is a secondary school with academy status in West End near Woking, Surrey, England. It was founded as the Gordon Boys' Home in 1885. It is now one of the 36 state boarding schools in England. It converted to an academy on 1 January 2013. It was ranked as the second-highest-achieving state boarding school in 2016 by The Daily Telegraph, but controversy arose over the school charging £8,209 a year for day-pupil places. It has been argued that makes the state school selective, along with others which charge similar fees. Under the Education Act 1996 it is illegal for state schools to charge for admission or education provided within normal hours. In June 2022 Gordon's was judged Boarding School of the Year by the TES.
Gatton Park is a country estate set in parkland landscaped by Capability Brown at Gatton, near Reigate in Surrey, England.
Old Swinford Hospital is a secondary boarding school in Oldswinford, Stourbridge, West Midlands, England that has been in continuous operation since the 17th century. It is one of 36 state boarding schools in England, meaning school fees are funded by the LEA and pupils only pay boarding fees. Girls are admitted into the sixth form as day pupils. Girls will be admitted from year 7 onwards in 2021.
The Royal School, Hampstead, was an independent girls' day and boarding school located in Hampstead, London, England. The school was founded in 1855 by Queen Victoria and for 157 years educated girls aged 3–18. The school had 2 longstanding royal patrons: the first was Queen Victoria for 70 years, and the second Princess Alexandra who retired in 2005 after 50 years of service. The succeeding patron was Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. In 2011, the school merged with North Bridge House School at the end of the academic year (2011/12) under the management of Cognita.
Chinthurst School is an independent co-educational nursery, pre-preparatory and preparatory school in semi-rural surroundings in the village of Tadworth, Surrey, England, 15 miles south of the centre of London. As a member of the RGS Group, the school is associated with Reigate Grammar School and Reigate St Mary's School. Its pupils' ages range from two to eleven years.
Gatton is a former village in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead, Surrey, England. It survives as a sparsely populated, predominantly rural locality, which includes Gatton Park, no more than 12 houses, and two farms on the slopes of the North Downs near Reigate.
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Joseph Soul (1805–1881) was a nineteenth-century British reformer who worked for 36 years to assist the plight of orphaned children in London and in support of the abolition of slavery. He worked at the Orphan Working School in Hampstead and founded another orphanage at Hollway which together eventually became the Royal Alexandra and Albert School.
Edward Pickard was an English dissenting minister who founded the Orphan Working School in 1758. The Orphan school would eventually become a school in Reigate in Surrey. He also led a group who tried to change the law restricting the rights of dissenting ministers.
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