And ever the twain shall meet
Liaisons between Harrovians and Downe House girls at socials – on and off campus – have long been commonplace but the match is now official. From this month, the two single-sex boarding schools will form a structural partnership whereby they will retain their distinct identities and traditions but there will be a new programme of joint academic, co-curricular and social activities.
‘This partnership is also an investment in our staff and in educational excellence,’ says Emma McKendrick, Downe House’s headmistress of nearly 30 years. ‘For all who work at our schools there will be opportunities to share knowledge, technology and resources. By drawing on the strengths of each school, collaboration will encourage and support innovation for teaching and learning.’
And for parents juggling children at both schools, sweet relief will come in 2028 when the two school calendars will be aligned.
Deep in the Cranborne Chase International Dark Sky Reserve in Wiltshire is Sandroyd Prep School, which has launched its new Astronomy Society complete with a Sky-Watcher telescope to let children get a glimpse of the moon’s craters and spot planets in the early evening sky. Dark Sky adviser Steve Tonkin, from Cranborne Chase National Landscape, visited the school with his planetarium in the summer, where for 45 minutes the children were blissfully immersed in a dark sky environment.
The aspiring astronomers aren’t alone: Westminster School’s observatory sits atop the Robert Hooke Centre in Smith Square; at Marlborough College there’s the Blackett Observatory with the Barclay Equatorial, the largest telescope in Wiltshire; and at Abingdon School in Oxfordshire an inflatable dome planetarium gives a 360° view of the night sky.
The wheels of time
One hundred years ago, codebreaker Alan Turing started at Sherborne School. Arriving in Southampton by ferry from France, however, the general strike meant no trains were running to Sherborne. As a result, Turing dumped his trunk, sent a telegram to Westcott House housemaster Geoffrey O’Hanlon to say he’d be arriving a day late, bought a map and began the 104km cycle ride to school. To mark the anniversary this summer, pupils from Sherborne Prep, Sherborne Girls and Sherborne Boys re-enacted the journey, with the streets lined to welcome them back into town.
Shear force of circumstance
Budding sheep farmers at Gordonstoun have undertaken the British Wool Board Blue Seal qualification, an entry-level certificate for novice sheep shearers. ‘It’s a really tricky skill to master, having to hold the sheep with one hand and two feet, while using the other hand to do the shearing,’ says John Georgeson, Gordonstoun’s head of PE, who is from a farming family and launched the course.
Diary Date
Independent Schools Show, 14 November 2026
For 20 years the Independent Schools Show has been the big hitter of open days: 70 private schools in one place for you to suss out the best option from early years to sixth form. RHS Lindley Hall, London SW1.
Book tickets at www.schoolsshow.co.uk
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