Aldro
Aldro is a preparatory school in Shackleford, near Godalming, Surrey, England. Recently Aldro was the only prep school listed in the Country Life magazine's 16 most beautiful schools in Britain. It was also voted by The Week magazine in 2016 as the best school for boys' sport. It caters for about 220 boys between the ages of 7 and 13. It has a 20-acre country estate for boys to learn, offering a very full curriculum centred on reading, problem solving, the arts and sport everyday. Boys are challenged, fulfilled and nurtured in equal measure. Aldro is fully inclusive for team sports and drama productions. The school philosophy is to pursue excellence and Aldro boys are regularly rewarded with awards to the top public schools. The 2016 scholarships included 7 academic awards, 5 sport, 5 music, 1 drama, 1 engineering and 1 for polo, showing the rich diversity of talent nurtured at Aldro. The Good Schools Guide called the school an "Extremely popular and successful traditional prep school" [1]
History
Aldro was founded at Meads in Eastbourne in 1898 and moved to its present home, the former residence of Sir Edgar Horne, 1st Baronet, in 1940. They were converted by the school during and after the Second World War. A large, timbered barn, for example, became the school chapel, and was consecrated in 1949. It survived a fire in the 1970s. A former workshop next door became the science laboratory, and the estate’s potting shed became a carpentry workshop.
The Headmaster is James Hanson.
Facilities
The oldest building is the octagonal cider press, standing close to the main entrance, which has been used as a small museum of archives, and as a home for the famous model railway regularly referenced in Tatler guides about Aldro.
Over the years there have been many new additions to the site. For years the large lake doubled as a swimming pool and as a race course for inter-house rowing competitions. Today there is an open heated swimming pool, used daily by the boys.
Other more recent facilities include a new sports hall (The Aston Sports Centre), opened by His Royal Highness, the Earl of Wessex, in June 2015, a high-performance theatre (The Crispin Hill Centre), an art, design and technology centre (opened by David Shepherd), three tennis courts, a rifle-range and pistol range. The Centenary Building, opened in 1999, contains a library and new classrooms, and a new dining hall opened in 2003.
Notable former pupils
- David Hacking, 3rd Baron Hacking, hereditary peer
- Geoffrey Hallowes, Special Operations Executive
- Arthur Keen, World War I flying ace
- Tim McMullan, An actor who has been featured in many movies such as "The Woman In Black" and "The Queen"
- Kim Philby, member of the Cambridge Five
- Ronald Scott-Miller, Conservative Member of Parliament
- Alexander Scrimgeour (1897–1916), Author of "Scrimgeour's Scribbling Diary" who was killed at the Battle of Jutland[2]
- Toby Stephens, actor, who has played Kim Philby in television drama Cambridge Spies
- John Wakeham, Baron Wakeham, Conservative peer and former Cabinet member in Thatcher & Major governments
References
- ↑ The Good Schools Guide
- ↑ Scrimgeour, Alexander (1 July 2009). Scrimgeour's Scribbling Diary: The Truly Astonishing Diary and Letters of an Edwardian Gentleman, Naval Officer, Boy and Son. Conway Maritime Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-1844860982.
External links
Coordinates: 51°11′56″N 0°39′49″W / 51.199011°N 0.663605°W