St Hugh's School, Faringdon

Preparatory school (day and boarding) school in Carswell, Oxfordshire, England

St Hugh's School

Location

Carswell , Oxfordshire , SN7 8PT England
Information
Type	Preparatory school (day and boarding)
Religious affiliation(s)	Church of England
Established	1906
Local authority	Oxfordshire
Department for Education URN	123299 Tables
Gender	Coeducational
Age	3 to 13
Number of students	c. 350
Houses	4
Website	www.st-hughs.co.uk

St Hugh's School is a preparatory school near Faringdon in Oxfordshire. The school is co-educational, day and boarding, offering both weekly and flexi-boarding, and has 350 pupils aged 3 to 13 years.

History

St Hugh's was established at Morland House, Chislehurst, Kent, in 1906,^[1] before moving to Lamas House (which became a hospital during the First World War) and then Widmore Court in nearby Bickley, then in Kent. During the Second World War the school was evacuated to Malvern Wells in Worcestershire.^[2]

During the school's absence from Kent, its buildings became the temporary wartime offices of Hodder & Stoughton. However, these were destroyed by a V-1 "Doodlebug" in the early morning of 27 June 1944.^[3] The school did not, therefore, return to Kent after the war but relocated to Carswell Manor then in Berkshire,^[4] a Jacobean country house with grounds.^[5]

The school bears the name of Hugh of Avalon, Bishop of Lincoln from 1181 to 1200. It is a member of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools and is administered as a charitable educational trust by a board of governors. For many years St Hugh's was solely a boys' full boarding school but since 1977 it has also taught girls.^[6]

In 2011, St Hugh's was a co-educational boarding school for children between the ages of three and thirteen. It had some children who were being taught to overcome dyslexia.^[7]

Notable former pupils

Henry Chadwick theologian
William Jolly Duncan professor of aeronautics
Anthony Fabian producer and director
Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam Chief of the Army Staff (India)
Prof Sir Martin Landray epidemiologist
Lorn Alastair "Johnnie" Stewart TV producer and creator of Top of the Pops
John Bryan Ward-Perkins historian and archaeologist
Alan Watts, Beat Generation philosopher
Giles Martin music producer

Notes

^ "ST. HUGH’S SCHOOL, CHISLEHURST", Eltham & District Times, 22 May 1908, p. 4
^ ST. HUGH'S SCHOOL TRANSFERRED TO MALVERN WELLS", Bromley & West Kent Mercury, 8 September 1939, p. 4
^ "ST. HUGH'S SCHOOL SITE", Bromley & West Kent Mercury, 8 February 1946, p. 5
^ "St. Hugh's School, Carswell Manor, Faringdon", Gloucestershire Echo, 11 May 1948, p. 2
^ Historic England, "Carswell Manor (St Hugh's School) (1048665)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 11 November 2023
^ "St Hugh's, Faringdon" in Derek Bingham, ed., Which School? 1989/90 (1990), p. 420
^ Gabbitas, "St Hugh's School, Carswell Manor, Faringdon" in Schools for Special Needs 2011-2012: The Complete Guide to Special Needs Education in the United Kingdom (Kogan Page Publishers, 2011), p. 442