Dunottar School is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

school in

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, around 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 huma ...

, Surrey, England, established in 1926.

History

The school was established in 1926 by Jessie Elliot-Pyle in Brownlow Road with three pupils, and was named after

Dunnottar Castle Dunnottar Castle ( gd, Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope") is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-eastern coast of Scotland, about south of Stonehaven. The surviving buildings are largely of the ...

in Scotland. She gave it the motto ''Do ut Des'', which is translated as ''I give that thou may'st give''. She chose for the school’s crest a pelican mother nurturing her young. In 1933, the school moved to the High Trees Estate in a mansion called "High Trees" which had been built by Walter Blanford Waterlow, fourth mayor of Reigate, in 1867. In 1874, Waterlow remarried his younger brother's widow, Maria Waterlow (née Cross), mother of Sir Ernest Albert Waterlow. Additions had been made to the mansion in about 1908. In 1961, it changed from private ownership to being owned by a charitable trust. In 1975, it joined the Association of Governing Bodies of Girls' Public Schools, which is now called the

Girls' Schools Association The Girls' Schools Association (GSA) is a professional association of the heads of independent girls' schools. It is a constituent member of the Independent Schools Council. History The GSA can trace its history back to the Association of Headm ...

. In March 2014 the school became part of

United Learning United Learning is a group of state-funded schools and fee-paying independent schools operating in England. United Learning is the trading name for United Church Schools Trust (UCST) and United Learning Trust (ULT). It is one of the largest 10 c ...

and announced that it would become a co-educational school for ages 11 to 18 from September 2014. Recent developments include a £2.2 million Sixth Form Centre, opened in April 2019, and the £4.5 million construction of The Castle Theatre and Performing Arts Centre, completed in January 2021. In February 2018, the school launched a partnership with Surrey Cricket to create a Surrey Cricket Development and Performance Centre at Dunottar.

Location

The school premises is a grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, and the grounds are adjacent to Redhill Common. The nearest railway station is

Earlswood Earlswood is a suburb of Redhill in Surrey, England, which lies on the A23 between Redhill (in the direction of London) and Horley (next to Gatwick Airport). Earlswood Common is a local nature reserve that separates the suburb from the sout ...

Notable former pupils

Gillian Avery Gillian Elise Avery (30 September 1926 – 31 January 2016) was a British children's novelist, and a historian of childhood education and children's literature. She won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1972, for ''A Likely Lad.'' It ...

, children's novelist and literary historian *

Kate Maberly Kate Elizabeth Cameron Maberly (; born 14 March 1982) is an English actress, director, writer, producer, and musician. She has appeared in film, television, radio and theatre. Early life Maberly was born in Reigate, Surrey, England. She is t ...

, actress and musician * Polly Maberly, actress * Vivien Noakes, biographer, editor and critic *

Joanna Trollope Joanna Trollope (; born 9 December 1943) is an English writer. She has also written under the pseudonym of Caroline Harvey. Her novel ''Parson Harding's Daughter'' won in 1980 the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Ass ...

, author

References

External links

School Website
at the

Good Schools Guide ''The Good Schools Guide'' is a guide to British schools, both state and independent. Overview The guide is compiled by a team of editors which, according to the official website, "''comprises some 50 editors, writers, researchers and contri ...

Profile
on ISBI * ISI Inspectio
ReportsUnited Learning
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1926 Independent schools in Surrey Member schools of the Girls' Schools Association Reigate and Banstead Grade II listed buildings in Surrey 1926 establishments in England Reigate United Learning schools