Hill House School is a co-educational independent school for pupils from the ages of 3 to 18 in South Yorkshire, England. In 2012, Hill House was named 'independent school of the Year' at the independent school awards. It is a member of

Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the United ...

, The Society of Heads, The Independent Association of Preparatory Schools, and the

Independent Schools Council The Independent Schools Council (ISC) is a non-profit lobby group that represents over 1,300 schools in the United Kingdom's independent education sector. The organisation comprises seven independent school associations and promotes the busin ...

Early History

Hill House School was founded in Doncaster as a preparatory school for boys in 1912 by Reginald Master. In 1959, Paula Haigh, the wife of the then Headmaster of Hill House School, Mr Hamilton Haigh, founded St Mary's School on Bawtry Road as a girls' school. In the early 1970s under a new head, Hill House began to accept girls, and by the early 1980s had become fully co-educational. Hill House St Mary's School was born when the two schools merged in August 2002, with primary age children being taught at the Rutland Street site, overlooking Doncaster's Town Fields, and with secondary age children taught at the St Mary's site on Bawtry Road.

Recent History

In September 2008, Hill House School, reverting to its former name, relocated to the Officers’ Quarters of former

RAF Finningley Royal Air Force Finningley or RAF Finningley was a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station at Finningley, in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The station straddled the historic county boundaries of both ...

, previous home to Britain's Vulcan bombers, adjacent to the modern Robin Hood Airport. In an £8 million project, led by Cadman Construction, the school now has numerous purpose built classrooms allied to historic function rooms. In September 2011, Hill House opened its new Sixth Form and Music School in a £1.1 million development, and was accepted into membership of the

Society of Heads The Society of Heads, formerly the Society of Headmasters & Headmistresses of Independent Schools (SHHIS), or "S of H", is an association of Headmasters and Headmistresses of various types of independent schools in the United Kingdom, and was forme ...

. Since 2010, Hill House has been home to the Robin Hood Music and Drama Festival, which takes place in April each year. In 2012, the school acquired 54 acres of land in nearby

Blaxton Blaxton is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster (part of South Yorkshire, England), on the border with Lincolnshire. It lies to the north of Finningley, on the A614 road, and is located at approximately 53° 29' 30" North, 0° 5 ...

, which has been developed into sports grounds. In September 2015, having acquired 3 further pieces of land adjacent to the main site, the school's new Paver Hockey pitch was opened by Imran Sherwani, Olympic gold medallist, with Hill House becoming the first independent school in the North of England to possess a blue astroturf pitch. In February 2015, the school renewed its RAF past by becoming the base of 558 Finningley Squadron of the

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth organisation. They are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Air Force. The majority of staff are volunteers, and some are paid for full-time work – including C ...

In April 2017, the school's new £1 million Dining Hall was opened. In October 2020, the school issued an apology in response to a satirical

Tiktok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

video showing several Hill House students lip-syncing to a song as part of a popular

challenge. In August 2021, the school celebrated record examination results and Oxbridge admissions. In July 2022, the Headmaster, David Holland, was accepted into membership of HMC

Catchment

The main catchment area includes Tickhill, Bawtry, Epworth, Doncaster, Rotherham, Howden, Selby, Retford & Worksop, all of which are served by school transport.

Houses

The School has 4 Houses, School (Blue), Master (Red), Field (Green), New (Purple) House Music Champions *2022 Master *2021 New *2019 School *2018 New *2017 Master *2017 Field *2016 Field *2015 Field *2014 School *2013 School *2012 School House Relay Champions *2021 Field *2019 School *2018 Field *2017 Field *2016 Field *2015 Field *2014 Field

Awards

*2012–13 Times Independent School of the Year; Winner *2012–13 Times Outstanding Strategic Initiative Award: Winner *2012–13 Times Outstanding Governing Body Award; Shortlist *2016–17 Times Outstanding Community Initiative Award; Winner *2021-22 Independent School of the Year for Sport; Shortlist

Successes

*2016–17 North of England Hockey Champions, 5th in National Finals, at U13 Girls *2017–18 North of England Hockey Runners-up, 7th in National Finals, at U14 Girls *2021-22 North of England Tier 4 Hockey Champions at U18 Girls *2021-22 National Tier 4 Hockey Runners Up at U18 Girls *2021-22 U16 Boys Rugby Yorkshire Cup Winners *2021-22 U15 Boys England National Rugby Bowl Winners *2022-23 North of England Tier 4 Hockey Champions at U18 Girls

Notable former pupils

Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist, game show host and writer who specialises in Driving, motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' an ...

, author, journalist and television presenter *

Emma Chambers Emma Gwynedd Mary Chambers (11 March 1964 – 21 February 2018) was an English actress who performed in television, film, and the theatre. Beginning her career in 1987 on the British stage, Chambers first drew critical attention for her portr ...

, actress *

Rosie Winterton Dame Rosalie Winterton, (born 10 August 1958) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster Central since 1997. In June 2017, Winterton became one of three Deputy Speakers in the House of Comm ...

, Member of Parliament *

Philip Davies Philip Andrew Davies (born 5 January 1972) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Shipley in West Yorkshire since the 2005 general election. A member of the Conservative Party, he is the most rebellious se ...

, Member of Parliament *

Richard Dawson Richard Dawson (born Colin Lionel Emm; 20 November 1932 – 2 June 2012) was a British-born American actor, comedian, game-show host and panelist in the United States. Dawson was well known for playing Corporal Peter Newkirk in ''Hogan's Hero ...

, England cricketer; Gloucestershire Cricket Club head coach * Michael Hills, rugby player (England U21 + 7s: Sale, London Welsh, & Doncaster (Captain)) *

Jonathan Wood Jonathan Patrick Moore, previously known as Jonathan Wood, is an Australian actor who has appeared in theatre, film and television. Early life Wood was born in Australia in 1982. His mother, Patricia Moore, was killed in a car accident in Adela ...

, former Doncaster councillor *

Robert Hannigan Robert Peter Hannigan CMG (born 1965) is a cybersecurity specialist who has been Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, since 2021. He was a senior British civil servant who previously served as the director of the signals intelligence and cryptog ...

, civil servant, director of GCHQ *

John Craig Lawrence Major General John Craig Lawrence (born 18 October 1963), known as Craig Lawrence or J. C. Lawrence, is a retired British Army officer whose last appointment was as the Director of Joint Warfare at the Directorate of Joint Warfare. He is now a ...

, director of joint warfare in the Joint Forces Command, author, historian *

Hannah Cain Hannah Jade Cain (born 11 February 1999) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Leicester City in the FA Women's Super League. She has represented both England on the under-17, under-19 and under-21 national teams, and repre ...

, professional footballer with Wales and Leicester City W.F.C *

Francis Hodder Francis Samuel Hodder (11 February 1906 – 6 September 1943) was an Irish first-class cricketer, rugby union player and Royal Air Force officer. Hodder served in the Royal Air Force from 1925 until his death in 1943 during the Second World War ...

, first-class cricketer, rugby union player and Royal Air Force officer *

Andy Wilman Andrew Neville Wilman (born 16 August 1962) is an English television producer who is best known as the former executive producer of the ''Top Gear'' show, from 2002 to 2015, as well as being the executive producer of ''The Grand Tour''. He was r ...

, Producer of the popular motorshow

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

Adrian Newey Adrian Martin Newey, (born 26 December 1958) is a British Formula One engineer. He is currently the chief technical officer of the Red Bull Racing F1 team. Newey has worked in both Formula One and American Championship car racing, IndyCar raci ...

, Formula 1 aerodynamasist

References

External links

Independent Schools Council

Doncaster Free Press

BBC News

Independent Schools Awards

Society of Heads

IAPS
{{Authority control Independent schools in Doncaster * Educational institutions established in 1912 1912 establishments in England Auckley