Parkside School is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

preparatory school located in Cobham. Founded in 1879, the school caters for boys aged 2 to 13 and for girls in the nursery school section aged 2 to 4.

History

Originally established in 1879 in East Horsely, Parkside moved to its current location on the banks of the

River Mole The River Mole is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows north-west through Surrey for to the Thames at Hampton Court Palace. The river gives its name to the Surrey district ...

Stoke D'Abernon __NOTOC__ Stoke d'Abernon () is a village and former civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge district, in Surrey, England. It is on the bank (geography), right bank of the River Mole contiguously south of ...

, Elmbridge in 1979. The school occupies 79 acres of land and contains a number of historic buildings. It is situated in between Chelsea Football Club's training ground and the

Yehudi Menuhin School The Yehudi Menuhin School is a specialist music school in Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey, England, founded in 1963 by violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin. The current director of music is the British classical pianist Ashley Wass. The school is one ...

Buildings

The Manor

The main building of the school is a

Grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

listed manor building, originally

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

and then significantly modified in the

Georgian era The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the House of Hanover, Hanoverian kings George I of Great Britain, George I, George II of Great Britain, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Geor ...

St Mary's Church

St Mary's Church, one of the oldest churches in Surrey, is found within the grounds of the school. It is a

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

listed building.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni include

Darryl Read Darryl Michael Roy Read (19 September 1951 – 23 June 2013) was a British singer, guitarist, drummer, actor, poet and writer. In the late 1960s, Read was a member of Crushed Butler, considered by some to be amongst the forerunners of proto pun ...

, who was a British musician, actor and writer. In the late 1960s, Read was a member of

Crushed Butler Crushed Butler were a British rock band that existed between 1969 and 1971. According to 2008's '' Pretty Vacant: A History of UK Punk'', the band "was, in many ways, Britain's first proto-punk band." Band members went on to form Darryl Read' ...

, considered by some to be amongst the forerunners of

proto-punk Proto-punk (or protopunk) is rock music from the 1960s to mid-1970s that foreshadowed the punk rock genre and movement. A retrospective label, the musicians involved were generally not originally associated with each other and came from a variet ...

and

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

. Also attending the school were Alexander Buller-Turner, Victor Buller-Turner and

Thomas Orde Lawder Wilkinson Thomas Orde Lawder Wilkinson Victoria Cross, VC (29 June 1894 – 5 July 1916), was an England, English-born Canadian Army, Canadian and British Army officer who was a recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest and most prestigious awa ...

, each of whom were awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

. Another former pupil,

Stephen Lander Sir Stephen James Lander, KCB (born 1947) is a former chairman of the United Kingdom's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), who also served as Director General of the British Security Service (MI5) from 1996 to 2002. Career Lander attended ...

, served as

Director General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...

from 1996 to 2002. More recently, radio broadcaster

Toby Tarrant Tobias Charles Tarrant (born 29 October 1991) is an English radio personality, radio broadcaster on Radio X (United Kingdom), Radio X. Early life Tarrant is the youngest son of broadcaster Chris Tarrant, who previously presented the breakfast s ...

and professional tennis players

Alastair Gray Alastair Gray (born 22 June 1998) is a British tennis player. Gray has a career high ATP singles ranking of World No. 237 achieved on 19 September 2022. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of World No. 304 achieved on 20 June 2022. ...

and

Jack Draper Jack Alexander Draper (born 22 December 2001) is a British professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 4, achieved on 9 June 2025 and a doubles ranking of No. 203, attained on 21 April 2025. Draper has wo ...

have attended the school.

References

Preparatory schools in Surrey Borough of Elmbridge {{Surrey-school-stub