Port Regis School

Port Regis School is a co-educational preparatory school located in 140 acres of parkland on the Dorset-Wiltshire border in southern England, situated between the towns of Shaftesbury and Gillingham.

In 2009 ''Which school?'' said of Port Regis that it had "long been a market leader in the prep school world" while the Tatler Schools Guide 2014 described it as "a prep school with public-school facilities (...) Simply the shiniest, best-equipped prep around". In 2014 the Independent Schools Inspectorate judged Port Regis to be 'excellent' in all nine inspected categories.

History

The original school was founded by Dr Alfred Praetorius in 1881 in Weymouth Street, London. A few years later it moved to Folkestone and in 1921 to Kingsgate, Broadstairs, in the grounds of which stood an ancient arch, erected by Earl Holland to commemorate a chance landing by Charles II in 1683. This provided the name of the School: Port Regis, "Gate of the King".

In the 1930s, while at Broadstairs, the school was unusual in offering scholarships for the sons of physicians.

In September 1943 Port Regis was evacuated to a wing of Bryanston School in Blandford.Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, ''Half an Arch: a memoir'' (2004)
pp. 55–56
/ref> After a brief stay at the Earl of Verulam's home at Gorhambury, the School moved in 1947 to Motcombe Park, one mile (1.6 km) from Shaftesbury in Dorset, where it has been ever since.

In 1972 the freehold of the property was acquired. More recent developments include the building of the Jowett sports hall, opened in 1980 by Anne, Princess Royal. The Centenary Hall was opened in 1984.

On 22 February 1991, the Queen's Hall, which houses a heated swimming pool and competition-standard gymnasium with sunken trampoline, was opened by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, while their grandchildren Peter and Zara Phillips were at the school.Tim Graham, ''The Royal Year, 1991'' (1992), p. 46

The three most recently constructed school buildings are Cunningham Hall (1992), Farrington Music School (2003) and the JM Upward Academic Centre (2008).

Boarding houses

The Prep school and Pre-Prep together consist of around 360 pupils, with roughly half of them boys and half of them girls. There are four boarding houses:

* Grosvenor (girls aged 11 to 13)
* Huxley (girls aged 7 to 11)
* Prichard Hall (boys aged 11 to 13)
* Talbot (boys aged 7 to 11)

Staff and governors

Since 1933, Port Regis has had six headmasters: John Upward (1933-1968), David Prichard (1969-1993), Peter Dix (1994-2010), Benedict Dunhill (2010-2015), Stephen Ilett (2016-2020), and Titus Mills (2021-).

David Prichard, headmaster from 1969 to 1993, chaired the National Conference for Governors, Bursars and Heads from 1981 to 1993 and simultaneously chaired the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools in 1989–90.

The abstract painter Roger Hilton taught art at the school from 1946 to 1947.

Lt. General Sir Hugh Cunningham was chairman of the school's governing body from 1982 to 1994.

Notable former pupils (Old Portregians)

* Kwame Anthony Appiah, British philosopher, cultural theorist, novelist and professor at New York University
* Sir Louis Blom-Cooper, barrister, author, and chairman of the Press Council
* Bo Bruce, singer and songwriter
* Myles Burnyeat, Emeritus Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge
* Max Clark, professional rugby player at Bath Rugby
* Jasper Conran, designer
* Sebastian Conran, designer and member of the UK Design Council
* Tom Conran, restaurateur
* Paul Cox, artist and illustrator whose works have been commissioned by the Folio Society, Royal Mail and several newspapers and current affairs magazines
* Rebecca Deacon, private secretary to Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
* John Deeker, pyrotechnician who designed the fireworks display for the 1981 royal wedding of Charles and Diana
* Hilary Dresser, rower for the Great Britain team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
* Adetomiwa Edun, actor who starred in the British TV series Merlin
* Luke Evans (politician), Member of Parliament for Bosworth (UK Parliament constituency) from 2019.
* Prince Rashid bin El Hassan, member of the Jordanian Royal Family
* Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, biographer, historian and novelist
* Nick Greenstock, English international rugby player
* John Gunter, Emmy Award-winning set designer
* Adrian Heath, artist
* George Hurst, Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
* Daisy Lewis, actress who starred in ''Downton Abbey'' and '' Doctor Who''
* Felix Lowe, author and cycling journalist at Eurosport and France 24
* Hugh Massingberd, journalist and genealogist, known as the father of the modern obituaryMcGinness, Mark (2008) "Father of the modern obit: Hugh Massingberd (1946–2007)", ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', Weekend Edition, 5–6 January 2008, p. 56
* Amelia Maughan, bronze medal-winning swimmer at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
* Tim Payne, English international rugby player
* Peter Phillips, son of Anne, Princess Royal
* Oliver Pritchett, journalist and humourist at the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
* Henry Pyrgos, Scottish international rugby player
* Geoffrey Rootes, 2nd Baron Rootes, industrialist and Chairman of Chrysler UK
* Bruce Sharman, film producer and production manager/supervisor of '' Star Wars'' (1977) and ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980)
* John Stephen, founder of the prestigious Chinawhite nightclub in central London
* Zara Tindall, daughter of Anne, Princess Royal
* Lloyd Wallace, gold medal-winning aerial skier

References

External links

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Preparatory schools in Dorset
Boarding schools in Dorset
Educational institutions established in 1881
1881 establishments in England