Stonar School, founded in 1895, is a non-denominational UK

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 ...

day and boarding school, at Cottles Park, near

Atworth Atworth is a village and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. The village is on the A365 road between Melksham and Box, about northwest of Melksham and northeast of Bradford on Avon. The hamlet of Purlpit lies east of Atworth village, and i ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, south-west England. The school occupies 80 acres of parkland and gardens in a location about 8 miles from Bath. There are about 330 pupils of both sexes, girls being in the majority. An ISI inspection in 2018 found the school "excellent".

History

The school was established in 1895 as a girls' school at Stour House,

Sandwich, Kent Sandwich is a town and civil parish in the Dover District of Kent, south-east England. It lies on the River Stour and has a population of 4,985. Sandwich was one of the Cinque Ports and still has many original medieval buildings, including sev ...

, and adopted the Stonar name when it moved to the larger Stonar House, also in Sandwich. The school was evacuated to Cottles House when the Sandwich premises were requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence in 1939. The school was acquired in 2013 by Globeducate, a subsidiary of American

private equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leve ...

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, which operates over 50 schools in several countries. Boys began to be accepted by the school in 2016 and it became fully coeducational.

Cottles House

The Grade II-listed Cottles House was designed by Thomas Jelly and

John Palmer John Palmer may refer to: People Politicians * John Palmer (fl. 1377–1394), English politician * Sir John Palmer, 5th Baronet (1735–1817), British politician * John Palmer (1785–1840), U.S. congressman from New York * John Palmer (1842–19 ...

of Bath as a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

for Robert Hale, and built in 1775–78 on the site of an earlier house belonging to the Hale family. The name comes from the Cotel family who held the manor (also known as Little Atworth) in the 13th century. The house was extended c.1832 by H.E. Goodridge, who also designed St Michael's church at Atworth. The result is described by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

as "rambling L-plan" and by

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

as "early 19th-century

Gothick Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

". The room which is now the school library has a late 16th-century stone chimney piece with

caryatid A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...

s, which may have come from the earlier house; Pevsner states it is splendid but "much too big for the house". Elsewhere, joinery including doors and window shutters is from the early 19th century, and there are Adam-style fireplaces on the first floor.

Equestrian education

Stonar offers an

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

education alongside the academic curriculum. Facilities include an indoor school, an 80 x 40m surfaced arena, four cross-country courses and stabling for up to 65 horses and ponies. Guest trainers include Mary King.

Notable former pupils

Pamela Kirkham, 16th Baroness Berners Pamela Vivien Kirkham, 16th Baroness Berners ( Williams; 30 September 1929 – 23 January 2023) was a British hereditary peer who worked as a nurse in the National Health Service. She was a member of the House of Lords from 1995 to 1999. Family ...

(born 1929), hereditary peeress and former

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member of the

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(1995-1999). *

Thorhilda Abbott-Watt Thorhilda Mary Vivia "Thorda" Abbott-Watt (born 11 February 1955) is an English diplomat who currently serves as British High Commissioner to Tonga. Career Abbott-Watt joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1974 and has worked bo ...

(born 1955), diplomat. * Laura Ford (born 1961), sculptor. * The Hon Charlotte Long (1965–1984), actress. *

Romola Garai Romola Sadie Garai (; born 6 August 1982) is a British actress and film director. She appeared in ''Amazing Grace'', ''Atonement'', and ''Glorious 39'', and in the BBC series '' Emma'', '' The Hour'' and ''The Crimson Petal and the White''. In ...

(born 1982), actress. *

Georgia Hardinge Georgia Victoria Hardinge (born 4 February 1984) is an English fashion designer based in London. Biography The_Honourable#United_Kingdom, The Honourable Georgia Victoria Hardinge was born in London, daughter of List of Old Harrovians, Old Harr ...

(born 1984), fashion designer. *

Holly Bodimeade Holly Bodimeade (born July 26, 1995) is an English actress. Early life Born in Chichester, West Sussex, Bodimeade was a pupil at Stonar School in Wiltshire. Career Bodimeade starred in her first lead role as Maddy in the BAFTA-nominated BBC ...

(born 1997), actress.

References

External links

*
Stonar School
Inspection reports at

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...