The Atherley School was an independent girls' school based in Southampton, Hampshire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, from 1926 - 2006 until it merged with Embley Park school to become

Hampshire Collegiate School Embley School (formerly Hampshire Collegiate School) is an independent day and boarding school for both girls and boys aged 2 to 18 located in Embley Park in Wellow, Hampshire, Wellow (near Romsey), Hampshire, England. History In 1946, Embley ...

History of the school

In 1926 the Atherley was opened in Hill Lane, next to King Edward VI school. It was named after the two Atherley sisters who donated the land to the school. At that time there were 26 girls and one boy. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the school evacuated to Winchester where it used classrooms in

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

in the mornings and St. Swithuns in the afternoon. In 1997 the Atherley moved to Grove Place in

Nursling Nursling is a village in Hampshire, England, situated in the parish of Nursling and Rownhams, about north-west of the city of Southampton. Formerly called Nhutscelle (in an 8th-century life of Saint Boniface), then Nutsall, Nutshalling or Nutshu ...

where it took over Northcliffe School. Grove Place Prep school was also started. The school was officially opened by

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of K ...

. The junior school had moved to the Nursling site a year or two before the senior school joined it and the Hill Lane campus was demolished. In 2004, after 76 years, it was announced that the Atherley and Embley Park schools were to undergo a merger. The Atherley closed in 2006.

Houses

The senior school houses were named after famous women, namely Austen (blue),

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

(yellow),

Nightingale The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is no ...

(green) and

Curie In computing, a CURIE (or ''Compact URI'') defines a generic, abbreviated syntax for expressing Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). It is an abbreviated URI expressed in a compact syntax, and may be found in both XML and non-XML grammars. A CURIE ...

(red). The junior school houses were named after woodland trees, Oak (red), Lime (green) and Beech (blue). Prior to this division in the houses (around 1989), both the junior and senior schools were grouped into six houses named after European rivers - Garonne, Danube, Ebro, Rhine, Shannon and Tiber. Educational institutions established in 1926 Educational institutions disestablished in 2006 Defunct schools in Hampshire 1926 establishments in England 2006 disestablishments in England {{Hampshire-school-stub