Eagle House School

Eagle House School is a 3–13 co–educational preparatory school near Sandhurst in Berkshire, England. Founded in 1820, it originally only admitted boys, keeping them "until they went out into the world", however, as of 2023, it admits both boys and girls. It is one of the country's oldest preparatory schools.

History

Eagle House was founded in 1820 at Brook Green, Hammersmith. In 1860 it moved to a house named Brackenbury's at Wimbledon, then in 1886, after a major fire, moved to its present home at Sandhurst. In 1930 a severe outbreak of chicken-pox and measles reduced the school's numbers from twenty-nine to five, but the school soon recovered. The school was purchased by Wellington College in 1968 and shares most of its governors.

Between 1957 and 1962 Nick Drake, later a singer-songwriter, attended the school and became head boy. He was taught French at the school by John Watson, who while still at Eagle House came second in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 with his song "Looking High, High, High".

Lieutenant-General Sir John Cowley chaired the school's Governing Body from 1968 to 1976.

Present day

Originally for boys only, Eagle House now caters for boys and girls between the ages of two and thirteen. It is in the same ownership as Wellington College, forming part of the same registered charitable organization. A majority of pupils continue their secondary education at the college. Before the college became fully coeducational in 2005, most girls left at age 11 for secondary school.

The school releases its own publication titled "The Eagle" regularly which is available to pupils and parents in hard copies, paper-back copies, and also on the school's website.

Headmasters

• 1858: Edward Huntingford
• 1882: Arthur Malan
• 2003: Andrew Barnard
• 2021: Jane Jones
• 2023: Ed Venables

Notable former pupils

• Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, soldier
• Stuart Burge, actor and director
• James Chalmers, actor
• Nick Drake, singer-songwriter
• John Gardner, composer
• Lewis Moody, rugby player
• Ellie Bamber, actor
• John Bruce Lockhart, schoolmaster and cricketer
• James, Earl of Wessex, son of The Duke of Edinburgh and grandson of Queen Elizabeth II

References

Further reading

• Daniel Jones, "fonetiks in iŋgliʃ skuːlz: *iːgl haus skuːl, *sændhəːst" [Phonetics in English Schools: Eagle House School, Sandhurst], in Le Maître phonétique (1911) Page 3. JSTOR 44700810

External links

• School Website
• Profile on the ISC website
• Profile on the Good Schools Guide

1. Eagle House
2. Nick Drake
3. Ellie Bamber
4. James, Earl of Wessex
5. Eagle Hill School
6. Sutton, London
7. Eagle School
8. Eagle House, Eccleshall
9. Eagle Rock, Los Angeles
10. Eagle House, London
11. James Chalmers (actor)
12. List of private schools in England
13. Rudolph Kirwan
14. John Gardner (composer)
15. Eagle House Hotel
16. List of schools in Surrey
17. Old Eagle School
18. Lewis Moody
19. Angela Eagle
20. Neville Hughes