Downsend School
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  Map sources for Downsend School at grid reference TQ176570
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Downsend School is a private school located in Leatherhead, Surrey, UK. It was founded in 1891 as a non-denominational preparatory school for boys aged 8 to 13. It is co-educational and takes on pupils from 6 to 13 years of age. Downsend's current headmaster is Mr Tony White. The sports ground is on site and is expansive. Though the school goes from 6 to 13, there are also 3 lodges which admit children from 2 1/2 to 6.
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[edit] The School
Downsend is situated at 1 Leatherhead Road, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 8TJ, just outside of Ashtead. Its lodges are in Epsom, Leatherhead and Ashtead all surrounding the main site. Much of the main school is new and has been recently added. There are roughly 100 students in each year for the main school and then slightly fewer in the senior school (years 7 and 8) due to some students leaving after the 11+ exam to go to secondary school. The structure of the school is as follows: years 2-4 are the junior school. Pupils then automatically ascend into the middle school (years 5-6) then may continue into the senior school at the age of 11 for 2 more years to prepare for 13+ common entrance examinations to local schools such as St John's, Epsom College and City of London Freemen's School.
[edit] Facilities
Downsend has a very large site on Leatherhead Road. There is a large sports hall and an adjacent indoor, heated swimming pool with multiple changing rooms. There are a total of 6 tennis courts on tarmac surfaces, and a covered area with benches and tables. The senior, middle and junior schools are all separate but connected. The large, modern junior school has its own hall and library and headmistress or master. This is the same with the middle school and senior school. The school has its own administration offices and science laboratories. Downsend also has several outdoor play areas and a large dining hall/theatre. There are also new design and technology laboratories for woodwork and textiles. A viewing gallery above the pool and sports hall also houses a kitchen large enough for classes and for PTA events. The music suite is away from other classes and has a large classroom and several practice rooms for small 1 to 1 lessons and band practices.
[edit] Sport
Downsend has very large grass playing fields on site. The school has several rugby, soccer, cricket and rounders pitches available when needed. The tarmac area can also be converted into tennis courts, netball pitches or hockey pitches. The sports hall can be used for basketball as it has several hoops and pitches. Badminton can also be played in the hall as can gymnastics and volleyball. Inside the hall, there are 4 cricket nets for cricket practice. The swimming pool is perfect for class swimming lessons and is also used by professional teachers. The school has sports teams in soccer, rugby, netball, cricket, rounders, basketball, athletics, swimming and hockey. These teams compete in inter school matches as well as school games.
[edit] Houses
Although house events do not play an important part in school life at Downsend, the students are randomly split up into four houses: Norbury (red), Ranmore (yellow), Wisley (blue) and Headley (green). The houses compete only for house points and not in sport or music; nor are pupils divided into classes by house. The house names were thought up in a competition early in 2000 and there were many ideas submitted including JK Rowling's Harry Potter houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. The winner was the school's music teacher at the time, Trevor Pratt, who suggested naming the houses after local beauty spots.
In earlier times a system of houses existed only in the Senior School (then covering the last three years) with pupils divided between Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. In addition to form masters in each year, each pupil in the Senior School had a tutor, allocated by house, who would oversee them throughout their three years. The tutorial system was gradually detached from the houses from 1992 onwards.
[edit] Lodges
The 3 lodges are located around the main site in the towns of Leatherhead, Ashtead and Epsom. They take children from 2 1/2 to 6 years of age and pupils can automatically transfer up to the main school. Each lodge has its own headmistress and staff. There is also a toddler group at the lodges.
[edit] Downsend+
Downsend+ is a new scheme which allows pupils to engage in activities during the holidays. Downsend+ is an extension of DASH (Downsend Activities in the School Holidays) which allowed students to do normal activities over the course of the two weeks. Events such as Swimming, Cycling, Painting and Computing which were all available at the school were open. Downsend+ lets children now go on more exciting courses.
