Wetherby School

Coordinates: 51°30′41.2″N 0°11′42.3″W / 51.511444°N 0.195083°W / 51.511444; -0.195083

Wetherby School is an independent school for boys located at two separate sites in London. The pre-prep department (original school) is located in Notting Hill and the prep school is located in Westminster.

The school is named after Wetherby Place, in turn named after a West Yorkshire town, Wetherby. It is not to be confused with Wetherby High School, the Yorkshire town's local secondary school.

It is part of the Alpha Plus Education Group and is a member of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools.

History

Wetherby School was founded in 1951 as a pre-preparatory school for boys aged 4–8. In 2004 it opened a preparatory department (known as Wetherby Prep, and intended to be a separate school) in a nearby building, allowing boys to stay on until the age of 13. The prep school has since moved to its current location in the City of Westminster. The pre-preparatory school had, in 2005, 233 boys on its roll, including 29 under the age of 5.

The school's original building, in 1951, was in Wetherby Place in south Kensington (hence the name, Wetherby School) but in 1971 it moved to its present building in Pembridge Square, on the other side of Kensington Gardens. The school building is a white stucco double fronted Victorian house in the Italianate style typical of Notting Hill and Holland Park architecture, constructed in about 1850. It is on the south side of Pembridge Square, a private garden square with keyholder-only access which the boys use as their playground.

Admissions

Pupils are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis (which, in practice, usually requires parents to put their child down for the school very soon after birth) and operates, therefore, no entrance examination, test or interview. The result is that the school caters for boys of many different abilities and talents.

However, because fees are charged (and, to a lesser extent, because of the smart neighbourhood in which it is located), the boys tend to come from a fairly narrow professional family background. It is also a single-sex school, although it is in the same ownership as Pembridge Hall, a similar school for girls which is also located in Pembridge Square. There are no formal joint activities between the two schools, but many children in each school have siblings at the other school.

Uniform

The boys wear a uniform of grey shorts, grey blazers with red trim, white shirts and plain red ties; and a grey peaked cap. The school logo "WS" in red is on the cap and on the breast pocket of the blazer.

Preparatory school

The sister school of Wetherby School is Wetherby Preparatory School for 300 boys aged 7–13, sited in Bryanston Square, London. The Head is Nick Baker.

In September 2012, Wetherby Prep was awarded 'Prep School of the Year' at the annual Tatler School Awards at the Dorchester Hotel.^[1]

In January 2014, the School announced that it would be opening Wetherby Senior School in September 2015. This will be a 13-18 Senior Boys' School for 300 boys, situated on Marylebone Lane, close to the existing Preparatory School site. Nick Baker, Headmaster of the Preparatory School, will take on a combined headship of both schools.

Distinguished alumni

• Julian Fellowes, Oscar-winning screenwriter
• Hugh Grant, actor
• Prince Harry, younger son of Diana, Princess of Wales and Charles, Prince of Wales
• Andrew Lloyd Webber, composer
• Julian Lloyd Webber, cellist
• Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, elder son of Diana, Princess of Wales and Charles, Prince of Wales
• Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent
• Prince Achileas-Andreas of Greece and Denmark, second son of Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece

References

External links

• School website
• Map and link to a government (Ofsted) report on Wetherby School
• Pre-Prep and Prep School profiles on the ISC website