St Gabriel's School

St Gabriel's School

Sandleford Priory (west front), 2014.
Motto Your route to success.
Established 1947
Type Independent day school
Religion Church of England
Principal Richard Smith[1]
Chair of Governors Nigel Garland
Location Sandleford Priory
Newbury
Berkshire
RG20 9BD
 England
51°22′39″N 1°19′00″W / 51.3776°N 1.3166°W / 51.3776; -1.3166Coordinates: 51°22′39″N 1°19′00″W / 51.3776°N 1.3166°W / 51.3776; -1.3166
Local authority West Berkshire
DfE number 869/6004
DfE URN 110128 Tables
Students 500+
Gender Mixed[2]
Ages 3–18
Houses Bede (blue), Chad (green), Alban (red), Aidan (yellow)
Colours Yellow and blue
GCSE results 482.5 points/student[3]
Website www.stgabriels.co.uk

St Gabriel's School is an independent day school located in Sandleford Priory at Sandleford, two miles (3 km) south of Newbury, in the English county of Berkshire. Boys attend the nursery and junior school, up to age 11 (Year 6). Girls attend the nursery, junior school, secondary school and the sixth form, up to age 18 (Year 13).

Attendance to the school is accompanied by fees. These can be found on the website. To summarise, the further up in the school the child is, the more the fees are. There is also the option of buses to take your child/children to and from school, before-school care, after-school care, music lessons and, if needed, individual needs. Some of these cost additional fees.

History

Priory

The Priory of St John the Baptist at Sandleford was founded for the Augustinian Canons Regular by Geoffrey, Earl of Perch and his wife Maud some time between 1193 and 1202.

In 1274, Maud de Clare, Countess of Gloucester and Hertford made arrangements to refound it as a double house for Fontevrault Benedictine nuns and brothers, but this did not come about. It was dissolved in 1478 and abandoned by the remaining monks after years of mismanagement by a prior. The ownership fell into the hands of the Bishop of Salisbury, and circa 1480 passed to the Dean and Chapter of Windsor. The old priory chapel is the present library. The remains were converted to a country house which was leased out to a number of wealthy citizens during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, these included:

Country house

Edward Haytley's portrait, The Montagu Family at Sandleford Priory, circa 1744.

The present Sandleford Priory is a Grade I listed building in 54 acres (22 ha) of parkland landscaped by Capability Brown. It was erected around the old priory buildings between 1780 and 1786 by James Wyatt, for Elizabeth Montagu, the social reformer, patron of the arts, salonist, literary critic and writer who helped organise and lead the Blue Stockings Society. It was later inherited by her nephew, Matthew Montagu, 4th Baron Rokeby. Her friend Hannah More was there often and described it in 1784.[16]

School

The house became a school in 1947. There is now a school community of over 460 pupils, 60 teaching staff and 20 support staff. It is associated with traditional Church of England values. This includes compulsory attendance to Communion once every school term (with exceptions if the student has a valid explanation for not being able to attend) and all students have to take "Religion, Philosophy and Ethics" (Religious Education) for GCSE.

References

  1. http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/news/17625/new-principal-appointed-to-st-gabriel-s-school.html
  2. http://www.stgabriels.co.uk/
  3. GCSE results
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume four, edited by William Page and P H Ditchfield, Victoria County History, London, 1924, pages 84-87.
  5. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, edited by Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010
  6. Anecdotes of the life of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, vol. iii, London, 1810.
  7. A treatise enumerating the most illustrious families of England, who have been raised to honour and wealth by the profession of law together with the ... court, and barons of the Exchequer, Fleet Street, London, 1686.
  8. The Peerage of England, by Arthur Collins, Esq., volume 8, London, 1779.
  9. Samuel Lysons, 1806
  10. Kelly's Directory of Berkshire.
  11. Ditchfield, P.H.; Page, William, eds. (1924). A History of the County of Berkshire: Vol. 4. Courtest of British History Online. pp. 84–87.
  12. Kelly's
  13. later of Bryngomer, Pontrhydyrun
  14. Malvern school list
  15. London Gazette
  16. Climenson, 1906
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