Ashdown House, East Sussex facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ashdown House School
Ashdown House School
Address
Forest Row East Sussex , RH18 5JY England
Information
Type	Independent school Co-educational Boarding and day school
Established	1886
Closed	2020
Department for Education URN	114624 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Gender	Co-educational
Age	7 to 13
Years	3–8
Website	http://www.ashdownhouse.co.uk/

Ashdown House was a co-educational prep school in Forest Row, East Sussex. There were, at the time of its closure around 100 pupils from the ages seven to thirteen; with a roughly even split of boys and girls.

Owing to declining numbers and the impact of Covid-19, the school announced its closure on 1 June 2020.

History

Ashdown House was originally an 18th-century country house, completed in 1794 by Sussex-born Benjamin Latrobe who was later one of the architects of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. and also designed the nearby Hammerwood Park and the front portico of the White House in Washington. Ashdown is a Grade II* listed building.

The school was founded in Brighton in 1843 as a boys' school and moved to Ashdown House in 1886. It first became co-educational in 1975.

The head teacher, who took over in September 2019, is Hilary Phillips, previously head teacher of Monmouth School Girls' Prep, an independent day and boarding preparatory school in Wales.

Notable former pupils

Notable Old Ashdownians (OAs) include:

• David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, furniture maker
• Thomas P. G. Cholmondeley, Kenyan farmer
• Nicholas Coleridge, publisher
• Charlie Cox, actor
• James Innes, author
• Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• Jo Johnson, politician
• Rachel Johnson, writer and journalist
• Damian Lewis, actor
• Nick Macpherson, civil servant
• Andrew Mitchell, politician
• Alex Renton, journalist and author
• Joseph Simpson (1909-1968), Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police
• Fischer Watson (1884-1960), Royal Navy officer