As of the 2024/25 Academic Year, Stowe School charges up to £46,701 per year (£15,567 per term, three terms per academic year for 2024/25). The school offers three fee brackets based on the type of placement. Boarders are charged £46,701 per year, while pupils in the limited "Day in Boarding" program pay between £33,576 and £38,076 annually. Pupils in one of the school's three Day Houses—Winton, Cheshire, and Croft—are charged £28,464 per academic year.[5]
The school provides bursaries and other means of financial assistance to admitted students who exhibit outstanding abilities in the Arts, Academics, Sports, and other areas. A typical scholarship at Stowe is worth 5% of the school fee.[6]
The school has been based since its beginnings at Stowe House, formerly the country seat of the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos. Along with many of the other buildings on the school's estate, the main house is now a Grade I Listed Building and is maintained (since 1997) by the Stowe House Preservation Trust.
Historyedit
Stowe School opened in 1923. The main building is Stowe House, whose exterior was completed by 1779. Funding for the school came through the Rev. Percy Warrington and the Martyrs Memorial Trust.[7] The school's first architect was Clough Williams-Ellis.
The first Headmaster was J. F. Roxburgh. He aimed to focus on the individual child and introduce them to beauty and learning; he wanted a civilised school founded on Christian values.[8]
The Beatles played a concert at Stowe School on 4 April 1963. A recording of the concert was revealed in 2023, and leaked to the public later in the year.[9][10]
In 2016, a Daily Telegraph investigator posing as a parent of a Russian pupil was told by the then school registrar that while pupils would always be expected to pass the entrance exam, it would help secure a place if a borderline child's parents were able to donate "about £100,000 or something like that."[13]
Boarding housesedit
There are 13 boarding houses: 8 boys' houses and 5 girls' houses. There are also three Day Houses - 2 boys' houses and 1 girls' house. The boarding houses are mostly named after members of the family of Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. Each house has a number or letter assigned to it.
Viscount Cobham;Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, had a large renovation after construction of a new building, opened in early 2019, with the old Cobham location being used as the site for Winton and Cheshire
There is no known family connection, the name coming from the local fox hunt, the Grafton Hunt, which takes its name in turn from the Duke of Grafton. Grafton also has a history of supplying the Stowe Beagles with talented Masters and Hunt Staff, many of whom have continued to become Masters of packs around the Country.
7
Walpole (Boys)
This is not a family name. Named after Horace Walpole, who wrote some famous letters about his visits to Stowe in the 18th century. It was his father, Robert Walpole, who was the more notable Walpole in Britain's and Stowe's history, however. Viscount Cobham's political life started under Walpole but his subsequent opposition to him led Cobham to found a political dynasty that played a major part in politics until Victorian times (producing four Prime Ministers). To be named "Nugent" originally.
8
Nugent (Girls)
Lady Mary Nugent, daughter of Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent, married to George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham. Nugent was originally the 'waiting house' that some new boys entered until their preferred house had a space. (In the late 1960s, during the "boys only" era, there was a quiet joke to the effect that Nugent was for the "new gents".)
Opened in September 2019 as a day house for boys. Named after Sir Nicholas Winton.
9
Cheshire (Girls)
Opened in September 2019 as a day house for girls. Named after Leonard Cheshire.
C
Croft (Boys)
Opened in September 2023 as a day house for Boys. Named after Colonel Andrew Croft.
T
Cricket groundedit
The first recorded match on the school cricket ground came in 1928 when Stowe School played St Paul's School.[15]Buckinghamshire played their first Minor Counties Championship match there in 1947, when the opponents were Berkshire. Between 1947 and 1982 the ground held five Minor Counties Championship matches, the last of which saw Buckinghamshire draw against Bedfordshire.[16] The ground has also hosted a single MCCA Knockout Trophy match which saw Buckinghamshire play Bedfordshire.[17]
Quarterly indented Argent and Or, first a lion rampant Azure, second a pile Gules, third a pile Vert thereon a cross of the second bearing five torteaux, fourth three martlets of the third.
Alasdair MacDonald, Stowe: House and School, London: W. S. Cowell, 1951 [ISBN missing]
Referencesedit
^"URN 110548 Stowe School". Edubase/DfE. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
^"Stowe School – Headmaster's Introduction". Stowe.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 July 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
^"Stowe School – Staff Directory". Stowe.co.uk. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
^"Current Fees". Stowe School. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
^Stowe, School. "Stowe School Fees". Stowe School. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
^Stowe, School. "Stowe School Bursaries and Scholarships". Stowe School. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
^W. A. Evershed, Party and Patronage in the Church of England 1800–1945, D. Phil. thesis, Oxford University,1985, gives a detailed and well-referenced account of the questionable methods employed by Warrington. The Martyr's Memorial Trust appointed the first Governing Body, whose Chairman from August 1922 was Lord Gisborough.
^Outrageous Fortune: Growing Up at Leeds Castle By Anthony Russell
^Thorpe, Vanessa (9 April 2023). "Please Please Us: Lost tape of Beatles school gig could be saved for the nation". The Observer. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
^"The Beatles - Stowe School Complete Concert (4-4-1963 / Original Recording)". YouTube.
^"Bluebell Railway Locomotives – Stowe". bluebell-railway.co.uk. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
^Claire Newell; Luke Heighton; Edward Malnick; Camilla Turner (9 December 2016). "The inside story:How to buy a place at a top school". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
^"Stowe School – West". Stowe School. Stowe.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
^Other matches played on Stowe School Ground Archived 4 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Cricketarchive.com.
^Minor Counties Championship Matches played on Stowe School Ground Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Cricketarchive.com.
^Minor Counties Trophy Matches played on Stowe School Ground Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Cricketarchive.com (7 August 1983).
^List-A Matches played on Stowe School Ground Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Cricketarchive.com (19 June 2005)
^Second XI Championship Matches played on Stowe School Ground Archived 4 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Cricketarchive.com.
^Second XI Trophy Matches played on Stowe School Ground Archived 4 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Cricketarchive.com.