Windlesham House to join the Charterhouse family of schools

Windlesham House School was established in 1837 as the first ever UK prep school. It was also the first to admit girls in 1967 and is still one of the few prep schools in the UK today not to have a school uniform.

Martina Asmar, chairman of governors at Windlesham House School, said: “I am absolutely delighted that our charities will merge and that Windlesham House will join the Charterhouse family of schools. It became very clear early on in our discussions that joining with Charterhouse would provide a unique opportunity to further enhance the education that Windlesham House provides for its families, and to secure the long-term interests of the school. The two schools are very similar in terms of their ethos and approach, and we believe that, together, we will provide an exceptional academic, yet all-round, curriculum to prepare our pupils for life.”

Under the agreement of the merger, Windlesham House will retain its current identity, name, ethos, values, no uniform policy, and its badge, as well as its day-to-day operational autonomy and senior leadership teams.

Ben Evans will also continue to lead the school as its headmaster.

He explained: “This move will see Windlesham House join with one of the finest independent senior schools in the UK. As well as Charterhouse, our new family of schools includes Edgeborough, the outstanding co-educational prep school in Farnham, Surrey, which successfully joined Charterhouse in 2021. It is clear to me that the ethos of our schools is similar in many ways, blending tradition and innovation in order to provide an exceptional education for our young people.”

Welcoming Windlesham House to the Charterhouse family, Dr Alex Peterken, head at Charterhouse, who will have overall executive responsibility for all three schools within the group, said: “Windlesham House is an incredibly impressive school, coupling outstanding academic performance and pupil care within its beautiful Sussex grounds. For our own part, growth in our family of schools both nationally and internationally during the last five years, including our very successful merger with Edgeborough, has focused on high quality and high impact partnerships. I am delighted that Windlesham House will become part of our collective ambition to provide the finest co-educational independent school offer in the UK, playing a distinctive and complementary role within our family.”

A single Governing Body will have responsibility for all three schools within the group and, from within that body, a new committee will be created to oversee the governance of Windlesham House specifically, comprising a mix of Charterhouse, Windlesham House and newly appointed governors.

Mr Evans added: “Charterhouse is already well known to Windlesham House pupils, with a steady number of children moving to, and thriving there each year and we look forward to this tradition continuing. I am extremely proud of everything we have achieved over recent years. This exciting opportunity will provide tremendous additional impetus to support the next chapters in Windlesham’s future, whilst allowing us to remain true to our heritage.”

The historic West-Sussex school is famous for its long list of celebrity alumni, including Mumford & Sons’ bassist Ted Dwane, Tom Hiddleston, Guy Ritchie, Tamzin Merchant, Sir Michael Horden and Adam Buxton to name a few.

The merger will formally take effect on August 1, 2025, ready for the beginning of the 2025/26 academic year, subject to the normal regulatory and final approvals.