Abbotsholme School
Location
Rocester , Derbyshire , ST14 5BS England
Coordinates	52°56′40″N 1°49′32″W / 52.944374°N 1.82542°W / 52.944374; -1.82542Coordinates: 52°56′40″N 1°49′32″W / 52.944374°N 1.82542°W / 52.944374; -1.82542
Information
Type	Independent day and boarding school
Motto	Glad Day Love and Duty
Religious affiliation(s)	Christian
Established	1889
Founder	Cecil Reddie
Department for Education URN	113003 Tables
Headmaster	Simon Ruscoe-Price [1]
Gender	Coeducational
Age	2 to 18
Enrolment	290~
Colour(s)	Green, Gold
Former pupils	Old Abbotsholmians
Website	http://www.abbotsholme.co.uk/

Abbotsholme School is a co-educational independent boarding and day school. The school is situated on a 140-acre campus on the banks of the River Dove in Derbyshire, England near the county border and the village of Rocester in Staffordshire. It is a member of the SHHIS (Society of Headmasters & Headmistresses of Independent Schools) and is a Round Square school.

History

Exchange student and classmates at Abbotsholme School in 2012

Abbotsholme was founded by Scottish academic and educationist Cecil Reddie^[2] as an experiment for his progressive educational philosophies and theories.^[3][4] The school, then known "The New School", opened to boys aged 10 to 19 in 1889. From the very beginning, the school departed from the structure of the traditional public school in favour of a less rigid environment and more liberal education. Top hats and "Eton collars" were discarded in favour of a more comfortable and practical uniform, and English, French and German were taught in place of Classics (Latin and Greek). The fine arts were introduced as core subjects, considered unusual at that time, since music and art were mostly taught at cathedral schools or specialist art institutes. Practical skills such as animal husbandry and carpentry were integrated into the curriculum.^[5]

It has been coeducational since 1969; girls now make up over one third of overall pupil numbers.^{[citation needed]}

In 2017 the school was bought by Chinese company Achieve Education Ltd, proprietor Mrs Tong Zhou.^[6]

Notable former pupils

• Roger Altounyan – physician and pharmacologist who pioneered the use of sodium cromoglycate as a preventative for asthma^[7][8]
• Sir Samuel Phillips Bedson, FRS Professor of Bacteriology, University of London
• Alan Dower Blumlein, Electronics engineer and inventor
• Peter Crossley-Holland, Ethnomusicologist and composer
• Robin Gandy, Mathematician
• Edward James Martin Koppel, British-born American broadcast journalist,
• Alfred Angas Scott (1875-1923), motorcycle designer, inventor and founder of The Scott Motorcycle Company ^[9]
• Ian Shapiro, political scientist
• Olaf Stapledon (1886-1950)^[10] Novelist and philosopher; author of Last and First Men, Star Maker, and other works of speculative fiction.
• Lytton Strachey,^[11] British writer and critic
• Sir Alan Muir Wood, FRS FREng FICE, Civil Engineer