The New School at West Heath
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| Motto | Rebuilding Lives Through Education |
|---|---|
| Established | 1998 |
| Principal, CEO | Christina Wells |
| Location |
Ashgrove Road Sevenoaks Kent TN13 1SR England Coordinates: 51°15′18″N 0°11′10″E / 51.255°N 0.186°E |
| Website | westheathschool |
The New School at West Heath (or simply the New School) is an independent school in Sevenoaks, Kent. It caters for children for whom mainstream schooling has become insufficient, for varying reasons. Some are mentally or physically disabled; others have been through harsh circumstances and suffer from emotional trauma or similar conditions. The school's motto is "Rebuilding Lives Through Education."
The school, founded in its current form as a charitable trust on 14 September 1998 as the Beth Marie Centre, is based in 31 acres (13 ha) of parkland on lease from Mohamed Al-Fayed, who contributed almost £3 million towards the school. The building formerly housed the school where Diana Spencer, later Princess of Wales and her two older sisters, Sarah and Jane, received their childhood education. It was then called West Heath Girls' School and was a very exclusive girls' school with around 100 boarding pupils.
The Reverend Philip Bennet Power and his wife, Emma, undertook the education of their own daughters at their Abbey Wood home, West Heath House. The quality of the girls' education attracted other local families to ask the Powers to teach their children and West Heath School thus opened in 1865.
In 1879 the expanding school moved to 1 Ham Common, in what was then the agricultural community of Ham, Surrey. The house, set in over 10 acres (4.0 ha) of grounds, was the former residence of the Duc de Chartres.
In 1890 Misses Sarah, Maria and Anna Buckland and Miss Jane Percival who owned a similar school in Reading joined forces with the ageing Mrs Power at Ham Common and they ran the school until its purchase in 1900 by Misses Emma Lawrence and Margaret Skeat. Miss Elliott joined the staff in 1928 and was appointed Principal the following year.
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