Wadham Preparatory School | |
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Location | |
Strathfield, New South Wales Australia |
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Information | |
Type | Independent, Primary, Day School |
Denomination | Non-denominational |
Established | 1945 |
Founder | Miss K A Wyndham |
Wadham Preparatory School was a private, day, co-educational, preparatory school founded on Christian principles. It was located on Wallis Avenue in Strathfield, New South Wales, Australia.
The school was established in 1945 by Miss K A Wyndham in her family home and catered to children from pre-Kindergarten (known as nursery) to Year Six. In 1957, Wadham was purchased by Meriden, a neighbouring Anglican school, and was used as a sub-primary campus principally for girls, but also for nursery and kindergarten boys. In 1976, Meriden closed the Wadham campus having purchased land for its entire junior school in Redmyre Road, Strathfield.
Kathleen Aimee Wyndham was born in Forbes, New South Wales, in 1905 and was the middle of three children of Agnes Effie (née Finigan) and Stanley Charles Wyndham. She was a great-granddaughter of Wadham Wyndham and her grandfather, Alexander Wyndham (died 1915), had arrived in Australia in the 1850s. Her father was a grocer and furniture dealer in Forbes and after his wife died in 1908, he moved to Glebe with his children who were looked after by their aunt, Rachel Kate Finigan. Rachel Finigan, who had been a nurse, married Stanley Wyndham in 1911 and in 1912 the Wyndham family moved to Strathfield. Wyndham's elder brother was Sir Harold Wyndham CBE who was Director-General of Education in New South Wales between 1952 and 1968. He chaired the committee whose report (referred to as "The Wyndham Report") led to the Education Act of 1961 which completely re-organised secondary education in the State. Her younger brother, Norman Wyndham OBE, became a surgeon, a FRCS and a major in the Australian Army in World War II. From her father's second marriage she also had a half-brother, Robert. After studying to be a teacher Kathleen Wyndham became director of the kindergarten and primary department at the Methodist Ladies College in Burwood. In 1935 she undertook a seven months' tour of England, Scotland and the Continent to study the latest methods practised in early childhood education. In her youth she was a competitive grade tennis player.