St Piran's (school)

For the school in South Africa, see Cordwalles Preparatory School.

St Piran's is a prep school located on Gringer Hill in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. The school was known as Cordwalles School until 1919 and has been co-educational since the 1990s.

St Piran's
Gringer Hill Maidenhead , Berkshire , SL6 7LZ England
Information
Type	Private preparatory day school
Religious affiliation	Church of England
Established	1805; 220 years ago (1805)
Local authority	Windsor and Maidenhead
Department for Education URN	110126 Tables
Headmaster	Seb Sales
Gender	Coeducational
Age	3 to 11
Enrolment	~350
Website	http://www.stpirans.co.uk/

History

The origin of St Piran's was in 1805 at a small school, the Revd John Potticary's school in Blackheath, at 2–3 Eliot Place.^[1] After moving to its present location in 1872, it operated as a boys' boarding school under the name of Cordwalles School until 1919.^[2] Up to this time, it was among a group of preparatory schools – which included Stubbington House School and Eastman's Royal Naval Academy – that maintained strong connections with the Royal Navy.^[3] In that year, 1919, the school was bought by Major Vernon Seymour Bryant who renamed it St Piran's. It reopened in 1920 with 23 boys, increasing to 65 the following year.^[2]

After becoming an educational trust in 1972, the school became co-educational in 1993, and boarding ended the same year.^[2] In 2005, St. Piran's celebrated its 200th anniversary with a bicentennial pageant. In 2008 a new geography room and lower school hall were completed.

Headmasters

To date^[update], the headmasters of the school have been:^[2]

• John Potticary 1805–1820
• George Brown Francis Potticary 1820–1850
• Richard Cowley Powles 1850–1865
• Thomas Jackson Nunns 1865–1890
• Charles William Hunt 1890–1902
• Cyril Robert Carter 1902–1910
• Theodore William Keeling 1910–1912
• Mervyn Frank Voules 1912–1919
• Vernon Seymour Bryant 1919–1926
• Arthur Grendon Tippet DSO 1926–1943
• Lowther Grendon Tippet 1943–1972
• Guy Gross and Andrew Perry 1972–1980
• Andrew Perry 1980–1982
• Andrew Blumer 1982–2001
• Jonathan Carroll 2001–2019
• Seb Sales 2019–present

Former pupils

• Admiral Sir Claud Barry, KBE CB DSO^[4]
• Benjamin Disraeli^[5]
• Cecil Malone^[6]
• Victor Mollo^[7]
• Vice Admiral Sir Peveril William-Powlett, KCB KCMG CBE DSO^[8]
• Thomas Field Gibson and his cousin Charles Ronalds^[9][10]
• Anthony West (author)^[11]
• Patrick Leigh Fermor (expelled) ^[11]