Moor Park School

Moor Park School
Type Preparatory school
Day & Boarding
Religion Roman Catholic[1]
Head Charlie Minogue
Chairman Maj Gen Arthur G Denaro CBE DL[2]
Location Richard's Castle
Ludlow
Shropshire
SY8 4DZ
United Kingdom
Coordinates: 52°20′19″N 2°44′01″W / 52.3385°N 2.7335°W / 52.3385; -2.7335
Local authority Shropshire
DfE number 893/6015
DfE URN 123617 Tables
Gender Coeducational
Ages 2½–13
Website moorpark.org.uk

Moor Park School is a coeducational preparatory day and boarding school in the village of Richard's Castle, near Ludlow, England. It educates about 300 children and is located within the Diocese of Shrewsbury.

History

The school was founded in 1964 by Hugh Watts (a first-class cricketer) and Derek Henderson. It was initially an all-boys boarding prep school modeled after the likes of Ludgrove School.[3] Pupils often move on to other nearby public schools and independent Catholic schools such as Shrewsbury School, Malvern College, Moreton Hall School and Downside School.[4]

Moor Park was in the news after former teaching assistant John Addrison was charged with various counts of sexual assault while working at Moor Park and, prior to that, Caldicott Prep, from the late 1970s to 1980s.[5]

Buildings

Moor Park is one of a group of country houses in the Ludlow district linked by one family, the Salweys. Haye Park, located in the Mortimer Forest, is the oldest of these buildings and was built by Richard Salwey in the mid-1600s. The Salwey family resided at Moor Park until 1870. Edward VII, then the Prince of Wales, paid the estate a visit with the intention of buying it as a country estate. He eventually settled on Sandringham House in Sandringham, Norfolk due to its proximity to the nation's capital London. Major Johnston Foster bought the estate in 1874 and proceeded to construct a new building around the Queen Anne house, incorporating the latest architectural trends of the day. His eldest daughter Ethel Jane Foster married Irish nobleman Lucius O'Brien, 15th Baron Inchiquin and they spent some time living at Moor Park, but chose to move to Ireland instead. Members of the Salwey and O'Brien families still reside in the area.

From then, Moor Park's tenants were mostly schools. During World War II, Lancing College evacuated to Moor Park from West Sussex to escape impending air raids. One notable Old Lancing from this era is novelist Tom Sharpe. His novel Blott on the Landscape was loosely based on Moor Park and the Foster family. After Lancing College returned to its original site, St Margaret's School was founded at Moor Park by Miss Nugent-Thorpe of the Parents' National Education Union (PNEU), and continued until her retirement in 1962. In 1964 the estate was bought by Hugh Watts and Derek Henderson and became the present-day school.[6]

Curriculum

Due to its location in the Mortimer Forest, Moor Park utilises the forest school approach and embraces its rural surroundings by incorporating outdoor learning into its curriculum.[7]

Former pupils

St Margaret's

References

  1. ↑ Religion
  2. ↑ Governors
  3. ↑ Schools — 1974: A Directory of the Schools in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Arranged in Order of Their Counties and Towns. Truman & Knightley. 1974. p. 738.
  4. ↑ Leavers' destinations
  5. ↑ "Ex-Moor Park School worker on 1980s child sex charges". BBC. 9 August 2012.
  6. ↑ History
  7. ↑ Forest Sschools
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.