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St Peter's School, Seaford

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Coordinates: 50°46′24″N 0°06′04″E / 50.773456°N 0.101104°E / 50.773456; 0.101104
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St Peter's School
Location
Map
Sussex
,
BN25

England
Coordinates50°46′24″N 0°06′04″E / 50.773456°N 0.101104°E / 50.773456; 0.101104
Information
Established1903
Closed1982
Websitehttp://www.stpetersseaford.org.uk/
St Peter's School, Seaford frontage

St Peter's School, Seaford was an independent boys' preparatory school in Seaford, East Sussex, England, that ran from 1903 until 1982.

History

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Before and during World War One

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Seaford House played host to St Peter's School in 1903, as an Edwardian prep school when it was founded by Maude Taylor in Crouch Lane.[1] Taylor, who brought a small number of boys with her from an earlier school in Broadstairs, is recorded in the school history as having been a granddaughter of Thomas Arnold of Rugby School.[2]

In 1907 it moved to a purpose built house designed and built by a Mr Morling[who?] and there it remained until 1982 when the school closed. On moving into the purpose-built school, Taylor brought in two masters from St Peter's Broadstairs, Geoffrey Hellard and Oswald Wright, and became matron instead. Taylor left in 1912 when Hellard married.

In 1914 Rolf Henderson became the headmaster and his portrait painted by his brother, Keith, a Scottish artist, hung in the school dining room. In many ways Rolf was the first true headmaster of St Peter's. On 20 July 1915 the school playing fields were used to host a review of troops by Lord Kitchener. Kitchener mounted his horse in front of the school, and the boys gave such a loud cheer that the horse reared up, and almost dismounted its rider.[3]

Before and during World War Two

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In 1934 Pat Knox-Shaw, who had joined the school in 1919 as second master, took over the reins as headmaster on Rolf Henderson's retirement. With the support of Marjorie, his wife, Knox-Shaw steered St Peter's through until 1955.

In 1940, during the Second World War, St Peter's evacuated to The Nare Hotel in Veryan near Falmouth, Cornwall. It soon moved to Castle Hill, home of Lord and Lady Fortescue at Filleigh in North Devon until the end of the war, when in 1945 St Peter's moved back to its old home in Seaford, now vacated by the Army, and resumed normal service.

After World War Two

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In 1955 Pat and Marjorie Knox-Shaw retired and Basil Talbot, an assistant headmaster, a member of the team from the 1930s briefly took over but he retired through ill health.

Michael Farebrother, another assistant headmaster, took the helm and shortly after was joined by an old boy, Harry Browell who together with Serena his wife, ran St Peters until 1967 when they retired to Australia. The gap was filled by Farebrother's brother and sister-in-law, John and Margaret Farebrother who moved down from Malvern College where John was a senior housemaster. As times changed, and boarders began to be fewer, the age of the traditional prep school's days were numbered and that coupled with the age of the Farebrothers left no alternative but to close St Peters in the summer of 1982.[4]

The school was well-equipped, with facilities for rugby (called rugger), football (called soccer until the late 1970s), tennis, cricket, hockey, squash, shooting, Eton fives, archery, climbing and swimming. A chapel, with windows by Goddard & Gibbs, was built from 1938 to 1940, and opened just before the school was requisitioned for the War. It has all been swept away.

There was an auction and many of the contents were purchased by friends of the school. The war memorial in the Chapel is now in Seaford Museum, located in the Martello tower in the town.[5] The buildings and grounds disappeared under a housing estate. What remains of the school are the large number of old boys many of whom meet at reunions in London held since 1990. They are members of The St Peter's Old Boys Association which has a website at St Peter’s, Seaford.

Mike Farebrother died in 1987, John Farebrother died in 1996 and his widow, Margaret Farebrother, died in 2006.

In 2013 a retired teacher at the school, Christopher Jarvis, was convicted of sexually assaulting boys at St Peter's in the 1970s. He was sentenced to eight years in prison. Jarvis taught at St Peters from 1962 to 1980, and at Bede's prep school in Eastbourne from 1982 to 2012.[6] In 2015 he was convicted of further cases of sexually assaulting boys at St Peter's from 1962 onwards.

Former pupils

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References

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  1. ^ Not to be confused with Seaford House in London, although both were owned by Lord Howard de Walden at the time.
  2. ^ "Michael Gilbert, St Peter's Seaford: The Early Years, Part One" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020. Her mother was Arnold’s daughter Frances; her father Samuel Barnard Taylor.
  3. ^ "Michael Gilbert, St Peter's Seaford: The Early Years, Part One" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  4. ^ The letter from the Farebrothers in May 1982 to old boys notifying them of the impending closure is on the Old Boys Association website."St Peter's Seaford Memorabilia". www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  5. ^ "St Peter's Seaford Memorabilia". www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  6. ^ "Sussex teacher who abused boys at private school jailed for eight years".
  7. ^ "The School Magazine, no 88, 1951, p 31" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  8. ^ "The School Magazine, no 81, 1944, p 37" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Seaford Museum: Seafordians". www.seafordmuseum.co.uk. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  10. ^ "The School Magazine, no 81, 1944, p 37" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  11. ^ "The School Magazine, no 87, 1950, p 38" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  12. ^ "The School Magazine, no 108, 1971, p 51" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  13. ^ David Tremayne, Donald Campbell: The Man Behind the Mask (2011), p. 58
  14. ^ "The School Magazine, no 112, 1975, p 40" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  15. ^ "The School Magazine, no 81, 1944, p 8" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  16. ^ "The School Magazine, no 107, 1970, p 7" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  17. ^ "The School Magazine, no 100, 1963, p 33" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  18. ^ "The School Magazine, no 110, 1973, p 61" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  19. ^ "The School Magazine, no 81, 1944, p 36" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  20. ^ "Ellis, Roger Wykeham (born 3 Oct. 1929), Master of Marlborough College, 1972–86" in Who's Who (London: A. & C. Black, 2003), p. 658
  21. ^ "The School Magazine, no 118, 1981, p 19" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  22. ^ "The School Magazine, no 88, 1951, p 36" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  23. ^ "The School Magazine, no 88, 1951, p 36" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  24. ^ "St Peter's Seaford Old Boys Reunion 2018". www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  25. ^ "The School Magazine, no 72, 1938, p 33" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  26. ^ "The School Magazine, no 102, 1965, p 40" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  27. ^ "The School Magazine, no 100, 1963, p 33" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  28. ^ "The School Magazine, no 102, 1965, p 40" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  29. ^ St Peter’s Seaford, The School Magazine, no 40, 1927, p 33.
  30. ^ "The School Magazine, no 110, 1973, p 61" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  31. ^ "Church Times Obituary 7 March 2012". www.churchtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  32. ^ "The School Magazine, no 85, 1948, p 28" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  33. ^ "The School Magazine, no 72, 1938, p 32" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  34. ^ 'Randall, Michael Bennett', in The International Who's Who 1991-92 (Europa Publishing, 1991), p. 1,333
  35. ^ "The School Magazine, no 97, 1960, p 25" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  36. ^ "The School Magazine, no 85, 1948, p 29" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  37. ^ "The School Magazine, no 110, 1973, p 58" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  38. ^ "The School Magazine, no 81, 1944, p 4" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  39. ^ "The School Magazine, no 86, 1949, p 37" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  40. ^ Justin Welby to be enthroned as next Archbishop of Canterbury at premier.org.uk/news dated 21 March 2013, accessed 24 February 2014
  41. ^ "The School Magazine, no 91, 1954, p 34" (PDF). www.stpetersseaford.org.uk. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  42. ^ "St Peter's School War Memorial". www.seamig.org.uk. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
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