The Elms School, Colwall

The Elms School is a co-educational private boarding and day preparatory school in Colwall, Herefordshire, England, on the western slopes of the Malvern Hills. Including its early years and pre-prep departments, it educates children from 3 to 13, with boarding and flexible boarding available from Year 3. It is non-selective and independent of any senior school, and prepares pupils for entry to a range of senior schools. The school traces its origins to a charitable bequest of the London grocer Humphrey Walwyn, whose will of 1612 founded a free school for the children of Colwall and neighbouring parishes administered by the Worshipful Company of Grocers. It is conventionally dated to 1614, and describes itself as the oldest preparatory school still on its original site. The original schoolhouse was a farmhouse, said to date from the 1550s, on the edge of the village. According to The Rise of the English Prep School, the school's inception as a preparatory school in the modern sense dates from 1867. The Elms marked its 400th anniversary in 2014. History The school's recorded history was set out in The Elms in Colwall, a school history by Pamela Hurle published in 2000, which draws on the records of the Worshipful Company of Grocers, the Herefordshire Record Office and Malvern Public Library. Foundation The Elms originates in the charitable intentions of Humphrey Walwyn (died c. 1614), a London grocer and member of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. In a will made in December 1612 he set aside money and property to establish and maintain a free school for the children of Colwall, with provision also for poorer children of Little Malvern and the Ongar district. He left the Grocers' Company a capital sum together with rents from property at Chipping Ongar in Essex, charging the Company to appoint, pay and periodically examine a schoolmaster who would teach local scholars without charge. The schoolhouse was an existing farmhouse on the edge of Colwall. The school is traditionally dated to 1614. A metal foundation plate survives bearing the inscription "Anno Dom. 1614", although Hurle records that close inspection shows the original date of 1649 to have been altered to 1614, with other wording also changed. The Grocers appointed Walwyn's nephew, the Rev. Richard Walwyn, as the first master, recorded from 1622. 17th and 18th centuries The early school was affected by the English Civil War; cannonballs reputed to have been left by the fighting were later found on the school grounds. Richard Walwyn was succeeded as master by his son, the Rev. Henry Walwyn (from 1649). The Grocers were slow to acquire the property Walwyn had intended for the school's endowment, and the Great Fire of London of 1666, which destroyed much of the Company's property, further delayed and complicated the arrangements. A succession of resident clergymen served as master through the 17th and 18th centuries, including John Page (from 1670), William Wood, Walter Symonds (from 1703) and Robert Symonds (from 1737). In the mid-18th century the long-serving Robert Symonds became the subject of a petition to the Grocers in 1756, supported by depositions from parishioners alleging neglect of his teaching and other misconduct; despite the complaints he remained in post until 1780. By the late 18th century the buildings had badly decayed. A surveyor's report of 1793, prepared during the mastership of the Rev. Thomas Hughes, recommended extensive repairs and rebuilding, work that was hampered by the inflation of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period. 19th century Under the Rev. George Wallett (1802–1818) tension developed between the school's obligation to provide free education and Wallett's wish to take fee-paying boarders, prompting an investigation by the Grocers' Company. His successor, the Rev. Thomas Dean (1819–1844), substantially revived the school after a deputation of parishioners pressed the Company to act. From the middle of the century the institution increasingly comprised two strands operating from the same buildings: a free, elementary "Grocers' School" for the children of the parish, and a fee-paying boarding (latterly preparatory) school. The Elementary Education Act of 1870 reshaped elementary provision nationally and sharpened the distinction. Under the Rev. Robert Carter (1863–1876) the boarding side grew, with demand for places from outside the parish, and under the Rev. Charles Black, the longest-serving master (1876–1910), the school took on the character of a recognisable preparatory school. Black extended the buildings, expanded boarding, and engaged with the emerging independent preparatory-school movement, later serving as chairman of the Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools. The Walwyn Foundation and separation of the schools The old endowment came under scrutiny from the Charity Commissioners and the Board of Education around the turn of the 20th century, and the Bishop of Hereford held an enquiry in 1904. Following the Education Act 1902 and a reorganisation completed in 1909, Walwyn's charity was reconstituted as the Walwyn Educational Foundation, with the endowment redirected chiefly to scholarships, while responsibility for the elementary school passed to the local education authority. The fee-paying boarding school had been sold privately to Charles Black around 1904, separating it from the charity school. The Elms as an independent school After Black's retirement the headship passed briefly to H. D. Ross (1910–1912); under both men the school sustained a strong record of public-school scholarships, a pupil having won a £100 scholarship to Winchester College in 1898 under Black, and others gaining awards to Winchester, Lancing College and Radley College in 1912. The headship then passed to Frederick Guy Meakin (1913–1916). In January 1916, William Parkinson Singleton bought The Elms and ran it as a private boarding preparatory school. The "Singleton era" lasted more than half a century, continued by his son, G. Michael Singleton (headmaster 1946–1973), who had himself been a pupil and a master at the school. Known to pupils as "Mr Michael", he served in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in the Second World War and took part in the liberation of France in 1944; he was later appointed CBE, served as a Deputy Lieutenant and, in 1974, became the first High Sheriff of Hereford and Worcester. The school sent pupils to a range of public schools, maintained a strong sporting and chapel life, and lost former pupils in both World Wars, commemorated on a war memorial and in the school chapel. From the late 1920s the school's ground was one of three grounds at Colwall used for the annual Women's Cricket Week, the festival that followed the founding of the Women's Cricket Association at the village in 1926; at its climax W. P. Singleton each year assembled a side of boys to play the women's representative team. In 1936 a festival match between teams representing England and Scotland was played on the school's ground, England winning by two wickets; the sides included several players who also appeared in Test cricket, among them Myrtle MacLagan and Betty Snowball. Snowball later taught mathematics and wicket-keeping at the school. A local tradition recorded in the school's history holds that the composer Edward Elgar taught at The Elms; the claim derives from the belief of a music teacher who joined the staff in 1923, and is not independently documented. Peter A. Valder (1973–1978) and Andrew J. G. Collier (1979–1985) followed as heads. In 1965 the school had been re-established as a charitable trust: The Elms (Colwall) Limited was incorporated as a private company limited by guarantee on 30 March 1965 and registered as a charity on 4 November 1965. Late 20th-century regeneration Facing falling pupil numbers and financial difficulty in the late 1970s and early 1980s, The Elms briefly amalgamated with Seaford Court School, operating for a time as "The Elms with Seaford Court" before that arrangement was unwound. Girls were admitted from 1980, and a swimming pool opened in October 1980, opened by an Old Boy, Sir Peter Gadsden, then Lord Mayor of London. Under a reconstituted board of governors and, from 1985, under headmaster L. A. Clive Ashby, the school stabilised, modernised its facilities and developed the working farm that became a distinctive feature of school life. 21st century The Elms celebrated its 400th anniversary in 2014 and named a new dormitory after the former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The long Ashby headship, which had begun in 1985, ended with a retirement in 2010; the subsequent heads were Alastair Thomas (2010–2018) and Christopher Hattam (2018–2022), after whom Jonathan Bungard and David Pearce held an interim co-headship before Ed Lyddon became headmaster in April 2023. The school retains close links with the Worshipful Company of Grocers and receives financial assistance from the Company's charitable funds. In April 2022 the governors announced plans to merge The Elms with the neighbouring The Downs Malvern, consolidating the two schools on the Elms site under the Malvern College group as a new school, to be called Elmsdown, from September 2023. The proposal proved controversial with parents at both schools. A parents' working group at The Elms, led by James Rose, opposed the merger, raised more than £700,000 in pledges and submitted an alternative business plan, while a petition attracted nearly 2,000 signatures. In June 2022 the governors voted to adopt the alternative plan and abandon the merger, keeping the school independent; The Downs Malvern proceeded to join the Malvern College group separately. The then chair of governors, Simon Townsend, said that "declining fortunes ... over a number of years" had prompted the proposal and that securing the school's long-term future would require further work; Rose subsequently joined the board of governors and became its chair. Governance The school is owned and run by The Elms (Colwall) Limited, a private company limited by guarantee incorporated on 30 March 1965, which is a registered charity (no. 527252, registered 4 November 1965). Under its governing document the charity's objects are to provide residential and non-residential schools and to award scholarships, bursaries, exhibitions and prizes. It is overseen by a board of trustees, who serve as the school's governors; as of 2025 there were twelve trustees, chaired by James Rose. The chairs of the governing body have been Sir Daniel Pettit (until 1995), Sir Peter Gadsden (1995–2005), Christopher Potter, OBE (2005–2013), Nat Hone (2013–2020), Simon Townsend (2020–2022) and James Rose (from 2022). For the financial year ending 31 August 2024 the charity reported a total income of about £3.3 million and employed around 65 staff, and it states that any operating surpluses are reinvested in the school's buildings, infrastructure and equipment. The school continues to receive support from the charitable funds of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. Site and facilities The school occupies a rural estate at the foot of the Malvern Hills, including a working farm and an on-site equestrian centre; its grounds are variously described as covering around 40 acres or, including farmland, about 110 acres. The Elms keeps Hereford cattle, Gloucester Old Spot pigs and Shropshire sheep, which pupils help to tend and show at county agricultural shows; meat from the farm is used in the school kitchens and sold to parents, and each class tends a garden whose produce is also used in the kitchens. The school's farm, much of which is run by the pupils as an extra-curricular activity, has shown pigs at the Three Counties Show since 1989, winning the supreme pig championship there in 1993 and the Gloucester Old Spot breed's supreme championship in 1999, and taking a male championship at the Royal Show in 1996. As of 2013 it was one of around 98 UK schools with its own farm. Other facilities include a sports hall, theatre, swimming pool, astroturf and science laboratories, as well as playing fields. Curriculum Pupils follow a broad curriculum that includes Latin and, for some pupils, Greek, alongside rural studies taught on the school farm from Year 3. Younger pupils are largely taught by a form teacher, with more specialist subject teaching higher up the school. Sports played include association football, rugby football, cricket, hockey, netball, rounders, athletics and the tetrathlon, and older pupils learn pistol shooting and swimming. Scholarships of up to 10 per cent of fees are available at Year 7 in academic work, art, music, sport, equestrianism and drama, with bursaries available on application. Reception Reviewers have characterised The Elms as a small rural prep whose identity is built around its setting, working farm and equestrian centre, and an emphasis on an outdoor, screen-free childhood. The Good Schools Guide described it as an idyllic school at the foot of the Malvern Hills offering day, flexible and full boarding, and—while noting that it had at one time drifted—judged that it had since revived. Reviewing the school in 2025, the regional lifestyle title Muddy Stilettos likewise highlighted its farm, riding and adventurous outdoor ethos alongside its academic record, and included it among its recommended schools. Notable former pupils Headmasters The school's published history lists the masters and headmasters as follows. Masters of the Grocers' School, Colwall Head Masters of the Grocers' Schools, Colwall Principals / Head Masters of The Elms School, Colwall Notes References External links Official website