Lord Wandsworth College

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lord Wandsworth College, often abbreviated to LWC, is a medium-sized independent school in Hampshire. It is set among farmland adjacent to the small village of Long Sutton, near the small town of Odiham.

[edit] History

LWC was founded at the beginning of the 20th century by a bequest in the will of Sydney James Stern, Lord Wandsworth, who had intended to create a fairly straightforward orphanage. The executors of his will, however, followed the letter rather than the spirit of the will and began instead a school teaching agricultural skills to boys who had lost one or both parents. Starting as a kind of agricultural orphanage with a few lessons, the balance of farming against schoolwork slowly shifted until the 1990s, by which time Lord Wandsworth College was a fairly typical independent school, albeit one surrounded by farmland whose operation (by a separate company) still provides a small profit to the school's accounts. The school first accepted fee-paying pupils, to supplement Lord Wandsworth's original bequest, soon after World War II.

The Foundation still provides funds to allow pupils who have lost parents to attend the school. LWC is now fully co-educational, taking boarding and day pupils, ages 11 - 18. Pupils start off in Junior House for 2 years, then move into one of 4 boys houses (Hazelveare House, Summerfield House, School House or Sutton House) or 3 girls houses (Park House, Gosden House or Haygate House). The school has many sports pitches, including two artificial astroturfs, and a new (opened 1999) Music and Drama Centre.

Notable former pupils include actor Julian Sands^[1], and rugby internationals Jonny Wilkinson OBE^[1], Peter Richards and (at England Under-21 level) Ugo Monye^[2].