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Wellesley Haddon Dene School

Wellesley Haddon Dene School is a private day and boarding preparatory school in the coastal town of Broadstairs in the English county of Kent. Founded in 1866, it educates boys and girls aged 3 to 13. The merger of Haddon Dene School with Wellesley House School to form the newly named Wellesley Haddon Dene School in 2022, was associated with plans to expand. The school also includes a number of pupils with Special educational needs and disability (SEND).

History

The history of Wellesley House School dates back to 1866 but the present main building was built in 1897 to 1898 in 6 acres (2.4 ha) of grounds. It was originally called Conyngham House and was located at Ramsgate. During World War II, the school was temporarily evacuated to Rannoch in Scotland while the buildings were used by the British Army. In 1969 it merged with St Peter's Court, another local prep school. St Peter's Court had had two sons of King George V as pupils. The King felt corporal punishment of Prince George, Duke of Kent when he swam too far out to sea at Joss Bay, despite being warned not to, was appropriate.^: 198 Wellesley House School itself taught one of the Dukes of Gloucester in the 1950's and other prominent pupils included Mike d'Abo, Chris Cowdrey and William Fox-Pitt.^: 245 Wellesley's House first headmaster was C.H. Rose followed by C.R. Taylor. Another early headmaster was Leonard Moon.^: 245 Originally a typical boys-only boarding prep school, girls were admitted in 1977.

On 22 September 2022, Haddon Dene School merged with Wellesley House School to form the newly named Wellesley Haddon Dene School. Haddon Dene was a nearby private school without boarders at the time of the merger, and with smaller grounds, that had opened in 1929 by Miss Olive Vyseas as a boarding and day school for girls, with boys accepted from 1933.^: 98 The Premises for the new school are as for Wellesley House School, at 114 Ramsgate Road, Broadstairs. It was planned that the merger could eventually lead to an expansion of pupil number to a maximum of 320 pupils.

The school has a number of pupils with Special educational needs and disability (SEND), which in 2023 stood at 23.

Academics

As with prep schools that educate children up to age 13. Wellesley House prepares pupils for the Common Entrance Examination.

Boarding

Wellesley House offers full, weekly and flexi boarding options for all pupils. Girls from all year groups formally lived in Orchard House on the far side of the school grounds. Both houses are supervised by live-in "houseparents". Boys resided in the main school building. As of 2020, the boys and girls both reside in the main school but separately.

Former pupils

Former pupils are known as "Old Welleslians". This list includes former pupils from St Peter's Court, which closed in 1969 and merged with Wellesley House.

Armed Forces

Peter de la Billière, former Commander-in-Chief of British Forces in the 1990 Gulf War
Sir Henry Leach, former First Sea Lord at the time of the 1982 Falklands War who convinced Margaret Thatcher to re-take the islands
John Ruggles-Brise, Honorary Colonel in the Territorial Army

The Arts