The New Beacon Preparatory School is an independent all-boys preparatory school, located at Sevenoaks in the English county of Kent. It admits both day students and boarders aged between 4 and 13. The school also now offers a co-educational nursery for children 3 years of age and over. The school was founded in 1863, and has been on the current site since 1900. It had 62 students in 1913, and had grown to 400 students by 2008.
History
In the spring term 1882, John Stewart Norman and his friend Frank Ritchie took over The Beacon, which had been established as a Preparatory school in 1863 at 18 St John's Road, Sevenoaks. As the numbers in the school grew, larger premises were needed, leading to the decision in October 1897 to build a new boarding school in Sevenoaks. Land was acquired from Lord Amherst's Montreal Park estate at Cross Keys, and construction of The New Beacon began in February 1899. The new building was ready by the end of the Autumn Term 1899.
In January 1900 the New Beacon opened for the (continued) education of boys in a building with a capacity for 60 boarders. The exterior of the building changed little over the century, but the addition of a chapel in 1912 meant that the children no longer had to walk to Kippington. By 1913 the school had grown to 62 pupils and the fees were £120 per year for boarding and tuition, plus £1 11s 6d for medical attendance. Other facilities included swimming baths, a miniature rifle range, a playground and two sports fields. During the First World War, staffing was depleted and the school's grounds and gardens had to be tended by staff and pupils. Just over two decades later, during the Second World War, the New Beacon continued with, as at 16 September 1939, 35 boarders. Female staff were recruited and some girls were educated at the school during the war. Thirty-seven former pupils were killed during the Great War, including John Alexander Thynne, Viscount Weymouth, eldest son of 5th Marquess of Bath, killed near Vermelles on 16 February 1916. Another 75 Beaconians fell in the Second World War. Their names are noted on a memorial in the chapel.
Post-war changes and the increase in day boys
After the war numbers continued to grow and the roll call was over 120 pupils in 1948. Over the next few decades, the school tripled in size. The appointment of Rowland Constantine in 1976 saw the end of a long run of headmasters from the Norman family; Constantine was in post for 32 years.
The New Beacon is now predominantly a day school. In 2008 Mike Piercy was appointed as Headmaster and served until 2023. Mrs Sarah Brownsdon is the current incumbent.
Notable alumni
Arts and literature
Robert Byron, travel writer
Henry Green, novelist
Anthony Powell, novelist
Siegfried Sassoon, World War I poet
Military
Air Vice Marshall Cresswell Clementi, Brigadier Archer Clive, was a British Army officer who served during World War II Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, second husband of Anne, Princess Royal Philip Norton Banks, British colonial Inspector-General of Police in Ceylon Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Anderson (British Army officer)
Politics
Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, diplomat
Sir Daniel William Lascelles, diplomat
Charles Thomas Mills, Conservative politician and Baby of the House, killed in action in World War I Arthur Mills, 3rd Baron Hillingdon, Conservative politician Lord Mayhew of Twysden, former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland William Donald Massey Sumner, British Conservative M.P. and later a judge
Sport
Sam Billings, Kent and England cricketer
Douglas Carr, cricketer
Joseph Choong, modern pentathlete and Olympic gold medallist at Tokyo 2020
Zak Crawley, Kent and England cricketer
Eliot Druce, cricketer
Ben Earl, Saracens and England rugby player
Church
Edward Sydney Woods, Bishop of Croydon and Bishop of Lichfield
Robert Wilmer Woods, Bishop of Worcester and Dean of Windsor
Frank Woods, Archbishop of Melbourne
Other
Charles Ede, founder of the Folio Society
John Fremantle, 4th Baron Cottesloe
Sir Guy Newey, Lord Justice of Appeal
Henry Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath, landowner, creator of Longleat safari park
Bill Bruford, drummer, founding member of the progressive rock band YES
Colin Coote, British journalist and Liberal politician
Alan Moses, former Lord Justice of Appeal, a Court of Appeal Judge and the former chairman of Independent Press Standards Organisation Norman Barrett, thoracic surgeon