Abbotsholme School

Abbotsholme School is a coeducational independent boarding and day school near the town of Rocester in Staffordshire, England. The school is situated on a 140-acre campus on the banks of the River Dove in Derbyshire, near the county border. It is a member of the SHHIS and is a Round Square school.HistoryAbbotsholme was founded by Scottish academic and educationist Cecil Reddie as an experiment for his progressive educational philosophies and theories. The school, then known "The New School", opened to boys aged 10 to 19 in 1889. From the very beginning, the school departed from the structure of the traditional public school in favour of a less rigid environment and more liberal education. Top hats and "Eton collars" were abandoned in favour of a more comfortable and practical uniform, and English, French and German were taught in place of Classics (Latin and Greek). The fine arts were introduced as core subjects, which was unusual at that time as music and art were mostly taught at cathedral schools or specialist art institutes. Practical skills such as animal husbandry and carpentry were integrated into the curriculum. It has been coeducational since 1969; girls now make up over one third of pupil numbers.