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Gordonstoun

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Gordonstoun School
Motto	Plus est en Vous
Established	1934
Type	Independent school
Headmaster	Mr. Mark Pyper
Founder	Kurt Hahn
Students	~450
Location	Duffus, Moray, Scotland
Colours	purple, white
Website	Gordonstoun.org.uk

Gordonstoun (originally in full, the British Salem School in Gordonstoun) is a Scottish co-educational independent school. It is sometimes referred to as a public school, although strictly speaking, this is an English term. However, it is highly regarded and can lay claim to being among the finest schools in the independent sector in the UK today. In fact it probably ranks alongside Eton and Harrow as to its fame overseas, having educated three generations of British royalty.

1 History
2 Ethos
3 Boarding Houses
4 Aberlour House
5 Alumni
6 External links
7 References

History

Located in a 17th century house with over 150 acres near Elgin, Moray, in Scotland - near to RAF Lossiemouth - it was founded as an international school in 1934 by the German educator Dr. Kurt Hahn. It was named after the first school established by Hahn, Schule Schloss Salem (School of the Castle of Salem) in Southern Germany. Although a fierce German patriot, Dr. Hahn had to leave Germany after the Nazis gained power, mainly on account of his Jewish background and critical stance towards national socialism. Kurt Hahn himself was educated at Oxford University. Hahn turned down the prestigious headmastership of Eton college to establish Gordonstoun. Hahn had a new vision of education which envisioned a school based on Plato's 'Republic'. In time, it became one of the most distinguished and progressive schools in the western world.

Ethos

Hahn blended a traditional private school ethos with a philosophy derived, at least in part, from that of ancient Greece. This is most notable in the title "Guardian", denoting the head boy and girl, which Hahn took from Plato's Republic; the adoption of a Greek trireme as the school's emblem; and, most notably, a routine that could be described as spartan. He placed a high emphasis on militaristic discipline and physical education, particularly outdoor activities such as sailing and hill walking. It is therefore appropriate that the school's motto should be "Plus est en vous" (More is in you). The school formerly had a (possibly undeserved) reputation for harsh conditions, with cold showers and morning runs as a matter of routine, and physical punishments, known as "penalty drill" or PD, in the form of supervised runs around one's house (dormitory) or the south lawn of Gordonstoun House (pictured above). The school also has a reputation for not placing an over-emphasis on testing and league tables, the school view being that this tends to lead to an education with a lack of time and freedom for a true, imaginative and humane engagement with life. This philosophy has not hindered most of their pupils achieving university places, with many going on to Oxford and Cambridge as well as American Ivy League universities such as Yale and Brown. During World War II, the school temporarily moved to Llandinam in Wales. It is best-known as the school attended during the 1960s by Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, on the recommendation of his father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who had himself been one of the first students to attend Gordonstoun having previously been educated at Salem in Germany. Princes Andrew and Edward eventually followed in their father's and elder brother's footsteps. Of the four princes, three (Philip, Charles and Edward) were appointed Guardian (head boy) during their time at the school. Princess Anne, the Queen's only other remaining child, was not educated at Gordonstoun, which at that time was boys only. However, she did send her own two children there and also served for some time on the school's board of governors. She still maintains her links with the school, serving currently as a Warden of the school. The school has changed since Prince Charles's time there. It had been a means tested school with boys from varied backgrounds, the rich paying far more than the poorer families. It had not been a popular school and was not really on the list of schools to which the wealthy wanted to send their boys. However after Charles's sojourn there it became very fashionable and has maintained that status to the current day. It later became, and remains, a very popular co-educational school.It is ranked alongside Phillips Academy (USA), Le Rosey (Switzerland), Eton College (England) as one of the finest schools in the World. The membership of Gordonstoun's former pupil association reads like a copy of "Who's Who". William Boyd has written in detail about his time there in Protobiography, although he never mentions the school by name. The School has a volunteer fire unit attached to the Grampian Fire and Rescue Service.

Boarding Houses

There are nine boarding houses at Gordonstoun School:^[1]

Female:

Hopeman House
Plewlands House
Windmill House

Male

Bruce House
Cumming House
Duffus House
Gordonstoun House
Round Square

Co-ed

Altyre House

Aberlour House

Main article: Aberlour House

Aberlour House, the preparatory school for Gordonstoun, was relocated to Gordonstoun's grounds from Aberlour in 2004. It is made up of dormitories, classrooms and communal areas in one building. Other lessons, like art and design technology for example, are done in the main Gordonstoun classroom area. Construction of the building was compleated in 2004 and in 2006, large extensions were added to the existing building, incorporating additional classrooms and dormitaries. At the moment around 100 children aged between 8 and 13 years of age attend, but this is expected to rise with the coming extension. ^[2]

Alumni

Alumni of Gordonstoun are called "Old Gordonstounians" or "OGs":

British Royal Family members
- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
- Charles, Prince of Wales
- Prince Andrew, Duke of York
- Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex,
- Peter Phillips,
- Zara Phillips
George Oliver,
Hugo Trower,
Sarah Rachel Agasim-Pereira of Fulwood and Dirleton, Lady of Morpeth Castle
Nicholas Alexander, 7th Earl of Caledon
Nick Bateman, Big Brother contestant
Tessa Blake, filmmaker
Timothy Beaumont, Baron Beaumont of Whitley
Ross Benson, gossip columnist
David Michael Douglas Boyle, Viscount of Kelburn and heir to the 10th Earl of Glasgow
William Boyd, novelist and screenwriter, winner of the Whitbread Book Award and nominated for the Booker Prize.
James Carnegie, 3rd Duke of Fife
Christian Castle, leading music and technology attorney, legal author and Fellow of the World Technology Network
Oona Chaplin, granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin^[3]
Jason Connery, actor and son of Sir Sean Connery.^[4]
Barry Cooper, musicologist and Beethoven scholar
Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale
Jasper Duncombe, pornographic film director
Charles Finch, filmmaker (Head of William Morris, Europe) and son of actor Peter Finch
Michael Forwell. International marijuana smuggler arrested when his ship, The Encounter Bay was seized in the process of transporting 72 tons of Thai weed into America in 1988.
Balthazar Getty, great-grandson of billionaire John-Paul Getty
Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere chairman of Associated Newspapers.
Dick Heckstall-Smith, a legendary British jazz and blues musician.
India Hicks, model and granddaughter of Earl of Mountbatten
Joe "Zowie Bowie" Jones, son of David Bowie
Aleksandar Karađorđević, Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia and Crown Prince of Serbia.
Charles Kennedy (economist)
Luca Prodan, Italian-Argentinian singer, leader of Sumo

James Orr, police officer and Private Secretary to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh 1957-1970.

Christina Rau, political scientist and wife of the former President of Germany, Johannes Rau
Leila Margaret Rendel (1882-1969)

Gordonstoun School’s illustrious history would not be complete without reference to Leila Margaret Rendel OBE as a Gordonstoun School founder and longstanding governor. Leila M. Rendel ran her own school The Caldecott Community first as a London nursery founded 1911; later as a changeable establishment; whether; for children from poor families, as a borstal or experimental, pioneering therapeutic community from which a small trail of Leila’s talented; if nondescript; boy Caldecott’s went on to complete ‘their education’ at Gordonstoun School. It is understood the Gordonstoun School archive references L.M.R. re Gordonstoun as well as in relation to national educational pertinences to which Leila Magaret Rendel had been invited to contribute. Latterly c.2000 'The Caldecott Community' titled comfortably through decades is now generalised (re-titled) to a more formal (bland) 'The Caldecott Foundation'. The Caldecott 'Foundation'; even 'Community'; today does not founder.

Roy Williamson of the Corries, and writer of Scotland's national anthem, Flower of Scotland
Lady Helen Taylor, Duke of Kent's Daughter
Vice-Admiral Sir James Weatherall
William Wood, self-made millionaire who left £1.8 million to the school.
Justus Scharowsky, Former Cumming House student who now plays field hockey for the German national team.

The fictional Lara Croft is also claimed to have attended the school.^[5] This may have been inspired by James Bond's "attendance" of Fettes College.