Lord Wandsworth College

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 and village of South Warnborough. The current headmaster is Ian Power.

History

LWC was founded in 1928 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 school work 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. This pattern of foundationers and fee payers provided a remarkable experience, whereby boys from very different backgrounds lived and worked together in the traditional atmosphere of a minor Public School. By the early 1960s there was nothing to separate it from other Public Schools other than the distinctive make up of the school body.

The Foundation still provides funds to allow pupils who have lost parents to attend the school, although falling investment yields and increasing costs mean that in recent years the numbers of Foundation pupils has fallen to 1 in 10.

LWC is now a fully co-educational Public School, 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 Alumni

Notable former pupils include:
* Julian Sands, actorcite web | url = http://www.schoolsguidebook.co.uk/schools/Lord_Wandsworth_College.html | title = Lord Wandsworth College @ UK Schools Guide 2005 | publisher = Guide to Independent Schools | accessdate = 2006-03-22]
* Jonny Wilkinson OBE, rugby union international
* Peter Richards, rugby union international
* Ugo Monye, rugby union player, who has represented England in the Sevenscite web | url = http://web.archive.org/web/20030811074120/http://rugbyrugby.com/LATEST_NEWS/story_29461.shtml | title = RugbyRugby : Latest News | accessdate = 2007-07-11]
* Charlie Amesbury, rugby union player

References

External links

* [http://www.lord-wandsworth.hants.sch.uk/ Lord Wandsworth College] - official web site
* [http://www.sternians.org.uk/ Sternians Association] - the Old Boys Association of Lord Wandsworth College