| Brambletye School | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
 | |
East Grinstead
,
, RH19 3PD
England
| |
| Information | |
| Type | Preparatory day and boarding |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Church of England |
| Established | 1919 |
| Department for Education URN | 126150 Tables |
| Headmaster | Will Brooks |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Age | 2 to 13 |
| Enrolment | c290 |
| Houses | Nelson, Wellington, Drake, Malborough |
| Colour(s) | Pink, black and grey |
| Former pupils | Old Brambletyeans |
| Website | http://www.brambletye.co.uk/ |
Brambletye School is a coeducational day and boarding preparatory school in East Grinstead, West Sussex. It was founded as a small boys' boarding school in Kent between the world wars. The school moved to West Sussex and has since become coeducational.
Brambletye was founded at Sidcup Place, Kent in 1919.[1] It moved to its present location in the Sussex countryside on the southern outskirts of East Grinstead in 1933. The main school building, which is in its own wooded estate of 140 acres, overlooks the Ashdown Forest and Weir Wood Reservoir. Brambletye was built in 1896 by Donald Larnach, former director of the Bank of New South Wales, as his country retreat.[2] The school became a charitable trust in 1969[3] with a board of governors. In September 1986, the first girl was admitted and the school is now completely coeducational.
Recent building developments have included a seven-classroom block,[4] a purpose-built arts centre including a 270-seat theatre, a sports hall, a pre-prep building and the redevelopment of the science laboratories. The Blencowe Centre won the Downland Prize for Architecture, Education, (joint winner) in 2010.[5]
The Brambletye School Trust, a registered charity,[3] created legal precedent in the UK with a value-added tax ruling.[6]
Past pupils chipped in to provide the next generation with new classrooms at Brambletye School. A block of seven new classrooms was opened this summer with the help of money raised from old boys and girls and current parents.
The Commissioners relied upon an earlier decision of the Tribunal in Brambletye School Trust Ltd v Commissioners of Customs and Excise (2002) VAT Decision 17688. This concerned a somewhat similar scheme used in connection with the construction of a new sports hall for a preparatory school. The Tribunal found that the school was in occupation of the hall because whenever the children used the hall, they were under the supervision of teachers employed by the school. It was the teachers who exercised control over the premises.
Nigel was sent at first to Brambletye School in Sussex and then to Stowe School.
Mr Fowler-Watt reminded us that many professional actors first 'cut their teeth' on the Brambletye stage, including Benedict Cumberbatch and alternative comedian Will Adams Dale.[non-primary source needed]
Moore was born the son of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Percival Moore, MC, and his wife Alice (née Bibby). He was educated at Brambletye school, East Grinstead, and Cheltenham college, and joined the Royal Marines in 1947, straight from school.
He was the only son of Sir Blyth Wace, Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of the Punjab. The family claims descent from Wace, the 12th-century Jerseyman andchronicler of the House of Normandy. Young Nigel attended Brambletye School in Sussex before going to Sheikh Bagh preparatory school in Kashmir, where a strong emphasis on outdoor activities left him, he said, with "a continuing delight and inquisitive interest indifferent sorts of landscape and people".
