Announcement: The Stowe Group

On behalf of the School and Governors, we are delighted to share the exciting news that Swanbourne House, together with Stowe and Winchester House School will be creating the Stowe Group. The new Group will be established with effect from 1 January 2021.

Our ambition is to build a strong group of schools that will thrive by enhancing our existing strengths and by continuing to provide a world-class education for all our pupils.  At the same time, we are firmly committed to retaining our special and distinctive Swanbourne House identity and spirit.

The formation of the Stowe Group will enable the member schools to benefit from a wealth of pooled expertise. It will provide opportunities for sharing strategic leadership, resources for professional development and collaboration, as well as delivering economies of scale across the Group. Most importantly, it will enable pupils to enjoy access to enhanced teaching and learning environments, leadership and coaching opportunities and extensive Group facilities. As a member, we will benefit from significant investment in Swanbourne’s facilities over the coming years.

Here, at Swanbourne, we will continue to nurture every pupil with our progressive and innovative approach to education and enrichment, enabling them to become resilient, skilled and inspired learners with confidence and creativity. Membership of the Stowe Group will give our pupils access to a combined site of over 800 acres with unrivalled educational and co-curricular facilities. These include Stowe’s Worsley Science Centre, the Roxburgh Theatre, the Chung Music School, state of the art gym, 8 lane athletics track, equestrian centre, 6 lane competition swimming pool and clay pigeon shooting range.

Swanbourne House is a key feeder of pupils to Stowe, but we will continue to support pupils and their families in discussing a full range of senior schools. Jane Thorpe will remain Head of Swanbourne House and will join the Group’s Executive Leadership Team.

As you might expect, the formation of the Group has involved lengthy and detailed discussions which have taken place over several months involving the Heads, Governors and members of the senior management teams. Having taken this decision, the Governors, as the trustees of the charities, are now thrilled to share the news of what will be an exciting new period in our history.

We appreciate you may have some questions and to help answer these we have created an information booklet, which can be viewed : Information Pack.