Gordonstoun - History

History

Gordonstoun was established in 1934 by Kurt Hahn after being asked by friends to give a demonstration in the UK of his "Salem system". He was born in Berlin in 1886 and studied at the University of Oxford. After reading Plato's The Republic as a young man, he conceived the idea of a modern school and with the help of Prince Max of Baden he set up the Schule Schloss Salem in 1919. After the First World War, both men decided that education was key in influencing the future and so Salem was built in order to make leaders of the community out of its pupils. By the 1930s it had already become a very renowned school throughout the whole of Europe. In 1932 Hahn spoke out against the Nazis and was arrested in March 1933. He was released and was exiled to Britain in the same year through the influence of the Prime Minister, Ramsey MacDonald, who was familiar with Hahn's work. It was then that he decided to start a new school in Morayshire.

Gordonstoun started in a small way and had financial difficulties. Hahn's offer for the lease was accepted on 14 March 1934 but the buildings were in need of much repair and at the start of the first academic year there were only two pupils. It had been decided that Gordonstoun would only last a few years and was only to serve as an example of what Hahn's vision entailed. The number of pupils steadily increased and some additional pupils transferred from Salem, including Prince Philip of Greece, now the Duke of Edinburgh. By the start of the Second World War 135 boys were attending.

In June 1940 the school was evacuated and the Gordonstoun estate was taken over by the army for use as barracks. A temporary home was found for the school in Montgomeryshire in Mid Wales when Lord Davies, a parent of two of the pupils, allowed the school to use one of his houses there. The buildings were insufficient and finances and pupil numbers began to drop. The school survived the war, pupil numbers grew and the school became well known throughout Wales and the Midlands. Once the war had ended the school was able to return to the Gordonstoun estate.

By the end of the 1940s the school achieved its primary target of 250 pupils and continued growing in size. It managed to build more boarding houses on the estate, removing the need of a house in Altyre, Forres, many miles away from the main campus. Gordonstoun also continued in its growth in education. Schemes were set up to allow poorer children from the surrounding areas to attend, as well as deepening the outward bound activities, which were central to Hahn's system. Skills in mountaineering and seamanship were always taught at the school but the introduction of the Moray Badge, from which the Duke of Edinburgh's Award was borrowed, expanded this.

From the 1950s onwards, with the foundations of the school firmly set, more focus was put into improving the facilities and expanding the curriculum. Major changes since then include: the founding of Round Square in 1966, an international community of schools sharing Hahn's educational ideals; the school officially becoming co-educational in 1972; and the moving of Aberlour House, Gordonstoun's preparatory school, from Speyside to a purpose built Junior Schoola on campus in 2004.