History and Grounds
The old school house was originally built in the 18th century and was the home of the Elliot family.
It became a school in 1932, at the time being West Heath Girls School, a very exclusive girls' school with around 100 boarding pupils. Both Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales and her sister Sarah (now Lady Sarah McCorquodale) spent their childhood education there. Other notable alumni include Issy Van Randwyck, and Tilda Swinton.
In the 1990s, the school got into financial difficulties due to falling numbers of pupils attending the school, and was placed into receivership in 1997.
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund wanted to buy the school at first, but decided against it, and Mohamed Al Fayed stepped in to buy West Heath for £2,300,000 on 20 May 1998 as new premises for the Beth Marie Centre. He had previously seen for himself work being done by the Centre's founder, Valerie May, in a collection of portable buildings. Al Fayed later pledged to contribute a further £550,000 towards equipping the school and visits frequently, continuing to show his support for the school.
- "I am surprised that the Princess Diana memorial fund, with all its millions in the bank, did not show a greater interest in this project," Al Fayed said in a statement. "I believe it to be a far more fitting tribute to her work than putting her name on tasteless souvenirs."
The school was founded in its current form, with Valerie May as Principal, on 14 September 1998 and at the start the school had around 30 pupils. Boarding began in the year 2000, and there are six boarding houses, each named after one of the Trustees (see Management, below); Tarrant, Sissons, Astor, Ruth, Hunniford and Esther.
As well as the Old School a more modern teaching block was built to increase the classroom capacity and overall space for the school.
Read more about this topic: The New School At West Heath
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