St Ronan's School


Saint Ronan's School is an independent co-educational preparatory school for boys and girls from 3 to 13 years located near Hawkhurst in Kent, England. It currently has about 200 boys and 100 girls, all of them day pupils, although boarding is available from Tuesday night through to Thursday night for all pupils from Year 5 upwards. The present headmaster is William Trelawny-Vernon.

History

The school was founded in 1883 and was originally located in Worthing in Sussex. During the Second World War, the school was evacuated to Bicton Park near Exmouth in Devon, but afterwards moved to its present location in Tongswood House.
The house was remodelled in the late 19th century for William Cotterill, owner c. 1868 to 1892, of a mercantile family from Birmingham. Tongswood later belonged to Charles Eugene Gunther, head of the Liebig Extract of Meat Company which later became known as OXO, who was High Sheriff of Kent in 1926.
Sir Richard Vassar-Smith, 3rd Baronet, was headmaster from 1957 to 1971, and was succeeded by his son, Sir John Vassar-Smith, 4th Baronet, who was headmaster of the school until his retirement in 1997.

Old boys

Former pupils of Saint Ronan's School include: