Development
Arnold House School is committed to being an outstanding and welcoming preparatory school for boys aged five to thirteen years old. Having recently celebrated our 100th birthday in 2005, we are moving confidently forward as a school in which we, and future generations, can continue to take enormous pride. Our aim is to balance the best of the past with the exciting challenges and possibilities of the future. Many of our Old Boys are successful and distinguished in their fields but the school's greatest accomplishment has always been to help shape young men of good education and independence of character. Arnold House has a longstanding tradition of providing a friendly teaching and learning environment, where each individual is encouraged to develop his talents and is challenged to achieve his full potential, and we provide a balance between the intellectual, physical, spiritual, moral and creative aspects of a pupil's education.
Arnold House School has full UK charitable status and has, over recent years, with the generous support of parents, Old Boys, foundations and others, raised well over £2 million. This sum has been invested in extending and upgrading the School's classrooms, library and outdoor spaces at Loudoun Road and Canons Park as well as enhancing and extending the provision and application of ICT resources and teaching across the school. All developments and campaigns significantly enhance the teaching and learning environment at the school, to the lasting and direct benefit of pupils far beyond their preparatory years.
Autumn 2006 marked the completion of development at the Canons Park Activity Centre. The completed developments provide a wealth of benefits for all pupils at the school. Pupils use two new rooms for classes at Canons Park, which also serve as 'green rooms' for musical and theatrical performances, leading onto the new stage in the pavilion hall refurbished with lighting facilities and tiered seating for 150 people. Other improved facilities include a new kitchen, an extended veranda, new changing rooms for pupils, visitors and staff and a welcoming foyer and reception area. These first-class facilities promote excellence in sports and sportsmanship, increase security at the grounds and provide outstanding facilities for the performing arts.
Now that Canons Park is fully refurbished we have already enjoyed the Hockey and Rugby Festival, Football Fun Day, a plethora of sporting fixtures, the Junior School Play, Tractor Days and ‘Days at the Park’ for the Junior School, activity centre days for the Senior School, summer concerts and Sports Day. This impressive line-up was rounded off with the Fête Champêtre making a welcome return to the School calendar in July. We are also now in the enviable position of being able to extend the curriculum through a programme of events at Canons Park Activity Centre. The sporting facilities at Canons Park are complemented by the new DropBox system - the part of the School website where boys and teachers can save and edit class assignments and homework, thus broadening the range of learning activities we are able to offer at the Activity Centre.
It is our intention to further enhance our hard won and well-deserved reputation by ensuring that we adopt a dynamic approach towards School improvement in the years to come. The recently formed Development Committee is formed of individuals with an interest and expertise in philanthropy who aim to engage the School community towards the continual improvement of the School. This year also welcomes a new initiative to offer bursaries to pupils entering the School in Year 7. Thus enabling who might not otherwise be able to attend the School to do so, ensuring that Arnold House offers not only the best possible education, but also one that is inclusive.
If you have any questions about developments at the school, or wish to find out how gifts of all sizes are valued, please contact our Development and Marketing Officer, Laura Backhouse. Laura will gladly discuss with you how your donation might be made and how it might be acknowledged, and she can be reached on 020 7266 6989 or by emailing lbackhouse@arnoldhouse.co.uk. We are extremely grateful to all our donors and friends and thank you for your continued support of the school.
Vivian Thomas