As of the 2024/25 Academic Year, Stowe School charges up to £46,701 per year[5] (£15,567 per term, three terms per academic year for 2024/25). The school offers three fee brackets based on the type of placement. Boarders are charged £46,701 per year, while pupils in the limited "Day in Boarding" program pay between £33,576 and £38,076 annually. These students are assigned to one of the school's boarding houses and have the opportunity to board there for a maximum of two nights per week. Pupils in one of the school's three Day Houses—Winton, Cheshire, and Croft—are charged £28,464 per academic year. Students in the Day houses are not given the option to board. The school provides bursaries and other means of financial assistance to admitted students who exhibit outstanding abilities in the Arts, Academics, Sports, and other areas. A typical scholarship at Stowe is worth 5% of the school fee.[6]
The school has been based since its beginnings at
Stowe House, formerly the country seat of the
Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos. Along with many of the other buildings on the school's estate, the main house is now a
Grade I Listed Building and is maintained (since 1997) by the Stowe House Preservation Trust.
Stowe School opened in 1923. The main building is
Stowe House, whose exterior was completed by 1779. Funding for the school came through the Rev.
Percy Warrington and the Martyrs Memorial Trust.[7] The school's first architect was
Clough Williams-Ellis.
Stowe School
The first Headmaster was
J. F. Roxburgh. He aimed to focus on the individual child and introduce them to beauty and learning; he wanted a civilised school founded on Christian values.[8]
The Beatles played a concert at Stowe School on 4 April 1963. A recording of the concert was revealed in 2023, and leaked to the public later in the year.[9][10]
In 2016, a Daily Telegraph investigator posing as a parent of a Russian pupil was told by the then school registrar that while pupils would always be expected to pass the entrance exam, it would help secure a place if a borderline child's parents were able to donate "about £100,000 or something like that."[13]
There are 13 boarding houses: 8 boys' houses and 5 girls' houses. There are also three Day Houses - 2 boys' houses and 1 girls' house. The boarding houses are mostly named after members of the family of
Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. Each house has a number or letter assigned to it.
Viscount Cobham;
Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, had a large renovation after construction of a new building, opened in early 2019, with the old Cobham location being used as the site for Winton and Cheshire
There is no known family connection, the name coming from the local fox hunt, the Grafton Hunt, which takes its name in turn from the
Duke of Grafton. Grafton also has a history of supplying the Stowe
Beagles with talented Masters and Hunt Staff, many of whom have continued to become Masters of packs around the Country.
7
Walpole (Boys)
This is not a family name. Named after
Horace Walpole, who wrote some famous letters about his visits to Stowe in the 18th century. It was his father,
Robert Walpole, who was the more notable Walpole in Britain's and Stowe's history, however.
Viscount Cobham's political life started under Walpole but his subsequent opposition to him led Cobham to found a political dynasty that played a major part in politics until Victorian times (producing four Prime Ministers). To be named "Nugent" originally.
8
Nugent (Girls)
Lady Mary Nugent, daughter of
Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent, married to
George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham. Nugent was originally the 'waiting house' that some new boys entered until their preferred house had a space. (In the late 1960s, during the "boys only" era, there was a quiet joke to the effect that Nugent was for the "new gents".)
Opened in September 2019 as a day house for boys. Named after
Sir Nicholas Winton.
9
Cheshire (Girls)
Opened in September 2019 as a day house for girls. Named after
Leonard Cheshire.
C
Croft (Boys)
Opened in September 2023 as a day house for Boys. Named after
Colonel Andrew Croft.
T
Cricket ground
Cricket pavilion and pitch
The first recorded match on the school
cricket ground came in 1928 when Stowe School played St Paul's School.[15]Buckinghamshire played their first
Minor Counties Championship match there in 1947, when the opponents were
Berkshire. Between 1947 and 1982 the ground held five Minor Counties Championship matches, the last of which saw Buckinghamshire draw against
Bedfordshire.[16] The ground has also hosted a single
MCCA Knockout Trophy match which saw Buckinghamshire play Bedfordshire.[17]
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's
verifiability policy. Please
improve this article by removing names that do not have independent
reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate
citations.(September 2019)
Former pupils of Stowe School are known as Old Stoics.
Matthew Vaughn is currently the President of the Old Stoic Society.[21] Old Stoics include:
Quarterly indented Argent and Or, first a lion rampant Azure, second a pile Gules, third a pile Vert thereon a cross of the second bearing five torteaux, fourth three martlets of the third.
^W. A. Evershed, Party and Patronage in the Church of England 1800–1945, D. Phil. thesis, Oxford University,1985, gives a detailed and well-referenced account of the questionable methods employed by Warrington. The Martyr's Memorial Trust appointed the first Governing Body, whose Chairman from August 1922 was Lord Gisborough.
^Outrageous Fortune: Growing Up at Leeds Castle By Anthony Russell