BEDALES SCHOOL

1893 - ?

Bedales School is a public school in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire and was founded by John Haden Badley (21 February 1865–6 March 1967), in 1893 to be a humane alternative to the authoritarian regimes typical of late-Victorian public schools. The school is named after the house in which it began, in Haywards Heath and Badley's ideas were highly radical for England at that time, in retrospect he can be seen as part of a wider European reform movement. The school became fully co-educational in 1898, and students were given a formal voice by 1916, when the School Council was formed. In 1900, Bedales moved to its rural Hampshire site and Bedales Prep., for children aged 8-13, was founded in 1902 and moved to its present site in 1905, and the Pre-prep, for children aged 3-8. in 1953. The three schools are located in 120 acres of farmland, woods, orchards and playing fields and students still follow Mr Badley's ideal. The Memorial Library of the 1920s and adjoining Lupton Hall which was the original assembly hall, built in 1911, are Grade I listed. The Olivier Theatre 1998, The Orchard Building 2005, and Art & Design Building 2016, have won awards for the quality and originality of their architecture. Tutors at Bedales include Elsie Garrett and Suffolk artists who studied at Bedales include Joanna Dunham, Allan Gwynne-Jones, Ivon Hitchens and Sarah Natasha Raphael.
Website: https://www.bedales.org.uk