Overview

Uplands School was a co-educational Independent school

Independent school (UK)

An independent school is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so is not subject to the conditions imposed by...

 based in the coastal town of Poole

Poole

Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...

, Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

 on the south coast of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It consisted of a junior school (ages 2–11) and a senior school (ages 11–16). In 2009, the school merged with Wentworth College.

The merger of the two schools formed Bournemouth Collegiate School

Bournemouth Collegiate School

Bournemouth Collegiate School is a co-educational independent school based in the coastal town of Poole, Dorset on the south coast of England. It consists of a prep school and a senior school . In 2009, Wentworth College and Uplands School merged.The merger of these schools have formed Bournemouth...

 whose principal is Stephen Duckitt. The junior school is situated at the old Uplands site and the senior school at Wentworth. This new school falls under the umbrella of the United Church Schools Trust

United Church Schools Trust

The United Church Schools Trust is a large education charity in the United Kingdom which owns and operates a group of 11 independent schools.-History:...

.

History

The School on the site in St Osmunds Road began as the Bourne School for Girls in the old Sandecotes Manor as a select girls boarding school. They built School House, which was completed in 1895 and this building today houses the junior hall and the classrooms above it. In 1900, Lord Wimborne bought Bourne School and it became Sandecotes School, and in 1903 a sister school was opened in St Leonards-on-Sea in Sussex which was called Uplands. At both schools pupils were trained to be practical, refined and cultured and were encouraged to enter universities, medical schools and hospitals. The Schools continued through the First World War, raising funds for the Red Cross and entertaining wounded soldiers, but at the break of World War Two it was decided to take Uplands away from the danger threatening our channel ports by moving to Monmouthshire. Meanwhile in Parkstone, the Sandecotes School was struggling and the Church Education Corporation decided to close it rather than evacuate it to another area. During the war the School was occupied by the 2nd Battalion the Grenadier Guards and also by American soldiers as they prepared for the D-Day landings. In 1946 it was decided to move Uplands from Monmouthshire to the vacated Sandecotes buildings. The School continued as a girls boarding and day school, but in 1973 the old buildings were proving too costly and the School faced closure until Edith Cooper Dean very kindly stepped in to support it. The top site was sold off and new school buildings were built. The School became co-educational and also started a junior School, laying the foundation for joining UCST and merging with Wentworth College in 2009.

Alumni

Sir Elliot V. Turner, commonly known as 'Big-T', who served as commander of the Third Battalion Southern Regiment, Poole.