Worth School

At the time, both schools were located in France due to the severe penal laws in England imposed against Catholics.

After several years in Acton Burnell, the monks finally settled in Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset, in 1814; this is the current location of Downside School.

Having 60 pupils at foundation, numbers rose to 100 in 1939 when the school was evacuated and moved to Downside Abbey for the duration of the Second World War.

She wrote to John Vickers, the OFT director-general, saying, "They are not a group of businessmen meeting behind closed doors to fix the price of their products to the disadvantage of the consumer.

The school was welcomed by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor and the mass was celebrated in the presence of Archbishop Faustino Sainz Muñoz, Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain.

[17] The refurbished interior, by Thomas Heatherwick Studios, won the West Sussex County Council Design and Sustainability Scheme Restoration Award for 2011.

Judges found that "Thoughtful design and superb execution make for a wonderful restoration, proving that in the right hands contemporary architecture can be used to create an exceptional place for prayer and contemplation".

[21] In September 2012 a new building for the boys boarding house, St Bede's, was opened in a woodland setting near the school golf course.

[25] Later in the same year, the school opened a pedestrian footbridge across the B2110 Paddockhurst Road, thereby more directly linking its main site with its nearby playing fields.

Because the school is located in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty the bridge was designed so that its impact is minimised.

[26] In August 2015 Stuart McPherson (an Eton College former housemaster) assumed the leadership of the school community as Head Master.

In the summer of 2019 a former student, Michael Spencer, made an extraordinary gift of £6.25 million for the school to build a new sixth form centre, which opened in April 2022.

In 2014 Worth pupils gained places at the Junior Royal Academy of Music as well as an organ scholarship at Keble College, Oxford.

Thirty six pupils sang the liturgy celebrated by Pope Francis with a special focus on young people for the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Although neither the school nor pupils were involved, the BBC documentary titled "The Monastery" was filmed in the abbey in 2005, and showed part of Worth's campus from the air in its introduction.

[34] Robert Whitehead, inventor of the torpedo, built the school's clocktower and model farm, having thereafter a room named after him.

[36] Former pupils include Formula Two driver Henry Surtees,[37] comedian Harry Enfield, actor Robert Bathurst,[citation needed] rugby union players Tom Mitchell (rugby union, born 1989) and Nick Walshe,[38] executive Sir John Chisholm[citation needed], baronet Sir Dermot de Trafford[citation needed], humanitarian and diplomat Prince Dominique de La Rochefoucauld-Montbel, historian Michael Aris,[39] antiques expert Philip Mould,[40] and various members of the Zobel de Ayala family[41][42] and Marcos family including Bongbong Marcos[43] Tory Boy, a notorious character from a sketch by Harry Enfield, is a fictional Old Worthian.

Main House at Worth School
The school's entrance through Paddockhurst Road.
Detail of the Whitehead Room at Worth School.
Old Worthian Tie: Navy with Worth blue and gold stripes. [ 45 ]