Celebrating 75 years in Cobham
In April 2021 Reed’s School celebrated 75 years of having officially moved to its present site at Sandy Lane in Cobham, Surrey.
After leaving their previous site in Watford at the outbreak of WW2, pupils from Reed’s were evacuated to Totnes in Devon. In 1946 the school purchased the 40-acre site in Sandy Lane which had previously been Sandroyd Prep School. The main building, an Arts & Crafts design, was soon joined by extra classroom blocks, a swimming pool, sports pitches and a plethora of facilities to suit the needs of the 150 or so pupils who had arrived in April 1946.
At the time all the pupils were Foundation boarders – they would have lost the support of one or both of their parents and received a free education due to the kind support of benefactors from, mainly, companies in the City of London.
Reed’s School started to accept fee-paying pupils in the late 1950s so that it could evolve and endure. Gradually it’s place in the community of Cobham and Oxshott, which it borders, was sealed. Now a leading HMC Independent school of around 800 pupils it’s a well-regarded establishment where the charitable Foundation remains an integral part of its ethos today, instilling in pupils many important values including respect, integrity, curiosity and compassion.
To commemorate the occasion the school has produced a docufilm ‘This place called Cobham’ which captures the childhood feelings, stories and memories of those who were at the school during WW2 and who undertook the journey from Totnes to Cobham, often alone and for the first time.
The film evokes a time of many challenges for these young boys but what is so especially heart-warming is the life-long friendships that have endured and the impact that Reed’s has had on their lives.
