The school is a member of the 18-memberRugby Group, theHeadmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, and theG30 Schools. Originally for boys only, the school is now coeducational, with 541 boys and 374 girls – 915 students enrolled in the school as of September 2023[update]. Roughly 80% of the school's pupils are in boarding houses, while the other 20% are in day houses.
Pupils in the "Day in Boarding" programme are assigned to one of the school's boarding houses and have the option to board there for a maximum of three nights per week. Pupils in one of the school's three Day Houses—Winton, Cheshire, and Croft—are charged a reduced fee 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.[7]
The tuition fee includes the provision of meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), educational services, and "extracurricular activities".[8] In some instances, it also covers boarding accommodation. Additional costs, such as school uniforms, equipment, trips, and transportation (such as airport transfers and bus services), are billed at the end of each term in addition to the tuition fee. These extra costs can range from a few hundred to a few thousand pounds per term.
Stowe School opened in 1923. The main building isStowe House, whose exterior was completed by 1779. Funding for the school came through the Rev.Percy Warrington and the Martyrs Memorial Trust.[9] The school's first architect wasClough Williams-Ellis.
Stowe School
The first Headmaster wasJ. 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.[10]
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.[11][12]
In 2005, the school was investigated by the Office of Fair Trading for "price fixing", participating in a "fee-fixing cartel".[15]
In 2016, aDaily 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."[16]
There are thirteen Boarding Houses: 7 boys' houses and 6 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 ofDuke of Buckingham and Chandos. Each house has a number or letter assigned to it, for use as the first character of each student's school number. For instance, a student in Bruce House would have their student number start with 1.
Name
Named After
House Number/Letter
Bruce (Girls)
Lady Mary Bruce (1710–1738), the daughter ofCharles Bruce, 4th Earl of Elgin. Formerly a boys house from 1923-2024, and was renovated and reopened as a girls house in September 2025
Viscount Cobham; Original building renovated after construction of a new building, opened in early 2019, with the old Cobham location being used as the site for Winton and Cheshire
Duke of Grafton and/or the local fox hunt, the Grafton Hunt, which takes its name from him. Grafton House has a history of supplying theStowe Beagles with Masters and Hunt Staff
The first recorded match on the schoolcricket ground came in 1928 when Stowe School played St Paul's School.[18]Buckinghamshire played their firstMinor Counties Championship match there in 1947, when the opponents wereBerkshire. Between 1947 and 1982 the ground held five Minor Counties Championship matches, the last of which saw Buckinghamshire draw againstBedfordshire.[19] The ground has also hosted a singleMCCA Knockout Trophy match which saw Buckinghamshire play Bedfordshire.[20]
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
