Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Great day as school marks milestone
Thirty years of education at St Faith’s at Ash was celebrated by pupils, parents and staff on Monday.
To mark the milestone, the school invited people to attend an afternoon service at St Nicholas’ Parish Church.
It was followed by a school tour, a concert performed by past and present pupils and an afternoon tea.
Headmaster Lawrence Groves said: “For an existing head it was a transformational experience to see all under one house, my three predecessors, including the founder head of St Faith’s, exhead boys and girls, as well as exstaff, parents and children who go back 50 years to when we were Wootonley House and before that Charnock House.
“The church service was an emotional, tear-jerking experience and the alumni concert nothing short of entertaining, with so many talented old pupils performing.”
St Faith’s at Ash is a co-educational independent prep school for pupils aged two to 11.
It was founded in 1987 by two married couples, Thelma Wrathall and her husband Peter, and their niece Jacqui Dredge and husband David.
Three of the four were teachers St Faith’s school
who shared a passion for education and wanted to offer an alternative to local authority schools in the area.
They bought a rambling old Victorian house which they lovingly refurbished and opened as a school with a vision to offer education to children from nursery up to secondary school age.
A decade later St Faith’s was bought by Stephen and Cathy Kerruish, who moved into the school with their two children. They continued to develop the school providing resources and a new energy.
Pupil numbers escalated from just three 30 years ago to 230 today.
In 2012 the school was sold to Wishford Schools, a family-run group of independents.