Founding and Development

New Park School was an independent

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...

 preparatory school in St Andrews

St Andrews

St Andrews is a university town and former royal burgh on the east coast of Fife in Scotland. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle.St Andrews has a population of 16,680, making this the fifth largest settlement in Fife....

, Fife

Fife

Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. The school was founded in 1933 by Cuthbert Dixon, a teacher at Merchiston Castle School

Merchiston Castle School

Merchiston Castle School is an independent school for boys in the village of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has about 480 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 8 and 18 as either boarders or day pupils; day pupils make up 35% of the school....

.

The school was situated at Hepburn Gardens, a residential area of St Andrews. In addition, the school owned playing fields at Priory Acres off the Canongate, on the other side of the Kinness Burn. In 1986, part of the playing fields were put on the market for residential development. The school continued to use the remaining playing fields until it closed in 2005.

Initially the school had 13 boys, all of whom were day pupils. Within a few years the school had expanded, and by 1938 there were 20 pupils including 10 boarders. Numbers continued to increase, particularly in the post-war period.

In the 1970s, New Park admitted its first girls. By the time the school closed in 2005, there were roughly equal numbers of boys and girls. As times changed, boarding became less popular, and by the mid-1990s boarding at New Park had ceased. The school continued to adapt to changing circumstances, and opened a nursery for pre-school aged children.

Merger with St Leonards

When the other preparatory school in St Andrews, the previously girls-only St Leonards

St Leonards School

St Leonards School, formerly St Leonards School for Girls, is an independent school, founded by the University of St Andrews in the nineteenth century....

 Junior School began accepting boys, New Park struggled to recruit new pupils. St Leonards also suffered from a decline in pupil numbers, and talks between the schools continued for several years. Eventually, in March 2005 it was announced that New Park would merge with St Leonards Junior School, to form St Leonards-New Park. The merged school would use the St Leonards

St Leonards School

St Leonards School, formerly St Leonards School for Girls, is an independent school, founded by the University of St Andrews in the nineteenth century....

campus. The announcement was met with a mixed reaction from New Park parents.

St Leonards have announced a major redevelopment of their Junior School, which will change its name from St Leonards-New Park to St Leonards Junior School. The project, commencing in June 2011, will cost £2.5m, and is being funded by the New Park Educational Trust. The New Park name will be used for the redeveloped area of the St Leonards site.

New Park Educational Trust

The original New Park site (excluding the original house, which formed part of the main school building) was sold for development. The money raised is managed by the New Park Educational Trust, which supports local educational projects. The Trust still owns the original house, which will be converted into flats for rental to families involved in education in St Andrews.

Headmasters

• 1933-1949 Cuthbert Dixon
• 1949-1969 Roderick Macleod
• 1969-1976 Adrian Blocksidge
• 1976-1984 Alan Elliott
• 1984-1995 Michael Wareham
• 1995-2005 Andrew Donald (now Head of St Leonards-New Park )

Further Information

There is a Facebook Group and New Park can also be found in Friends Reunited.