| Admin History | The school was founded in 1859 by Francis Knighton (1803-1883), proprietor of Caversham House Academy, a small boarding school for boys which had been in existence since at least 1826, originally in Reading and since 1849 in Caversham. (It closed in the early 1920s.) The new girls' school was run by Mr Knighton's daughters Rosa and Matilda, initially at Caversham House Lodge, and known as Verona Lodge. A new building named Hemdean House was built in 1862. Miss Matilda Knighton retired as headmistress in 1926. Her successor Miss Alice Olivey increased pupil numbers from 38 to over 100, and continued in post until 1972, by which date the boarding side of the school had ceased. By the 1920s boys were also admitted to tthe preparatory section (under 7). The senior school took girls up to O level age in the 1970s. The school became a charitable trust in 1972, and the trust purchased the premises from the Knighton family in 1973. In 1988 it was proposed to close the school in 1989, but parents formed an Action Committee to save the school. By 2016 it was a junior, infant and nursery school. |