Gordonstoun School
 Gordonstoun School  (School)    | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Motto | Plus est en vous (There is more in you) |
| Formation | 1934 |
| Founder | Kurt Hahn |
| Headquarters | Moray, Scotland |
| Type | Public schoolPrivate boarding school |
| Boarding school in Scotland popular with the aristocracy | |
Gordonstoun School is a co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils in Moray, Scotland. It is named after the 150-acre (61 ha) estate owned by Sir Robert Gordon in the 17th century; the school now uses this estate as its campus.[1] Attendance is subject to an interview plus references and exam results. It is one of the last remaining full boarding schools in the United Kingdom.[2]
Founded in 1934 by German-Jewish educator Kurt Hahn, Gordonstoun has an enrolment of around 500 full boarders as well as about 100 day pupils between the ages of 6 and 18.[3] With the number of teaching staff exceeding 100; there is a low student-teacher ratio compared to the average in the United Kingdom.[4] There are eight boarding houses (formerly nine prior to the closure of Altyre house in summer 2016) including two 17th-century buildings that were part of the original estate. The other houses have been built or modified since the school was established.
Gordonstoun has some notable alumni.[5] Three generations of British royalty were educated at Gordonstoun, including Duke of Edinburgh, and his son Charles.[6] Rock musician David Bowie sent his son Duncan Jones to Gordonstoun, Luca Prodan, founder of legendary band Sumo (band) and Jason Connery, son of actor Sir Sean Connery, also attended.[7][8] Due to Hahn's influence, the school has had a strong connection with Germany. It is part of the Round Square Conference of Schools, a group of more than 80 schools across the globe based on the teaching of Hahn. Around 30% of students attending Gordonstoun come from abroad.[9]
Child abuse normalised for decades
In 2017, Gordonstoun was named as one of the schools being investigated in the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry chaired by Lady Smith.[10][11] In her findings about Gordonstoun and its junior school, Aberlour, she found that a "dreadfully abusive and, in some houses, extremely violent culture was allowed to take root. Abuse was also perpetrated by staff. The evidence of abuse was clear from the accounts of many applicants...There have been periods in Gordonstoun’s history where abuse was allowed to be normalised for decades." At the junior school – which effectively functioned as a prep school – it was found “a high proportion of staff sexually abused children".[12]
In 2018, ex-teacher Andrew Keir was convicted of offences including indecent assault involving thirteen-year-old pupils at the school between 1988 and 1991. He was subsequently jailed for twelve months.[13]
Alumni on Wikispooks
| Person | Born | Died | Nationality | Summary | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tim Beaumont | 22 November 1928 | 8 April 2008 | UK | Activist Politician | British politician and an Anglican priest. Bullingdon Club. Transgender and euthanasia activist. Epstein's black book. |
| Alexander Karageorgevitch | 17 July 1945 | Serbia UK | Spook Yugoslavia/Royal | Pretender to Serbian Crown with close ties to British royal family and military | |
| Charles Kennedy | 25 November 1959 | 1 June 2015 | Politician | British Liberal Democrat politician leader and 2003 Iraq war opponent, pressured to resign for alcoholism in 2006. | |
| Philip Mountbatten | 10 June 1921 | 9 April 2021 | UK | British royal | "I am tempted to ask for reincarnation as a particularly deadly virus." |
| Charles Mountbatten-Windsor | 14 November 1948 | UK | British royal | UK royal whose first wife documented her anxiety, two years before she died in a car crash, that he would have her killed in a faked car crash. | |
| Isabel Oakeshott | 12 June 1974 | Author Propagandist | UK COVID-19 dissident, possible Cold War II connections. Asked in 2025 "What’s the big deal about carrying a single, unimpeachable, identity card?" | ||
| Bill Taylor | Lawyer | Counsel for Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, Lockerbie bombing convict | |||
| Andrew Mountbatten Windsor | 19 February 1960 | UK | British royal | Disgraced ex British royal close to Jeffrey Epstein and "provided zero cooperation" to US legal system in that regard. |
References
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110712223743/http://www.houseofgordonva.com/Gordonstoun.html
- ↑ https://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/schools/gordonstoun-elgin#tab_review
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20100312080727/http://www.isbi.com/isbi-viewschool/2833-Gordonstoun_School_and_Aberlour_House%2C_The_Junior_School-1.html
- ↑ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/6156552/UK-class-sizes-among-biggest-in-the-world.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20100417100645/http://www.gordonstoun.org.uk/employment/
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1874643.stm
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/jul/19/observer-profile-duncan-jones-moon
- ↑ https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/my-father-is-not-a-tyrant-says-sean-connerys-son-6838658.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110720003739/http://www.roundsquare.org/index.php?id=347
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/31/top-private-schools-included-as-part-of-scottish-child-abuse-inquiry |
- ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-5653754
- ↑ https://www.barryanddistrictnews.co.uk/news/national/24397687.child-abuse-normalised-decades-kings-former-school-inquiry-finds/
- ↑ https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/disgraced-housemaster-found-guilty-grooming-12157815
