Dumpton School

Dumpton School is an independent day school in Wimborne, Dorset, South West England, for girls and boys aged 2½ to 13 years.

History

The school was founded as a boys' preparatory school at Dumpton Park in Kent in 1903, and evacuated to Cranborne Chase in Dorset to avoid bombing raids at the outset of the Second World War, (as were many schools from south-east England).

In 1945, the school moved to Gaunt's House, near Wimborne, and flourished under the Headmastership of Colonel Trevor Card. Unusually, the dormitories were named in memory of former pupils who had died on active service; (these included Cock, Pollard, Brown, York, Dutton and Fanshawe). Trevor Card was succeeded by Messrs Carter and Monkhouse as joint heads in 1958, and subsequently by Major Frank Thompson.

In 1988 the school moved again to its present site at Dean's Grove House nearer to Wimborne.

Introduction

Dumpton is a day school for boys and girls aged 2 ½ to 13, and it still retains much of the atmosphere of the days when there were boarders too. The headmaster and his family live in the school and the pastoral care and attention readily given to all pupils is still considered to be of paramount importance.