St Olave's Prep School was started by Miss M Aldwinkle in 106 Southwood Road, purchased for her by her parents for her 21st birthday. As far as we know the school existed by 1932.
We are looking forward to celebrating our centenary in 2032.
Wartime London
When war started in 1939, many children were evacuated from London. There is a wonderful diary entry written by Miss Aldwinkle describing the day she was asked by the authorities to accompany a group of her school children to Eltham Station as they were evacuated to The Isle of Sheppey. Many parents did not feel that this was far enough away from London, so the school children were later re-billeted down to the relative safety of Devon, where Miss Aldwinkle continued her teaching and also trained as an air raid warden ready for her return to London. There are accounts of her sleeping in one of the classrooms and keeping the school windows blacked out!
Charitable Trust
In 1970 Miss Aldwinkle announced that it was time for her to retire and that the school would close. This came as a shock to everyone but was a perfect opportunity for a group of parents from Miss Aldwinkle's school. They bought the building and established the St Olave's School Trust, which continues to run the school today.
Current day
St Olave's has changed considerably since it first opened and now comprises 106-110 Southwood Road, as well as a purpose built, two storey building housing our oldest pupils and one of our school libraries, our new, state of the art EYFS building, opened in September 2019, a new multi use games area and playground extension and recently refurbished workshop for DT and computing lessons. We also have a spacious music room and music practice rooms for instrumental lessons, a further library and a teaching kitchen for cooking lessons.
