Bryanston School

Bryanston School stands in Dorset, beside the village of Bryanston and close to Blandford Forum. The main building is a country house designed by Richard Norman Shaw between 1889 and 1894 for Viscount Portman. It replaced an earlier house and became the last grand stately home built in England. The estate covers 400 acres of parkland and woodland. The house is in an early form of neo-Georgian style that Sir Edwin Lutyens called ‘Wrenaissance’. The school was founded in 1928 by J. G. Jeffreys, an Australian schoolmaster. The school is known for its liberal and artistic approach and uses the Dalton Plan. This system gives students freedom to choose when and where they work, while keeping records and weekly tutorials. It opened with seven teachers and 23 boys in 1928 and now has over 800 pupils. The Dalton Plan remains central to the school’s organisation. Notable buildings include the Don Potter Art School, opened in 1997, and the Tom Wheare Music School, opened in 2014. The music school’s concert hall is named after conductor Sir Mark Elder, a former pupil. Visitors walk through the grand country house and its surrounding park. The Tom Wheare Music School has a 300-seat concert hall and won a Wood Award for its interior. The Don Potter Art School provides studios for sculpture and pottery. The estate also features Europe’s tallest London plane tree. Each summer the school hosts the Dorset Opera Festival, with performances after a two-week training course. The Bryanston Society organises events for former pupils and the wider school community.