{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Use British English|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox school | name = Hanford Prep | image = Hanford School - geograph.org.uk - 506494.jpg | image_size = | caption = Hanford Prep | coordinates = {{coord|50.89926|-2.22206|type:edu_region:GB_dim:100|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | established = 1947 | closed = | type = [[Private schools in the United Kingdom|Private]] [[Preparatory school (UK)|preparatory school]]<br/> Boarding school | religious_affiliation = [[Church of England]] | president = | head_label = | head = Sophie Blewitt | r_head_label = | r_head = | chair_label = | chair = | founder = | specialist = | address = | city = | county = | country = | postal_code = DT11 8HN | local_authority = [[Dorset]] | urn = 113911 | ofsted = | staff = | enrolment = c. 70 | gender = Girls | lower_age = 7 | upper_age = 13 | houses = | colours = | publication = | free_label1 = Grounds | free_text1 = {{convert|45|acre}} | free_label2 = | free_text2 = | free_label3 = | free_text3 = | website = https://www.hanfordprep.group }} '''Hanford Prep''' is a girls' boarding [[Preparatory school (UK)|preparatory school]] located in [[Hanford, Dorset|Hanford]], [[Childe Okeford|Child Okeford]], Dorset, England, established in 1947 and located in a grade II* [[Listed building|listed house]] built in 1604 by Sir Robert Seymer.
==History== Hanford House was built in [[Jacobean architecture|Jacobean style]] in 1604, or 1620,<ref name=Good>{{Cite web | title =Hanford School | publisher =The Good Schools Guide | url =http://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/index.php?option=com_schoollistings&fullwriteup=26633%7cAE4C2B9 | access-date =5 May 2011 }}</ref> and completed in 1623,<ref>{{Cite web | title =Hanford House | work =Great Houses | publisher =Dorsetshire.com | url =http://www.dorsetshire.com/old/greathouses.html | access-date =5 May 2011 }}</ref> by Sir Robert Seymer, who was a teller of the Exchequer and who was knighted in 1619, and whose family had lived in Hanford for several centuries,<ref>{{Cite web | last =Burke | first =Bernhard | title =Seymer of Hanford | work =A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland for 1852, page 1216 | publisher =Colburn and Co. | year =1852 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=iWRHAAAAYAAJ&dq=Hanford,+Dorset&pg=PA1216 | access-date =5 May 2011 }}</ref> and the small [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]] chapel was built in 1650. ''[[Country Life (magazine)|Country Life]]'' magazine wrote in 1905 that "the chapel is a picturesque building with a high gable, pleasant to look at, and within are several memorials of the Seymers."<ref>{{Cite web | last =Day | first =Michael | title =Hanford (St. Michael) | work =Dorset Churches | publisher =Michael Day | date =31 May 2002 | url =http://dorset-churches.org.uk/hanford.html | access-date =17 August 2015 }}</ref>
In 1947, the house and grounds were bought by the Reverend and Mrs. Clifford Canning and converted to a school. Clifford Canning had been headmaster of [[Canford School]].<ref>{{Cite web | title =New prospectus shows Hanford's unique approach to learning | work =This is Dorset | date =23 July 2010 | url =http://www.thisisdorset.co.uk/news/New-prospectus-shows-Hanford-s-unique-approach-learning/article-2440703-detail/article.html | access-date =5 May 2011 }}</ref> In 1959, the school was taken over by their daughter, Sarah. In 1960, the building was [[Listed building|listed]] as grade II*,<ref>{{Cite web | title =Hanford School, Hanford | publisher =British Listed Buildings | url =http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-103322-hanford-school-hanford/osmap | access-date =5 May 2011 }}</ref> ten days after the nearby Church of St Michael and All Angels.<ref>{{Cite web | title =Church of St Michael and All Angels, Hanford | publisher =British Listed Buildings | url =http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-103323-church-of-st-michael-and-all-angels-hanf | access-date =5 May 2011 }}</ref> After retiring as headmistress in 2003, she handed the school over to the Hanford School Charitable Trust in 2004, which now runs it.<ref name=Good/>
Boarding pupils are split into two houses – Fan’s for year 8 pupils and Main House for all other years.
== Headmasters and Mistresses ==
* The Reverend Clifford and Enid Canning (1947 - 1959) * Sarah Canning (1959 - 2003) * Michael and Ann Sharp (1980s - 2003) * Robert and Kate Mackenzie Johnston (1994 - 2003) * Nigel and Sarah Mackay (2003 - 2014) * Rory and George Johnston (2014 - 2023) * Mrs Hilary Phillips (2023 - to present)
==Notable staff== *[[Sarah Butt]], captain of the England lacrosse national team<ref>{{Cite web | title =My School Sport: Sarah Butt | work =The Telegraph – Sport | date =23 January 2001 | url =https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/2997153/My-School-Sport-Sarah-Butt.html | access-date =5 May 2011 }}</ref>
==Notable alumni== {{see also|Category:People educated at Hanford School}} * [[Amanda Foreman (biographer)|Amanda Foreman]] * [[Millie Mackintosh]] ''Made in Chelsea'' * [[Santa Montefiore]] * [[Candida Moss]] * [[Kate Rock, Baroness Rock]] * [[Tara Palmer-Tomkinson]] * [[Dame Emma Kirkby]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.isc.co.uk/school_HanfordSchool_Blandford.htm Hanford School] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110907030638/http://www.isc.co.uk/school_HanfordSchool_Blandford.htm |date=7 September 2011 }} at the Independent Schools Council *[https://web.archive.org/web/20101218072342/http://isi.net/School.aspx?s=6509 Hanford School] at the Independent Schools Inspectorate *[http://www.isbi.com/viewschool.asp?sp=123 Hanford School, Dorset] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322060509/http://www.isbi.com/viewschool.asp?sp=123 |date=22 March 2012 }} at ISBI
{{Schools in Dorset}}
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[[Category:Church of England private schools in the Diocese of Salisbury]] [[Category:Educational institutions established in 1947]] [[Category:Girls' schools in Dorset]] [[Category:Boarding schools in Dorset]] [[Category:Preparatory schools in Dorset]] [[Category:North Dorset District]] [[Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Dorset]] [[Category:1947 establishments in England]] [[Category:Houses completed in 1623]]