Saint Ronan's School is an independent co-educational preparatory school for boys and girls from 2 to 13 years located in Hawkhurst in Kent, England. It currently has about 440 pupils, the majority of them day pupils, although boarding is available from Monday night through to Thursday night for all pupils from Year 4 upwards. The headmaster is Joe Lewis.
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History
The school was founded in 1883 and was originally located in Worthing in Sussex. During the Second World War, the school was evacuated to Bicton Park near Exmouth in Devon, but afterwards moved to its present location in Tongswood House.
The house was remodelled in the late 19th century for William Cotterill, owner c. 1868 to 1892, of a mercantile family from Birmingham. Tongswood later belonged to Charles Eugene Gunther (died 1931), head of the Liebig Extract of Meat Company which later became known as OXO, who was High Sheriff of Kent in 1926.
Headmasters
1909–1926: Stanley Harris
1957–1971: Sir Richard Vassar-Smith, 3rd Baronet
1971–1997: Sir John Vassar-Smith, 4th Baronet
Notable alumni
Lindsay Anderson, film and theatre director
Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith, colonial administrator and hereditary peer
Christopher Battiscombe, diplomat
Richard Rodney Bennett, composer
Bill Benyon, Member of Parliament
Raymond Bonham Carter, banker
Robert Bray, soldier
Richard Bridgeman, 7th Earl of Bradford, peer and restaurateur
Nick Brown, Member of Parliament
Iain Cochrane, 15th Earl of Dundonald, peer
Sampson Collins, cricket journalist
Frank Gardner, journalist (BBC Security Correspondent)
Michael Grylls, Member of Parliament
Patrick Hadley, composer
Osbert Lancaster, cartoonist
Laddie Lucas, Royal Air Force officer, left-handed golfer, author and Member of Parliament
Donald Maclean (spy)
Christopher Makins, 2nd Baron Sherfield, peer, Anglo-American diplomat, foreign policy expert, and author
César Mange de Hauke, art dealer