WHS Crest

A proud history

West House School was founded in 1895 as a day and boarding prep school for boys. A typical Victorian boarding school, it catered for boys from across the UK and offered a curriculum of writing, arithmetic, and shooting!

The school expanded slowly for the next decade or so until the outbreak of the Great War. Many ex-pupils lost their lives in this war and every year our current pupils remember them in a special remembrance service centered around at our war memorial in the school grounds.

During the Second World War, the school relocated to Millichope Park in Shropshire.

Termly boarding ended in the mid-1960s and weekly boarding in the early 1990s; the school is now Birmingham’s only preparatory day school exclusively for boys.

At the end of the 1990s, parental demand for selective secondary schooling from the age of 11, rather than 13, led to the phasing out of Years 7 and 8 and the emergence of the school as a leading private primary school focused on the eleven plus exam.

In 1999, the opportunity arose to amalgamate with a well-established local private nursery school and West House Co-educational Day Nursery was opened. This has since evolved to become the Early Years Department of the school and provides an outstanding environment for both boys and girls from the age of one to begin their educational journey.

While West House School stands on its original site, the facilities have been developed extensively over the years. In 1982, a well-equipped sports hall was added to the site and in 2013 this was enhanced further to include state-of-the-art theatrical features. Renamed Duce Hall after Headmaster, Kim Duce (1974-2004), it now hosts a number of productions throughout the year, in addition to everyday sports activities.

In celebration of the school’s 100th anniversary, the Centenary Building was completed in 1996 with the support of the West House Old Boys’ Association. It now houses an art and design studio, an ICT suite and a spacious school library.

We have also recently enhanced our sports facilities with the refurbishment of two state-of-the-art all-weather sports pitches and the addition of club standard cricket nets. There are plans to invest in the school’s creative arts’ facilities over the next 18 months by way of a proposed extension to the Centenary Building.

With a rich and notable history, the West House story provides a fascinating insight into the evolution of a typical Victorian era English prep school from its inception into the diverse and vibrant school of today.

Our extensive archive collection is amusing and often provides a very moving insight into the school’s past and the experiences of former pupils.

Much has changed during the course of 125 years but much has remained the same.

“Looking back, the school strikes me as an island of tolerance and civilization in mid-1960s Birmingham. It was simply axiomatic that whatever anyone’s creed or colour they were to be treated with the respect due to any human being. Perhaps this is the biggest tribute any school can have.”

Dr Scott Newton MA PhD, a pupil from 1963-1969, reflecting in a recent letter to the school

Visitors to the school will immediately appreciate the rich history and traditions of West House. In particular, the school photographs dating back over a century that are proudly displayed in our main dining room are always the focus of much attention.

We feel it is important that our pupils are aware of that which has gone before whilst they look forward to the future and the extraordinary events that will unfold in their own lives.