A private school for pupils aged two to 13 in Leatherhead is set to expand to offer GCSEs.
Downsend School which already operates a prep and pre-prep will include a Senior School from September 2020, educating boys and girls up to Year 11, seeing them through a three-year GCSE programme.
The school's owner Cognita has made an initial investment of £3 million.
Headmaster Ian Thorpe said: "Over recent years, so many of our parents have expressed genuine sadness that their children could not continue at Downsend beyond Year 8.
"We are delighted to remedy this and immensely proud to be bringing about this next phase of Downsend School’s history.”
The initial £3million capital investment will be used to develop and enhance Downsend’s site and
curriculum across the next three years. At the heart of this will be a new Creative Arts Centre as well
as numerous improvements and additions across the school in readiness to welcome Year 9 pupils
from September 2020.
In 2016 and 2107 Downsend had a 100 per cent Common Entrance success rate and since 2014 pupils have gained 190 Senior School Scholarships.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here