Reed's School

Reed’s is a successful independent day and boarding school, providing an education for around 730 pupils between 11 and 18, with girls in the Sixth Form. The charitable Foundation remains an integral part of our ethos today, instilling in our pupils – past and present – many important values including respect, integrity, kindness and compassion.

The Reed’s Foundation was established in 1813 by the Rev Dr Andrew Reed. With financial support from the City of London and other dignitaries, Rev Reed founded the London Orphan Asylum in Shoreditch. Its raison d’être was to care and provide an education for destitute children, boys and girls, who had lost both parents or their father, with the mother unable to provide for them.

Based in Clapton from 1825, in 1871 the school moved to Watford. Just prior to the start of World War II it was renamed Reed’s School and the boys were evacuated to Totnes in Devon - girls to Towcester in Northamptonshire. After the War in 1946, the girls moved to a separate school, Dogmersfield in Hampshire, and the boys took up residency at our current site in Cobham, Surrey.

All through this time, Reed’s was a boarding Foundation School where all of the pupils were funded on bursaries with support mainly provided by companies within the City of London. However, after 1958, for financial reasons and to enable the work of the Foundation to continue, the School expanded to take fee-paying boarders and, in the mid 1960s, day pupils.

We believe that it is our duty to prepare Reed’s pupils for the demands of the modern world and also to inspire in them a desire to shape it for the better.

Our pupils are exposed to an exhilarating array of opportunities during their time at Reed’s. Whether it is working with our partner charity in the townships of South Africa or speaking at the Toastmasters public speaking society; whether as an officer in the Combined Cadet Force or trekking across the Brecon Beacons for the Gold Duke of Edinburgh scheme, we believe that the richness of our pupils’ educational experiences develops an independence that cannot be taught.

The excellent Higher Education and Careers advice and support our pupils receive means that, whether it be Medical or Art School, engineering or economics, the top universities in the UK or the USA, they will be confident that the choices they make as part of their own unique journeys will be informed and exciting.

In return, we will be confident that we have provided the platform for our pupils to leave Reed’s as secure, self-assured men and women who will continue to build on the values we have instilled and who will always be Reedonians.

The purposeful and nurturing ethos of the School, where there is a love of learning and where we seek to develop the self-esteem and character of each individual is at the heart of our pupils’ successes.

At Reed’s we are ambitious for each and every child we educate. We believe passionately in nurturing and encouraging each pupil within a supportive environment so that they develop into confident, articulate and happy young men and women who go out into the world with the determination to improve it.
Inspired by the vision of our Founder, Andrew Reed, a central aim of Reed’s School is to support children who have lost one or both parents, and our ethos of celebrating our pupils' successes and inspiring them to unlock their true potential is founded on outstanding pastoral care, excellent teaching and a philosophy of providing a breadth of opportunities for all our pupils.