A values-led

education

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Davenies offers a values-led, aspirational education. The Davenies Code guides us all through each day and forms the basis on which we build our happy, vibrant, lively and purposeful community. It is a set of personal values and expectations that underpin all that we do at Davenies and encourages the boys to be:

Kind   •   Honest   •   Polite   •   Thoughtful   •   Respectful

Kind   •   Honest   •   Polite
Thoughtful   •   Respectful

Engage, Inspire, Challenge

Aims of the School

Davenies School

Davenies’ vision is to Engage, Inspire, Challenge.

Davenies’ mission is to ensure that every boy experiences a breadth of educational opportunities, encouraging them to develop a lifelong eagerness for learning. Whether academic, creative, artistic or sporting, we support every child to discover their own passions and talent. In turn, this will engage, inspire and challenge them to develop determination and resilience, reach their potential, and become mindful and thoughtful individuals. Along with these attributes, they will acquire a strong sense of service, responsibility and community that will enhance them all now, and in the future.

Davenies’ main aims are:

  • To offer academic excellence alongside an extensive educational experience.
  • To deliver contemporary and highly skilled teaching approaches whilst embracing traditional values.
  • To provide a vibrant, caring and inclusive environment to which all boys contribute and within which they thrive.

Fundamental to this is our understanding of boys and how we approach their learning, whilst never losing sight of each boy as an individual.
Davenies’ ethos underpins our vision to Engage, Inspire, Challenge:

  • By engaging, we develop curious, reflective and enthusiastic thinkers
  • With inspiration, we nurture motivated and ambitious learners
  • Through challenge, we cultivate courageous and determined characters

Davenies’ spirit provides the stepping stones that develop courteous, confident, thoughtful and independent young men, and supports our school’s mottos, singulus pro fraternitate laborans – each striving for the good of all.

Davenies School

A Hive of History

The name ‘Davenies’ is thought to have originated from a local innkeeper, ‘Dawbeneys Farm’ and is referred to in 1604.

When the railway came to Beaconsfield in 1906, Davenies was one of the first farms to be broken up. The buildings and some of the land were bought for £2,100 in 1909 by the well-known London architect Stanley Hamp. By 1911 Hamp had converted the Georgian farmhouse, neighbouring barn and a group of outbuildings into a large country house. This transformation of buildings were to become Grade II Listed in 1985.

The onset of World War II in 1939 led Mr and Mrs Petty, who owned a school in Northwood, Middlesex, to look for a safer area to educate their pupils. Together with their daughter and her husband, the Reverend R.E. Newton, who was Headmaster of Kingsfield School in Bushey, the Pettys bought the land at 73 Station Road, and so Davenies School was founded in 1940. Reverend R.E. Newton, the Petty’s son-in-law, was the School’s first Headmaster.

Throughout the war, the School housed around a dozen boarders, in addition to a handful of day pupils. Reverend Newton kept various animals and tended his beehives from which he sold the honey as sugar which was in short supply during the war. And so the School’s motto singulus pro fraternitate laborans – each striving for the good of all was founded as Reverend Newton observed the sense of community in his hives and captured this in a school where the boys would embrace service and enjoy each other’s company. By 1948 the School had grown to 68 pupils, a small number of whom were boarders.

Beaconsfield Educational Trust Ltd was created on 9 March 1962 to administer the School, which it does to this day. The Reverend Newton continued as Headmaster up to his retirement in 1968.

In September 1968 Mr J.C. Lucas was appointed Headmaster of Davenies and would run the School with the help of his wife Molly for the next twenty-four years. By 1974 there were 170-day pupils, 10 full-time staff and five part-time staff.

Further Headmasters were Mr Jones, Mr Nott and Mr Watson. Today Mr Carl Rycroft is the Headmaster of Davenies School, having been appointed in September 2015. There are some 332 boys on the roll and over 80 dedicated full and part-time staff. The School buildings have been adapted and enlarged to provide exceptional facilities.

Support Us

From its modest beginnings in 1940 with a dozen boarders and a handful of day pupils, Davenies has grown progressively over its 82-year lifetime to become a highly-respected and valued Prep School in Beaconsfield and the surrounding area with 340 day pupils on roll.

Throughout this time, Davenies has relied solely on fee income and the generosity of former parents, Old Davenians, and the wider community to help fund both Bursaries and infrastructure projects. Indeed, the Tennant, Jubilee, Lockyer and Newton Buildings would not exist today had it not been for the many kind donations, which made their construction possible. Despite the many changes that have taken place over the years, some things remain the same, and that is Davenies’ appreciation of the support of the loyal Davenies community.

This continued kindness and support enable us to maintain our position as a leading provider of a high-quality educational experience for boys aged 4 to 13. It also allows us to equip our boys with the knowledge and skills needed to achieve their potential, and to perform at the highest level in an ever competitive world.

Your ongoing generosity will contribute to our lasting success.

Davenies School

Supporting
Education

Ways To Give

Recognising
Your Generosity

Recognising Your Generosity

We are extremely grateful to all of our donors, and recognise and celebrate their support through publications and special events. Of course, donors may wish to remain anonymous.

The names of all donors are included in the Donor List for the year of the gift, provided they have given permission for their name to be included. Regular donors receive special recognition for their ongoing loyalty.

Please see the statement on Donation Form giving permission for your name to be included as a donor in Davenies publications. If we do not receive permission from you, we will assume that you wish your gift to remain anonymous.

We value the support of our donors and want to show our appreciation. Ways we do this include a thank you letter from the Headmaster, or Chair of Governors, receipt of a unique Davenies Bee in the form of lapel pin or brooch, and for significant gifs, your name on the Benefactors’ Board located in The Farmhouse.

We continue to need your support to enable the legacy of previous generations in contributing to the exceptional facilities and educational experience for which Davenies is renowned, to be maintained.

Every gift, however large or small, will make a difference.

Please contact our Development & Alumni Relations Manager if you would like more information or would like to make a donation. Thank you.

Davenies School

Term Dates

Davenies School

Autumn Term 2023

Wednesday 6 September – Thursday 7 December

Half-Term: Thursday 19 – Friday 27 October

Lent Term 2024

Thursday 4 January – Thursday 21 March

Half-Term: Monday 12 – Friday 16 February

Summer Term 2024

Wednesday 17 April – Thursday 11 July

Half-Term: Monday 27 – Friday 31 May

Autumn Term 2024

Wednesday 4 September – Thursday 12 December Half-Term: Thursday 24 October – Friday 1 November

Lent Term 2025

Wednesday 8 January – Thursday 27 March

Half-Term:  Monday 17 – Friday 21 February

Summer Term 2025

Thursday 24 April – Thursday 10 July

Half-Term: Monday 26 – Friday 30 May

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