School History
Chard Prep School has a long and unique history. Its main building is a beautiful sixteenth-century town house, which is listed Grade II*, putting it in the top 5% of buildings of historic and architectural importance. Built in 1583 for a wealthy local merchant, John Symes, the house was donated to the town of Chard as a Grammar School by his successors in 1671, and there has been a school on the site continuously ever since. It remained the town’s grammar school until 1890, when it became a public boarding school. In 1972 the present school was established, as an independent co-educational preparatory school.
Over the years other adjacent buildings were added, including the thatched Elizabethan chapel, the eighteenth-century Monmouth House, also Grade II* listed, and more recently the gymnasium and a purpose built science laboratory. The school’s classes are named after figures who are prominent in the history of Chard and the school – Symes, Horner, Monmouth, Wyndham, Harris and Cerdic.
Chard School - Three Centuries of History
This comprehensive account of the three hundred years history of one of the oldest schools in Somerset, sponsored by the Old Cerdics Association, was written and researched by the eminent author and Old Cerdic Derrick Warren who spent his working life as a cartographic surveyor with the Ordnance Survey.
First published amidst wide acclaim and media interest at the school’s Summer Fair in 2007 the story goes back to the very beginning in 1671 when William Symes gave his Manor House
in Chard to the Portreeve and Burgesses of the Borough ‘for the education and bringing up of youth in virtue and learning’. A second edition bringing the history right up to date, including some of the most difficult years in the school’s long history brought about by the global pandemic was published in 2021.
The book is available to purchase from the school at £18.00 to include p&p.
Please contact the School Secretary at office@chardschool.co.uk
Our Vision
Old Cerdics
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“We are thrilled with our son’s maturity and the confidence he’s developed this past year and are delighted to say thank you to Chard Prep School”
Reception parent
Chard Prep School
Contact Us
Feel free to contact us with any questions
Email: office@chardschool.co.uk
Phone: 01460 63234
Address:
Chard Prep School
Fore Street
Chard
Somerset
TA20 1QA