Hurtwood House was imagined as a place to do different – the perfect bridge between school and university where young people could spread their wings and grow their talents. Its academic track record and stellar alumni list of actors, musicians and creatives speak volumes about the success of Richard Jackson’s ‘crazy’ idea
Hurtwood House School has always flown in the face of expectations and earned many epithets along the way. ‘You must be crazy,’ Richard Jackson was told in 1970 – even by good friends – when he set out to create a new approach to A-level education. He envisioned a magical school which students could change to after their GCSEs. This would provide a completely different experience from what he perceived in those days as the dullness of the traditional public school system. Much has changed in education since then, of course, but Hurtwood was a leader in fresh thinking.
After Cambridge and a highly successful (and glamorous) career in advertising, Richard Jackson decided that the time was right to put his education ideas into action. He and his wife Linda and their young family uprooted themselves from their comfortable life in Kensington and arrived at Leith Hill Place, a rather ramshackle mansion in the Surrey Hills, leased from the National Trust.
There were no educational facilities of any kind, but Richard Jackson saw an opportunity to develop the vision here and the school opened its doors with just 17 students in September 1970. Equipment back then consisted of a secondhand Remington typewriter, and a child’s blackboard. The house may have lacked any formal teaching space, but it fulfilled his original brief of a ‘school that didn’t look like a school or smell like one’.
Domestic and financial logistics fell to Linda’s expertise, while Richard taught and recruited staff and students, who from the start were on first-name terms. Mutual respect was central, close constructive feedback was weekly and the atmosphere was that of a supportive extended family where everyone soon found themselves working as hard as they were playing. Delicious home-cooked food was plentiful, and dogs and (outside) horses completed the picture.
Hurtwood’s blueprint was laid down from these early somewhat bohemian years on Leith Hill – impromptu BBQ’s and picnics, informality and easy interaction between students and staff, a comfortable range of nationalities and studies which concentrated on an increasing range of A levels. Fewer rules than in traditional schools, but higher expectations, made for lively challenges. Little has changed in the ethos of the school over the five decades since. The scale, however, has developed steadily and now it is an internationally recognised centre for 350 students; built on the twin pillars of creativity and academic rigour – Richard Jackson’s perfect bridge between school and university.
The first key move was in 1974 when, taking a huge financial risk, Jackson acquired Hurtwood House and moved a few miles across the hill. He had instantly recognised the potential of its gracious limed-oak beauty, and Arts and Craft design – an inspiring backdrop for a boldly creative school. There was now the space to expand, and this meant growing the team of brilliant staff. Numbers grew, and Hurtwood spread out across the Surrey Hills, acquiring an impressive portfolio of boarding houses. They came with fascinating cultural and social histories, and each proved to be a different ‘home-from-home’ for successive cohorts of students.
The 1980s brought fundamental change, with the arrival of the Hurtwood Theatre. Richard Jackson had realised that Drama had huge potential to galvanise students because it demanded mutual co-operation and personal responsibility alongside creativity. Most importantly, it meant having fun. He dug out part of the hillside to construct the theatre and set about recruiting a whole new raft of students to study Drama. ‘Build it and they will come’, he was told. They did, and they still do, along with a stream of superb practitioners from every area of the creative arts.
This was a game-changer. Hurtwood had found its USP – what Jackson cleverly imagined as Hurtwood’s beating heart. The school began to buzz, putting on a stream of productions – everything from memorable Christmas musicals to Greek tragedy and Shakespeare to cutting-edge contemporary plays. These attracted (and still attract) an audience of enthusiastic locals, parents and friends, and agents and scouts on the lookout for fresh and inspiring talent.
A raft of challenging newly minted A levels followed: Dance, Music Technology, Textiles, Psychology, Photography and Media. At the time these seemed bold options, going against the grain of opinion on subject choices. Nonetheless, Jackson invested heavily in a Media department. It meant the school offered all the fun of making movies, alongside the considerable rigour of project-management, co-operative creativity and the varied expertise of filmmaking.
Hurtwood has never forgotten its roots. A levels have expanded around core fundamental subjects such as Mathematics and Physics, delivered by a growing team of committed teachers – many have been with the school for decades. Still very much a family business, it now involves children and grandchildren. Cosmo Jackson took the baton of Headmaster from Richard over 20 years ago and leads with the support of his wife Tina Jackson and a strong senior management team.
Richard Jackson now regards himself as ‘ceremonial’ but remains totally invested in his creation, and all its past students. Certainly, it is widely known for supporting the early ambitions of megastars such as Hans Zimmer and Emily Blunt, but Hurtwood values all its former students equally – whatever their chosen field may be. They are an integral part of the ‘crazy project’ that worked beautifully: the great Hurtwood family.
Hurtwood House hurtwoodhouse.com
Further reading: MPW’s enlightened approach to education
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