PROSPECTUS FOR WOKING COLLEGE c.1880

Transcript of a prospectus for Woking College.  The school was located at the end of Old Woking High Street, in what is now The Grange.  It existed from 1869 until at least 1891.

Woking College Woking
Reparatory for the Public Schools
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Principal
The Rev F Wilson M.A.
Second Class in the Classical Tripos
Emmanuel College Cambridge & for 16 years
Assistant Master of Cheam School:
and
Mrs F Wilson
Who had the benefit of a thorough & excellent home education and passed no Examinations.
Assisted by an incredibly large staff of well qualified residential masters
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The numerous students obtain under the able tuition of the Principal a sound education of the highest class & adapted to the requirements of modern times whilst under the gentle sway of Mrs Wilson, they acquire that elegant bearing & polished courtesy of manner which is usually only obtained in the refined atmosphere of home.  The great aim is thorough teaching.  Nothing superficial is attempted.  The Principal undertakes the instruction of the students in Geology, Geography, Unnatural Science, Decomposition & the dead languages while to Mrs Wilson is entrusted the instruction of the young gentlemen in Music, Singing & Modern languages & she will also conduct a course of lectures on Physiology with diagrams the necessary adjuncts for which are rendered easily obtainable by the close proximity of Woking Cemetery.

Masters are not attached to particular classes, the head master excepted.  The course of Instruction is preparatory for the Public Schools & embraces all that is required for boys preparing for the Army, Navy, Church, Turf, State or Stage or for medical or musical professions.  A thorough scriptural education is afforded by Mrs Wilson who imparts   Biblical instruction daily to the whole school at 6 a.m.
The Principal examines each class once a week that he may know accurately what progress each boy is making & he furnishes parents with full reports with unfailing regularity.

Terms
Boys over  6 but not exceeding 10  100 guineas
   ˝        ˝    10   ˝    ˝       ˝           12  150 gs per an
   ˝        ˝    12   ˝    ˝       ˝           15  200  ˝    ˝    ˝

Extras
Drawing. Five guineas per term
Politics (in accordance with home principles) 6 gs
Slang. Eight guineas per term

There is a detached infirmary & a mortuary on the premises, also exclusive workshops where the school undertaker undertakes the instruction of the boys in coffin making. The large garden which supplies the Principal & his wife with the kindly fruits of the earth in due season is entirely cultivated by the students & supplies them with healthy & profitable employment for their leisure hours. The large & commodious stables are also attended to by the boys alone, as the companionship of grooms & stablemen is not considered desirable so the pupils become experienced in the art of grooming horses & other details of stable work.
The situation of the school is peculiarly healthy & the close vicinity of the Necropolis affords unusual advantages for fossil research & the study of osteology. Recreation is an important feature in this admirable institution, hoop trundling & donkey riding being amongst the most popular & engrossing of the pursuits.
All boys are heartily welcomed, whether backward or forward, rich or poor, high or low, sane or insane, alive or dead, & the parental solicitude with which all are regarded may be adduced from the fact that each boy is treated with the accustomed domestic endearments by Mrs Wilson, & affectionately termed by the Principal, "my son !"

Pupils are requested to return before the last day of the term.

No references obtainable

New boys not expected:

Notice must be given one term previous to removal except in cases of death.