Our Rich History

The old Uplands School on the site in St Osmunds Road began as the Bourne School for Girls in the old Sandecotes Manor as a select girls boarding school. They built School House, which was completed in 1895 and this building today houses the Prep hall and the classrooms above it.

Bournemouth Collegiate School was established in 1899 in Poole to provide non-denominational education for young ladies with a strong Christian ethos (and with links to the United Reform Church). It was originally called Bournemouth Collegiate School, but after its move to much larger and grander premises at Wentworth Lodge (the former home of Lord Portman) in 1923, it gradually came to operate as Wentworth School, and fully met its target of offering a broad and high-quality education to a growing number of day and boarding girls. The boarding facilities are built around the old Wentworth Lodge, in which Wentworth College was housed and which were once part of the Portman Estate. The house, built in 1872, was used by Viscount Portman as a summer residence for around six weeks every year.

Lord Wimborne bought Bourne School and it became Sandecotes School, and in 1903 a sister school was opened in St Leonards-on-Sea in Sussex which was called Uplands. At both schools pupils were trained to be practical, refined and cultured and were encouraged to enter universities, medical schools and hospitals. The Schools continued through the First World War, raising funds for the Red Cross and entertaining wounded soldiers, but at the break of World War Two it was decided to take Uplands away from the danger threatening our channel ports by moving to Monmouthshire.

The school was evacuated to Wales during the Second World War. During this time, the school was occupied by the 2nd Battalion the Grenadier Guards and also by American soldiers as they prepared for the D-Day landings.

It was decided to move Uplands from Monmouthshire to the vacated Sandecotes buildings. The School continued as a girls boarding and day school.

The Milton Mount Trust (the foundation behind Milton Mount School in Sussex, founded 1873, closed 1960) transferred its support to Wentworth, and the new school was formally named Wentworth Milton Mount School, though over the following years it became known informally as Wentworth College.

The old buildings were proving too costly and the School faced closure until Edith Cooper Dean very kindly stepped in to support it. The top site was sold off and new school buildings were built.

Due to falling pupil numbers, Wentworth became coeducational in 2008. However, almost immediately afterwards, Lloyds TSB suddenly called in a £750,000 loan and - to avoid closure - it joined the United Church Schools Trust (now United Learning).

Under United Learning, Wentworth College then merged with Uplands School (Lower Parkstone) in September 2009 taking the new (old) name Bournemouth Collegiate School (BCS).

BCS is sold to Bright Scholar, a Chinese-backed international schools’ group to become its flagship school in the UK.

Bright Scholar UK rebrands to CATS Global Schools as the company seeks to create a new vision, mission and set of values by bringing 16 schools and centres in four countries together. Bournemouth Collegiate school is one of only three independent boarding schools in the UK included in the group, and the merger promises more investment, additional expertise and further opportunities for the students and the staff.