Eagle House and Wellington College are part of the same educational charitable trust since Eagle House was bought by Wellington in 1968. Both schools share important values across many areas of school life, including curriculum development, teaching and learning, sports facilities and safeguarding. The relationship with Wellington College has never been closer and we are already starting to operate as one, joined-up organisation; changing name is the final piece of the jigsaw in our journey together.

It is also a clear indication to families with children from feeder schools that end at Year 6 and holding a place at Wellington College that they have the option to join the prep in Year 7, rather than being required to find an alternative school for two interim years.

Finally, in an increasingly uncertain world, whatever the future holds, Wellington College and Wellington College Prep will be stronger as one, unified organisation.

Wellington College runs a selective admissions process in Year 6 (with late entry possible in Years 7 and 8) and Wellington College Prep pupils will still need to go through this process. Eagle House children are afforded no priority or preference in this process and this will continue to be the case when Eagle House becomes Wellington College Prep.

Pupils leave Eagle House for many secondary school destinations, current Year 8 pupils are heading to 15 different schools at the end of the summer, and this will not change. Wellington College will not be the right fit for all leavers, and we will continue to help parents explore the full array of independent schools – day and boarding, single sex and co-ed, large and small, 11+ and 13+. We will always seek to find the right senior school for the right child.

We will start using the new name from September. Some things like signage and the website will be updated over the summer, while others, most notably uniform, will take longer. We hope that the process will be fully completed by September 2026.

A modified uniform will be ready for September 2025.  The school will provide elements of the sports kit to all families for free.  Additionally, to avoid any unnecessary expenditure by parents there will be a grace period of one year to allow children to grow out of their old uniform.

Wellington College bought Eagle House in 1968. Since then, both schools have been part of the same charitable trust.

We recognise that the Eagle House name brings with it 200 years of heritage about which we are justifiably proud. The name will not disappear entirely; from September, the main building at Wellington College Prep will become ‘Eagle House’, we will continue to offer the Golden Eagle curriculum and alumni from the prep school will continue to belong to the Old Eagle House Society.

This change will make little difference to pupils’ day-to-day lives at either school. In time the prep school will see the results of a significant capital investment programme – funded by Wellington College – to develop the Malan Building, create a full-time Wellbeing Hub and also deliver a much-needed new swimming pool.