History

Millfield was founded by RJO (Jack) Meyer in 1935, following his return from India with seven Indian boys, six of whom were princes. The school was originally based in Millfield House, which is today a boarding house, but then was rented from the Clark family who owned most of Street. The school grew steadily and in 1939 became one of the first independent schools to be co-educational. In 1942, Martin Attlee, son of the then Deputy Prime Minister, Clem, joined the school in the hope of overcoming ‘word-blindness’. The Millfield method was so successful that Martin Attlee went on to university, with the school gaining fame as the first in the country to deal successfully with dyslexic pupils.

Edgarley Hall, one mile from Glastonbury, became the ‘Junior School’ for Millfield in 1945 when Jack Meyer, realising the need to accommodate increasing numbers of younger pupils arriving at his school in Street, bought the house and grounds from his friends the Thomas-Ferrands, who had seen their family home suffer from Army occupation during the war. The school itself was initially very much a ‘crammer’, under the direction of Jack Meyer himself. By the late 60s, however, a much larger proportion of pupils, including increasing numbers of girls, were transferring to Millfield Senior instead of other public schools, and by the mid-80s numbers reached nearly 500, with a corresponding improvement and expansion in facilities.

Around this time a Pre-Prep School was started on the site of the old St Louis Convent School in Glastonbury, later re-locating to the Edgarley campus, where it now shares the extensive grounds with the Prep School. Like its senior counterpart, Millfield Prep School has always stood by its founder’s ethos of attempting to discover and nurture whatever talent a young person has. It has gained an international reputation for sport and its success with dyslexic pupils, but it also achieves excellence in many other areas, not least music and the arts. Successful Prep School Old Millfieldians include politician Ruth Kelly; cricketer and Chairman of Selectors David Graveney; Professor of History at Oxford University Christopher Wickham; financier Roland Rudd; Oscar-winning film producer Jeremy Thomas and ex-rugby international Matt Perry. The best-known Prep School OMs of the current era are; World Championships-winning swimmer James Guy, former England Rugby Captain Chris Robshaw and GB and England Hockey Internationals, Richard and Simon Mantell, all of whom went on to Millfield.

Successful Old Millfieldians from the Senior School include former British Lions and Wales rugby captain Gareth Edwards; England Rugby players Jonathan Joseph and Mako Vunipola; Ireland Rugby International Rhys Ruddock; Pam Cookey, former captain of the England Netball team; BBC chief political correspondent John Sergeant; Olympic Gold medallists Duncan Goodhew, Peter Wilson and Helen Glover; entrepreneur Richard Caring; entrepreneur and political advisor Michael Hayman and drummer of legendary rock group the Police, Stewart Copeland.

Today Millfield, along with the Prep School, has some 1700 pupils and over 600 employees, but the school’s philosophy remains the same. Millfield still aims to help every individual child to achieve their full potential.

Millfield Enterprises

Millfield Enterprises is the commercial arm of Millfield School and offer holiday courses and facility hire at both the Street campus and Glastonbury campus.

Facility Hire and Events

We can cater for a wide range of bookings and events, and whether you want to simply hire a room or need us to organise your whole event or delegate package, we are here to offer support and guidance every step of the way.

English Language Holiday Courses at Millfield

The Millfield English Language Holiday Courses (MELHC) offer high quality English language tuition together with a full sports, social and cultural programme.

Courses are available for students aged 6-17 and run in the Easter and summer holidays.

The school provides students with an all-round experience. Millfield is proud of its course programmes and aim to have a variety of afternoon academies, clubs, evening activities and excursions available each week.

The main focus of the school is on providing students with high quality English lessons during their stay, and all students attending the courses will have at least 15 hours of English tuition per week.

From 15 years of experience running the Millfield English Language Holiday Courses, the school has developed the best techniques to enable the stuff to cater for the needs of individual students.

Accreditations and membership

Millfield on the map