Russell House independent school started in a family home in Kemsing, near Sevenoaks, Kent. It was set up in 1938 by Mrs Nellie Baker with seven boys and one girl. Mrs Baker herself had two young children and she named the school after her husband who had recently died.
During the war numbers at the small prep school grew, partly as a consequence of evacuees coming to the Kent area. Doodlebugs were a problem – the school cook would run in and warn of impending bombs and the children would dive into pre-arranged places of safety – but luckily the building was never hit.
The private school moved to Otford, near Sevenoaks in Kent, in 1947, by which time numbers had risen to 50. Mrs Baker finally retired in 1969, handing the school over to Mrs Wyn Burrows.
Mrs Elisabeth Lindsay took over the school in 1984 and developed the facilities and buildings dramatically while increasing the number of pupils to around 200. She built up the school’s academic and musical reputation, at the same time maintaining the friendly, family atmosphere that had grown from the school’s origins.
Mrs Alison Cooke became the Head in September 2005, committed to developing the school’s special ethos and its reputation for excellence and providing a broadly-based cultural education.
The school retains the friendly, approachable atmosphere of its beginnings as a family school in a family house but the facilities and equipment are now far removed from that home in Kemsing.