Alumni Event

Earlscliffe began teaching A-levels to 17 students in 2012. The students both lived and were educated in “Main Building”, and the small community grew to 37 students by the following September. Additional boarding houses were subsequently opened on Westbourne Gardens and then Earls Avenue. Earlscliffe continued to add a new building almost every year. In 2015, Earlscliffe further increased its teaching capacity by taking over “School House” in Grimston Gardens (a previous school building that was completely refurbished) and, in 2017 “Flowergate” opened where our science laboratories are now located. In January 2023, our newest boarding facility was officially named Goldschmidt House and inaugurated on Holocaust Memorial Day in recognition of Leonore Goldschmidt Schule (see below for more details).

Our academic curriculum has also expanded to include GCSEs (ITY), the University Foundation Year and the Business Diploma.

The History of Earlscliffe

Although we are now celebrating 10 years of Earlscliffe, the history of the school dramatically pre-dates this timing. Earlscliffe was built in 1870 as a large, private house in Folkestone’s desirable West End. It was originally the large summer home of the Boddam-Whetham family of Kirklington Hall, near Nottingham and became a school around 1923. Just as we welcome students from overseas today, so it was during the Second World War when this building was home to Dr Leonore Goldschmidt Schule who provided a school for German Jewish children brought from Berlin to the UK. We continue to recognise Dr Leonore Goldschmidt’s incredible efforts and achievements from this time. The majority of our guests enjoy their initial meeting in Earlscliffe’s beautiful Leonore Room which overlooks the Main Building gardens.

Please feel free to contact us for further information on our first ever alumni event.