St George's College, Weybridge

St George's College, Weybridge, was founded in 1869 by the Belgian Catholic order of the Josephites — the Congregation of St Joseph — as a school for the sons of English Catholic families. The school was originally based in Croydon but rapidly outgrew its first premises and in 1884 moved to the grounds of Woburn Park near Weybridge, Surrey, where it remains today. Woburn Park has its own significant history: in the eighteenth century it had been developed by Philip Southcote as one of the first English ornamental farms — a defining example of the picturesque-landscape movement that influenced English gardening for over a century.

St George's today is co-educational, ages 11-18, with around 1,043 pupils. It offers day, weekly boarding and full boarding. The Headmistress is Rachel Owens; the Chair of Governors is Denis Nowlan. The school is a member of the HMC, the CISC, the BSA and ISI.

St George's is one of the principal Catholic independent boarding schools of southern England, alongside Worth (Sussex), Ampleforth (Yorkshire), Downside (Somerset), Stonyhurst (Lancashire), Ratcliffe (Leicestershire) and St Mary's Ascot (girls). The Catholic spiritual life of the school remains central: regular Mass at the College chapel and a religious education curriculum built around Catholic Social Teaching. Old Georgian alumni include senior figures across the UK Catholic Church hierarchy, the senior civil service and business. The school operates a substantial bursary programme via Catholic Education Service grants and the St George's Foundation, intended to provide Catholic boys and girls educational access regardless of family means.