Firm Foundation

“The Foundation was genuinely life-changing for us.”

 

Sternians Kit and Kate Ellen-Eyre let those words roll around the room for a few moments. 

 

“It was fundamental to everything,” Kit offers. “It gave us the stability that we needed at a difficult time growing up. Individually, our lives would have been very different without it and collectively, we would never have met.”

 

When Baron Sydney Stern left a generous bequest to build a school for children who had lost the support of one or both parents, he couldn’t have imagined the number of lives it would go on to transform. 104 years after Lord Wandsworth College opened the gates to its first students, over 2,500 Foundationers have trodden a similar path. Two of them are Kit and Kate Ellen-Eyre.

 

The pair met at LWC as 13-year-olds and became friends. 25 years later, they are married with a 4-year-old daughter and have quite the story to tell.

 

“I started at LWC in 1^st Form as one of the first girls to join Junior House,” explains Kate. “In fact, if you lift a tile in the 2^nd Form Prep Room, you’ll see our signatures on the floor.”

 

Kate’s older brother was the first in her family to join LWC as a Foundationer. “We’d experienced domestic violence within the family,” Kate reveals. “It had been a very difficult time for us all. Neither my siblings nor I maintained a relationship with our father following our parents’ divorce.”

 

Kate remained in the mainstream state system, where she experienced severe bullying and without support in managing the earlier traumatic experiences at home. When the opportunity arose to pass through the Acorn Gates herself, she was keen to do all she could to guarantee passage.

 

“The school reached out to us to say they were considering admitting girls from 1^st Form and asked if we would be interested,” she continues. “My mum wasn’t keen because of the boarding element and wanted to enrol me in the local grammar school instead. I deliberately didn’t complete the grammar school entrance exam because I wanted to go to Wandsworth! I’d heard such wonderful things from my brother, who loved the environment and opportunities on offer, that I wanted to be there.” She assures us that all these years later, this won’t be the first time her mother learns of this deception. “Mum knows now,” she smiles. “I loved my experience there and I owe so much to the school.”

 

“I could never have opened up the horizon that I was able to without Lord Wandsworth. I was so grateful for the experience that I wanted to soak up every minute of it and grab hold of everything!”

— Kate Ellen-Eyre

 

For Kit, his journey as a Foundationer began in 3^rd Form. He hails from a family of three brothers and his older siblings were already at the College through military-assisted places and scholarships. On the brink of his own teenagehood, Kit describes having a ‘brutal’ year:

 

“My parents got divorced, my grandmother died very suddenly and through a very traumatic experience, my closest friend died in an accident when we were both 12. The one thing I needed was the security of being with my brothers, but I no longer qualified for military assistance and I wasn’t able to get a scholarship. I was in a very vulnerable place and the Foundation helped me to join the school at a time when I really needed some stability.”

 

Once here, both Kit and Kate flourished as individuals. They cite a roll call of teachers, pivotal to their school experience, many of whom celebrated with them at their wedding in 2015.

 

“For me, I had always been creative and bookish,” explains Kate. “I could never have opened up the horizon that I was able to without Lord Wandsworth. I was so grateful for the experience that I wanted to soak up every minute of it and grab hold of everything! Mrs Last would let me come and look in her library to choose books. Mr Radmann (now Head of English) set up a Literary Society and invited me to share my writing. I was truly happy at Wandsworth.”

 

For Kit, the effect of his ‘bruising’ year was channelled into other pursuits. “Sport and music were what I was about,” he admits. “Starting my first term playing rugby really helped me to settle and the coach made me captain of the team, which integrated me with the other kids. Mr Mobbs (now Teacher of Art) was Head of Sutton and he’s just a really good guy. He was gentle and very much there when we needed him.”

 

It was through the couple’s boarding houses that they became friends. Kate transitioned from Junior to Park House in 3^rd Form, in a move that she compares to house selection in the Harry Potter books: “The Houses suited our characters.” They both enjoyed the rolling fields that surrounded their boarding bases and would meet with peers during downtime in their own little corner of the North Hampshire countryside.

 

“We would sit out in the fields and the sunken garden between Park and Sutton, just chatting or playing ball games,” explains Kate. “It felt really safe at Lord Wandsworth.”

 

Countryside surrounding Sutton & Park Houses

 

The impact of the College on both Kit and Kate’s formative years was so great that when Kit decided to propose years later, there was no other location more suitable.

 

“We went back to the same place that we used to hang out in as teenagers and that’s where you popped the question,” Kate confirms to Kit. “My biggest concern when we were driving there was that you might not have asked permission to go back!”

 

In fact, since leaving LWC, the pair have returned to what they describe as a ‘surrogate family’ at the College on a number of occasions. They each became the first in their families to attend university and having started her degree in York, Kate had a change of heart, later joining Kit at university in Oxford (whilst consulting staff at LWC along the way). “I remember saying to Mrs Last – What if I marry him? At our wedding, she reminded me of this and confirmed that I’d made the right decision,” Kate laughs. “The fact that I went to Lord Wandsworth to help me think about that decision just goes to show how much influence they had on my life. This is what LWC opens up – it facilitates social mobility and provides a support system to guide you through life-changing decisions and opportunities you may never have accessed before.”

 

The couple both graduated with first-class honours. Fast forward to 2026 and they share their Foundation story from a sofa in front of a fire at Exton Hall, a cutting-edge event space project managed by Kit at the 60-acre Exton Park Vineyard and Winery in the rolling South Downs National Park. They found themselves coming full circle back to Hampshire when Kit became a partner at the sparkling wine producer, originally started by Vitacress millionaire Malcolm J. Isaac.

 

Meanwhile, Kate has enjoyed a hugely successful publishing career at the likes of Penguin and Oxford University Press (no surprise that books were involved). She is now Group Marketing Director for a company providing clean water solutions. They both live on the Exton Park estate with their daughter, Chloe.

 

“The Foundation created an entirely different trajectory for our lives,” Kate concludes. “Not only would we not have met without it, but the experiences we’ve had and the life we’ve built just wouldn’t have been possible. It’s provided stability, security and a wealth of opportunity which we can now provide for our daughter.”

 

Inspired by Kit and Kate’s story? Help us to widen the worlds of more young people through a transformative Lord Wandsworth College education. Consider supporting our Foundation Day Appeal Online Auction between 22^nd and 29^th March. Or you are welcome to make a donation to our Foundation Day Appeal. You can read more about the work of the Lord Wandsworth Foundation here.