Prince Rupert School

Prince Rupert School was a secondary school in Rinteln, Lower Saxony, Germany, and was operated by the Service Children's Education for children of military personnel and its employees of the former British sector of West Germany. Over the years it has taken both day and weekly boarding pupils from the military garrisons of Buckeburg, Detmold, Hameln, Herford, Hohne, Nienburg, Osnabrück, Paderborn, and Rinteln. It was originally located at the North Sea port city of Wilhelmshaven before moving to its present location. Today the area is used as a camp for refugees.
Prince Rupert School takes its name from the former coastal establishment HMS Royal Rupert, which had previously been a Kriegsmarine stronghold during Nazi rule, located at the scenic port city of Wilhelmshaven on the North Sea coast. The school has its beginnings from "Operation Union", which allowed Army and RAF personnel based in Allied-occupied West Germany to bring their families over. PRS is believed to be the first comprehensive, co-educational, boarding school under the terms of the Education Act 1944 and was one of the first schools established in Germany to exclusively educate children of British military personnel. Housed in a block of buildings along the port, it was formally handed over on 1 July 1947, by the lowering of the Royal Navy's white ensign and the raising of the Union flag. Present at this ceremony were many of the first 70 pupils who were attending school for a one-month trial period, prior to the full complement reporting to the school on 7 September 1947. Some pupils missed the ceremony as their truck became lost on its way to Wilhelmshaven. John Smitherman, the first headmaster, chose that name in recognition of the kindness and help he had received from the Royal Navy personnel of HMS Royal Rupert. The official opening ceremony of the school by George Tomlinson MP, Minister of Education, took place on 11 May 1948.

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