Located right near the M11, there is one of Essex’s most prestigious private schools. Plonked in the middle of Essex’s ‘Golden Triangle’, an affluent area in the Epping Forest district between Chigwell, Loughton and Buckhurst Hill, it is no surprise that some of this school’s alumni shot right to stardom.
The Chigwell School is a co-educational independent boarding and day school, consisting of a pre-preparatory school, senior school and sixth form. Founded in 1629 and set in a rather large 100-acre site, the school has plenty of facilities to nurture children into successful careers – and was also just named the best independent school in the whole of East Anglia.
The school says that it is “a happy, mutually supportive, family-orientated community in which parents and staff work in partnership to help pupils reach their full potential and where friendships formed often last a lifetime”. This is abundantly clear, as the school has been breeding superstars in different fields for centuries.
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The headmaster said of the school: “We are very proud of our pupils and we strive to ensure that, through the curriculum and the wide range of opportunities available to them beyond the classroom, each becomes the very best they can be. (They should be) independent in spirit, adventurous in approach, and empathetic in how they treat others.”
One such celebrity is TOWIE’s very own Mark Wright, who recently announced that he is expecting his first child with wife Michelle Keegan. The couple, who tied the knot nearly ten years ago, have built a dream home in Essex.
Mark, known for his time on The Only Way Is Essex, met Michelle in Dubai in 2012, but they kept their blossoming romance quiet until the Soap Awards in 2013, where they debuted as a couple. Their wedding day on May 24, 2015 was a grand event, with the ceremony held in St Mary’s Church in Bury St Edmunds.
Before this, though, he was educated at one of Essex’s most prestigious private schools. He joins a huge list of celebrities who attended Chigwell School, from Ian Holm to Ben Shephard.
Before his appearances on The Only Way Is Essex, Wright was a semi-professional footballer, with a youth career at West Ham United, Arsenal, and Tottenham Hotspur. He started his senior career with Southend United, but moved into nightclub promoting and playing only non-league.
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