 Helbert an exhibitioner of both Winchester and Oriel College, Oxford, was for over four years a House of Commons clerk.The Helberts were supported by Hampshire's Lord Northbrook (who had also helped found the predecessor school), and by their kinsman Lord Rothschild.Helbert, who described himself as Principal, was influenced by the Miss Mason system, as seen at her "House of Education", Ambleside (akin to the PNEU), and things like the Montessori method, the ideas of Edmond Holmes, and the "Little Commonwealth" for young delinquents developed by Homer Lane on the lines of the George Junior Republic in America, basically as put by Norman Mac Munn, who taught at West Downs 1914–18, they were interested in the