Warwick School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Warwick School
Motto Altiora Peto
(Latin:"I seek higher things")
Established Before the Norman Conquest
Type Independent School,
day and boarding school
Religious affiliation Church of England
Head Master E.B. Halse, BSc FRSA (Senior School), G. R. G Canning, BA (Junior School)
Deputy Headmaster G. R. W. Hawley, BSc PhD (Senior School), J. L. Elston, BEd (Junior School)
Chairman of Governors Brigadier Mike Stephens
Founder Unknown
Location Warwick
Warwickshire
CV34 6PP
EnglandFlag of England
Staff 125 in Senior School, 19 in Junior School
Students 850 in Senior School, 229 in Junior School
Gender Boys
Ages 7 to 18
Houses 10
School colours Blue and White

        
Former pupils Old Warwickians
Website www.warwickschool.org
Coordinates: 51°11′48″N 0°37′21″W / 51.196552, -0.622504


Warwick School is an independent school for boys in Warwick, England, and is reputed to be the third-oldest surviving school in the country after King's School, Canterbury and St Peter's School, York. Since these latter two are now co-educational, Warwick School can now claim to be the oldest boys' school in the country. Indeed, while there are several very old European choir schools such as Monserrat and Regensburg still in existence, Warwick School has never been tied to a cathedral and there seems to be no evidence to refute the claim that it is the oldest surviving boys' grammar school in the world.

Contents

[edit] Enrolment

The Myton Road frontage of Warwick School, dating from 1879
The Myton Road frontage of Warwick School, dating from 1879

In the academic year 2007-8 there were 1,079 boys, aged from 7 to 18, at the school comprising:

[edit] Houses

Boys in the senior school are put into one of six houses which compete against each other in sports and other activities. The house system is now combined with the system of forms. Five of the houses are named after people connected with the history of the town of Warwick. The sixth house is called School. The Junior School has four houses named after more general historical figures. The houses are:


Senior School:

  • Tudor
  • Guy
  • Greville
  • Brooke
  • Leycester
  • School


Junior School:

An aerial view of Warwick School taken in 2003
An aerial view of Warwick School taken in 2003

[edit] History

The actual date of the school's founding is unknown, and the first documentary evidence for its existence dates back to 1123, according to Frykman and Hadley. The first historian of the school, A F Leach, who published his work in 1906, concluded that the school could have been founded as early as 914 AD, the date that the town of Warwick is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and was presumably later chartered by King Edward the Confessor (c.1004–1066). He also noted that the school had just moved to its present site on the banks of the River Avon in 1879. For several hundred years before Leach's ground-breaking work, though, it was believed that the school dated back merely to its re-founding by King Henry VIII in 1545 as "The King's New School of Warwick". Several premises have been used over the years, including the Lord Leycester Hospital and St Peter's Chapel over the Eastgate. The destruction of records in various fires means that the location of the school for almost the whole of the 17th century is not known for certain. The truth, therefore, seems to be that the present Warwick School is the legitimate successor of a small-town grammar school which dates from before the Norman Conquest.

The main buildings of the school, including the chapel which was built between 1879 and 1893.
The main buildings of the school, including the chapel which was built between 1879 and 1893.

The move in 1879 was spurred by the Warwick Educational Charities Scheme of 1875, where a schools' foundation was created that comprised the King's Grammar School, a Middle School for boys (up to 15), and a Girls' High School (opened in 1879). The Middle School was built in the Butts in the centre of Warwick, close to the site of where the old Grammar School had existed between c. 1697 and 1879, the former College of the Vicars Choral in St Mary's churchyard. In 1906, the Middle School and the Grammar School were united on Myton Road, the school's current premises, as Warwick School, with only The King's High School For Girls retaining the original royal name. The old Middle School buildings in the town centre were fully taken over by the King's High School in 1918. After a disastrous fire in 1970, however, the buildings, by now re-named St Mary's Hall, were demolished in 1981, and the site used for new buildings by King's High School in 2006. All that remains of the Middle School is its boundary wall along The Butts.

Four of the 1887 Lime Trees and the 1910 Engineering Block
Four of the 1887 Lime Trees and the 1910 Engineering Block

The name Warwick School, rather than The King's School or The King's Grammar School, gradually crept into use in the 1880s, and this name was fairly well established by the time of the merger with The King's Middle School (which had been briefly re-named The King's County School) in 1906.

The Masefield Centre contains the school library and the ICT department.
The Masefield Centre contains the school library and the ICT department.

Two histories of the school have been published. The first appeared in 1906 at the exact time that the existence of the original Grammar School was under threat, as unpublished accounts in the school archives show. The second was published in 2004; of the two co-authors, Gervald Frykman is the school's first Archivist, and used much recently-discovered material to bring the school's varied fortunes before World War II to life; while Eric Hadley, the editor of the school's yearly chronicle The Portcullis, portrays the school's continued rise in numbers, and its successes, since then.

The Sixth Form Centre and Tuck Shop
The Sixth Form Centre and Tuck Shop

Next door to the main school is the Junior School, opened in 1889. Although it closed and re-opened several times in the first half of the twentieth century, it has been fully operational since 1938, and now caters for approximately 230 boys from 7 to 11 years of age.

The Junior School
The Junior School

[edit] Buildings

Although its 1879 buildings are still in use, there have been many additions since then, and most teaching now takes place in specialised departmental areas. The former Big School has been re-named the Pyne Room in honour of a former headmaster, but the original 1879 oak-panelled dining room is still in use. A brand new science centre was built on the site of the original 1879 sanatorium, being brought into use in June 2007. This building was officially named the Cheshire Science Centre in June 2008.

The new Science Centre
The new Science Centre

[edit] Guy Nelson Hall

The main hall of the school was built, following an appeal, between 1969 and 1970. It has seating for about 600 people. Alderman Guy Nelson, after whom the hall is named, was a long-serving Chairman of Governors (1938 - 1963).

The Bridge House Theatre (on the left) and the Guy Nelson Hall.
The Bridge House Theatre (on the left) and the Guy Nelson Hall.

The hall can be rented out by external groups and contains a kitchen for use during events.

[edit] Bridge House Theatre

The school has its own theatre, holding between 275 and 310 people, the Bridge House Theatre. It was opened on 1 May 2000 by Dame Judi Dench and was designed by Michael Reardon Associates. It was intended from the start to be used both by the school and by local organisations in the town. The theatre is set out as many larger theatres are with both stall and circle seating and space for a small orchestra pit if needed. [1]

Warwick School's Bridge House Theatre
Warwick School's Bridge House Theatre

[edit] Sporting achievements

Warwick School offers a wide variety of sporting activities, with rugby union, cricket and tennis among them. On March 28, 2007, the school enjoyed rugby union success as the Under 18s Rugby Union team beat Barnard Castle School 24-23 at Twickenham Stadium, to win the Daily Mail Cup for the first time in the school's history. The 2008 campaign saw them through to the semi-final stage facing Wellington College, a match they narrowly lost.

[edit] Notable Old Warwickians

See also Old Warwickians

[edit] References

The Limes were planted in 1887 to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.
The Limes were planted in 1887 to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] See also

[edit] External links