1.
Public school (United Kingdom)
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A public school in England and Wales is an older, student selective and expensive fee-paying independent secondary school which caters primarily for children aged between 11 or 13 and 18. The term public should not be misunderstood to mean that these are public sector schools, traditionally, public schools were all-male boarding schools, although most now allow day pupils, and many have become either partially or fully co-educational. The origins of schools in the UK were primarily religious until 1640 and it was intended that by-products of this would be the publication of universal books and the setting up of schools for boys and girls. Henceforth each of these schools was to be managed by a board of governors, Public schools have had a strong association with the ruling classes. Historically they educated the sons of the English upper and upper-middle classes, the sons of officers and senior administrators of the British Empire were educated in England while their parents were on overseas postings. In 2010, over half of Cabinet Ministers had been educated at public schools, in 2014, annual fees at Canford School and Eton College were more than £33,000 for boarders. The name dates back to the time when schools founded for local children went public and it is also used to describe the some 230 girls senior schools belonging to the Girls Schools Association. Until the late medieval period most schools were controlled by the church and had specific entrance criteria, others were restricted to the sons of members of guilds, trades or livery companies. The need for professional trades in an increasingly secularised society required schools for the sons of the gentry that were independent from ecclesiastical authority, from the 16th century onward, boys boarding schools were founded or endowed for public use. Traditionally, most of public schools were all boys and full boarding. Separate preparatory schools for younger boys developed from the 1830s, with entry to the schools becoming limited to boys of at least 12 or 13 years old. The first of these was Windlesham House School, established with support from Thomas Arnold, many of the schools, including Rugby School, Harrow School and the Perse School fell into decline during the 18th century and nearly closed in the early 19th century. Protests in the local newspaper forced governors of the Perse School to keep it open, a Royal Commission, the Clarendon Commission, investigated nine of the more established schools, including seven boarding schools and two day schools. St Pauls School and the Merchant Taylors School claimed successfully that their constitutions made them private schools, in 1887 the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal determined that the City of London School was a public school. In the first year only 12 headmasters attended, but in the following year 34 did, the Headmasters Conference has since grown steadily to over 200 schools. The Public Schools Yearbook was published for the first time in 1889, listing 30 schools, mostly boarding schools except for St Pauls School, some academically successful grammar schools were added in later editions. The 1902 edition included all schools whose principals qualified for membership of the Headmasters Conference, the Fleming Report defined a public school as a member of the Governing Bodies Association or the Headmasters Conference. Based on the recommendations of this report, the Education Act 1944 offered a new status to endowed grammar schools receiving a grant from central government
2.
Eton College
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Eton College /iːtən/ is an English independent boarding school for boys in Eton, Berkshire, near Windsor. It educates more than 1,300 pupils, aged 13 to 18 years and it was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor, making it the 18th oldest Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference school. Eton is one of the seven public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868. Eton has educated 19 British prime ministers and generations of the aristocracy and has referred to as the chief nurse of Englands statesmen. The school is headed by a Provost and Fellows, who appoint the Head Master and it contains 25 boys houses, each headed by a housemaster, selected from the more senior members of the teaching staff, which numbers some 155. Almost all of the pupils go on to universities, about a third of them to Oxford or Cambridge. The Head Master is a member of the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference, Eton has a long list of distinguished former pupils. David Cameron was the 19th British prime minister to have attended the school, about 20% of pupils at Eton receive financial support, through a range of bursaries and scholarships. In early 2014, this figure had risen to 263 pupils receiving the equivalent of around 60% of school fee assistance, Eton has been described as the most famous public school in the world, and been referred to as the chief nurse of Englands statesmen. The Good Schools Guide called the school the number one public school, adding that The teaching. The school is a member of the G20 Schools Group, Eton today is a larger school than it has been for much of its history. In 1678, there were 207 boys, in the late 18th century, there were about 300, while today, the total has risen to over 1,300. Eton College was founded by King Henry VI as a charity school to free education to 70 poor boys who would then go on to Kings College, Cambridge. Henry took Winchester College as his model, visiting on many occasions, borrowing its Statutes and removing its Headmaster, when Henry VI founded the school, he granted it a large number of endowments, including much valuable land. He persuaded the then Pope, Eugene IV, to grant him a privilege unparalleled anywhere in England, the school also came into possession of one of Englands Apocalypse manuscripts. Legend has it that Edwards mistress, Jane Shore, intervened on the schools behalf and she was able to save a good part of the school, although the royal bequest and the number of staff were much reduced. Construction of the chapel, originally intended to be slightly over twice as long, only the Quire of the intended building was completed. Etons first Headmaster, William Waynflete, founder of Magdalen College, Oxford and previously Head Master of Winchester College, as the school suffered reduced income while still under construction, the completion and further development of the school has since depended to some extent on wealthy benefactors
3.
The King's School, Canterbury
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The Kings School is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils in the English city of Canterbury in Kent. It is a member of the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference and the Eton Group and it is held to be the oldest continuously operating school in the world, having been founded in 597 AD. This is based on the fact that St Augustine founded an abbey where it is known that teaching took place, during the 17th and 18th centuries, the school remained a grammar school. During the Victorian era the school began to establish itself as a public school, the school evacuated to Cornwall following the outbreak of World War II and received a new Royal Charter at the end of the war. Girls were admitted for the first time when the form became coeducational during the 1970s. In 1990, the school became fully coeducational, the school is also the oldest charity in the UK. In 2011, the school was subject to its latest regular, in summary, the inspection team praised the pastoral care system, the high academic achievements of all its pupils — irrespective of their age, aptitude or ability — and the happiness of the pupils. According to the Good Schools Guide the school is Highly successful, the Guide also stated that You need to be creative, academically able and hard-working, as everything moves fast here. There are 16 houses at Kings,13 boarding and 3 day, most are named after past headmasters or people of interest in the schools history, with the exception of School House, The Grange and Carlyon. The Houses of the School are, School House, founded 1860 The Grange, founded 1928, reopened 2007 Walpole, named after the novelist Sir Hugh Walpole Meister Omers, founded 1936. Named after the poet and dramatist Christopher Marlowe Luxmoore, founded 1945, named after Sir Arthur Fairfax Coryndon Luxmoore, Lord Justice of Appeal Galpins, founded 1952. Named after The Reverend Arthur Galpin, Headmaster from 1897-1910, named after Thomas Linacre, founder of the Royal College of Physicians Broughton, founded 1976. Named after William Broughton, the first Bishop of Australia Tradescant, named after John Tradescant, the distinguished gardener and collector Mitchinsons, founded 1982. Named after John Mitchinson, Headmaster 1859-73 and co-founder of the Headmasters Conference Jervis, named after Douglas Jervis OKS Harvey, founded 1996. Named after William Harvey Bailey, first founded 1990, named after Henry Bailey, second warden of St Augustines College between 1850 and 1875 and an honorary Canon of the Cathedral Carlyon, founded 2005. Named after evacuation of the School to Carlyon Bay in Cornwall during the Second World War Lady Kingsdown House, founded 2015. A new pavilion was opened by David Gower on 17 September 2005 Blackfriars The Cleary Foundation donated the refectory of the 13th-century friary by the Marlowe Theatre as an art school and gallery. Built as a synagogue in 1847–8 by architect Hezekiah Marshall, the Old Synagogue is used as a hall by the music department
4.
King's School, Worcester
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The Kings School, Worcester is an English independent school refounded by Henry VIII in 1541. It occupies an adjacent to Worcester Cathedral on the banks of the River Severn in the centre of the city of Worcester. It offers mixed-sex mainstream education that follows the UK National Curriculum to around 1,465 pupils aged 2 to 18, the Kings, Worcester group consists of three different schools. These are, Kings Hawford, formerly an autonomous fee-paying prep school named Hawford Lodge, purchased by Kings in 1992, hawfords Kindergarten department was deemed sufficiently impressive by Ofsted to receive no recommendations in the 2008 inspection. Kings St Albans, formerly the Cathedral Choir School, amalgamated with Kings in 1943, St Albans includes a pre-prep department for ages 4–7, opened September 2009. The senior school is situated on Worcesters College Green, a space between Worcester Cathedral and the east bank of the River Severn, the school and the cathedral maintain a close relationship, with the school providing cathedral choristers and enjoying the use of the cathedral for major services. The school owns extensive land next to New Road cricket ground across the river, used as sports pitches, the school also owns an outward bound centre, the Old Chapel near Crickhowell in Mid Wales. Kings has its roots in the forms of tuition offered by the monks at Worcester monastery. Although the novices studied religion at the monastery, grammar and Latin would have been learnt at the city school, hugh Cratford, for example, was the monastic Magister Scholarum, before he was transferred to the city school in 1504 by order of Bishop Silvestro de Gigli. The last monastic Prior, Henry Holbeach, became the first Dean of Worcester, similarly, the cathedral foundation included provision for a choir school for ten cathedral choristers and tuition for forty Kings Scholars. The school was one of seven Kings Schools established or re-endowed by Henry VIII following the dissolution, on 7 December 1541, Henry VIII personally appointed the schools first headmaster, John Pether, by means of a letter to Richard Rich. One early headmaster, Henry Bright is mentioned in Thomas Fuller’s Worthies of England, the school was managed by the cathedral Dean and Chapter until 1884, when Headmaster W. E. Bollands New Scheme introduced governance by a separate Governing Body, on which the Chapter nonetheless retained a majority, from its inception until the construction of School House in 1888, all teaching was conducted in College Hall, the former monastic refectory. From 1945 to 1976, the participated in the direct grant scheme. The school first admitted girls in small numbers to the form in 1971, prior to the establishment of College House by John and Caroline Roslington in 1977. In 1989 the decision was made to make the school fully co-educational, having accommodated boarders since its inception, the final boarders left in July 1999. Kings follows the GCSE and A-level curricula, in 2012,82. 9% of A-levels taken were graded A* to B,66. 4% of all GCSEs were graded A* or A. In the junior schools and up to level, the school follows the national curriculum
5.
Durham School
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Durham School is an English independent boarding school for pupils aged between 3 and 18 years. Founded by the Bishop of Durham, Thomas Langley, in 1414 and it is the citys oldest institution of learning. The School is located in Durham, North East England and was an institution until becoming fully coeducational in 1985. A member of The Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference, it enrolls 650 day and its preparatory institution, known as Bow, Durham School, enrolls a further 160 pupils. Durham and Bows former pupils include politicians, clergy and British aristocracy, former students are known as Old Dunelmians. The school celebrated its 600th Anniversary in 2014, the history of Durham School can be divided into three sections. The school is referred to in histories and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as Durham Grammar School. It should not be confused with the Chorister School, Durham, Durham School was founded by Thomas Langley in 1414, which was the foundation date accepted by the Clarendon Commission into public schools in 1861, making it the 18th oldest in Britain. The school was in Langleys time situated on the east side of Palace Green to the north of the cathedral, at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the Protestant Reformation in 1541, the school was refounded by Henry VIII. It remained in the location, indeed the Headmaster Henry Stafford remained in post. Homeless due to the burning down of its buildings, the school continued in various houses in the city and it was in 1661 that the school moved to the building currently occupied by the Durham University Music School to the north west of Palace Green. There was some zeal for education in Durham during the 18th century, Durham School, rebuilt in 1661, on the Palace Green, soon became, instead of a local grammar school, a north-country public school of repute and wide influence. We can trace from the Restoration onwards not only the city names such as Salvin, Wilkinson, Hutchinson, Blakiston, Fawcett, Bowes, Calverley. One of the distinctions of the school is the succession of local historians. Most famous of these is James Mickleton, without whom no history of mediaeval or 17th-century Durham would be possible, later than these comes Thomas Randall, who made a large collection of manuscript material for local history books. From its location on Palace Green outside Durham Cathedral, whilst Edward Elder was Headmaster the school moved to its present site in 1844, the School has been steadily expanded and updated since then. For example, Henry Holden, Headmaster 1853 to 1882, instigated new classrooms, dormitories, kitchens, sickroom then a sanatorium, bell tower and library. William Fearon, Headmaster 1882 to 1884, introduced the three term system used today and enlarged the playing fields and built an open air swimming pool
6.
Westminster School
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Westminster School is an English independent day and boarding school located within the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It has the highest Oxford and Cambridge university acceptance rates of any school or college in the world. With origins before the 12th century, the tradition of Westminster probably dates back as far as AD960. Boys are admitted to the Under School at age seven and to the school at age thirteen. The school has around 750 pupils, around a quarter are boarders, most of whom go home at weekends and it is one of the original seven public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868. Charging up to £7,800 per term for day pupils and £11,264 for boarders in 2014/15, Westminster is the 13th most expensive HMC day school and 10th most expensive HMC boarding school in the UK. In 1540, Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the monasteries in England, including that of the powerful Abbots of Westminster, the Royal College of St. Peter carried on with forty Kings Scholars financed from the royal purse. By this point Westminster School had certainly become a public school, during Mary Is brief reign the Abbey was reinstated as a Roman Catholic monastery, but the school continued. Elizabeth I refounded the School in 1560, with new statutes to select 40 Queens Scholars from boys who had attended the school for a year. Queen Elizabeth frequently visited her scholars, although she never signed the statutes nor endowed her scholarships, Elizabeth I appointed William Camden as headmaster, and he is the only layman known to have held the position until 1937. Regardless of politics, he thrashed Royalist and Puritan boys alike without fear or favour, Busby also took part in Oliver Cromwells funeral procession in 1658, when Robert Uvedale, a Westminster schoolboy, succeeded in snatching the Majesty Scutcheon draped on the coffin. Busby remained in office throughout the Civil War and the Commonwealth, when the school was governed by Parliamentary Commissioners, and well into the Restoration. In 1679, a group of scholars killed a bailiff, ostensibly in defence of the Abbeys traditional right of sanctuary, dr Busby obtained a royal pardon for his scholars from Charles II and added the cost to the school bills. Until the 19th century, the curriculum was made up of Latin and Greek. After the Public Schools Act 1868, in response to the Clarendon Commission on the financial and other malpractices at nine pre-eminent public schools, the school began to approach its modern form. It was legally separated from the Abbey, although the organisations remain close, there followed a scandalous public and parliamentary dispute lasting a further 25 years, to settle the transfer of the properties from the Canons of the Abbey to the School. School statutes have been made by Order in Council of Queen Elizabeth II, the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford and the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge are ex officio members of the schools governing body. Westminster Under School was formed in 1943 in the school buildings in Westminster
7.
Eton wall game
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The Eton wall game is a game which bears some resemblance to rugby union that originated at and is still played at Eton College. It is played on a strip of ground 5 metres wide and 110 metres long next to a curved brick wall erected in 1717. The traditional and most important match of the year is played on St Andrews Day, despite this, it is usual for them to allow the Oppidans to use it whenever they wish. The Wall Game is also played on Ascension Day, immediately after a 6 a. m. service on the roof of College Chapel. Various scratch matches are played throughout the Michaelmas and Lent halves. The aim of the game is to move the ball towards the end of the playing area. In those last few yards of the field is a called the calx. In this area a player can earn a shy by lifting the ball against the wall with his foot, a teammate then touches the ball with his hand and shouts Got it. These two plays must happen within the calx, after this, if the umpire says Given, the scoring team can attempt a goal by throwing the ball at a designated target. A player can score a kicked goal, worth five points, if he kicks the ball out. The main game consists of the two sets of players forming a rugby-style scrummage in which neither team may furk the ball, the Bully is formed next to the Wall and crabs slowly along the Wall until the ball emerges. Many players, particularly those whose position is actually against the Wall, lose the skin off their elbows, hips, because of this, players usually wear long sleeves. Actual punching is not permitted, and grabbing an opponents shirt is not allowed. When in Calx, a different type of Bully called a Calx Bully occurs, consequently, the most common tactic revolves around the formation of a phalanx. This consists of a tunnel of players from one team who are crouching on hands, the team not in possession is constantly attempting to disrupt this, and win the ball back. The game lasts up to an hour, with two halves of 30 minutes each, scoring goals is very rare, they occur about once every 10 years and there have been no goals scored in the St Andrews Day game since 1909. There was a goal scored in a recent scratch match in May 2016 by a College player, however, shies are scored more frequently. In the 2015 St Andrews Day match, the outcome was a 0-0 draw and this marked the 106th consecutive St Andrews Day match in which no goals were scored by either team
8.
James Arbuthnot
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James Norwich Arbuthnot, Baron Arbuthnot of Edrom, PC is a British Conservative Party politician. He was returned as Member of Parliament for Wanstead and Woodford from 1987 to 1997, Arbuthnot served as Chairman of the Defence Select Committee from 2005 to 2014, before being nominated as a Life Peer in the Dissolution Peerages List 2015 of August 2015. Created Baron Arbuthnot of Edrom, of Edrom in the County of Berwick, on 1 October 2015, Arbuthnot was born in Deal, Kent, the son of Sir John Arbuthnot MBE TD, MP for Dover between 1950 and 1964, and Margaret Jean Duff. He was educated at Wellesley House School in Broadstairs and Eton College, where he was Captain of School, before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge, Arbuthnot was called to the Bar by Lincolns Inn in 1975 and became a practising barrister. In 1980 he became the Vice-Chairman of the Chelsea Conservative Association, Arbuthnot contested the Cynon Valley seat, in the Labour heartland of industrial South Wales, at the 1983 general election and was defeated by Ioan Evans. A year later in 1984, Evans died and Arbuthnot fought the resulting by-election, in the 1987 general election Arbuthnot was chosen to contest the safe Conservative seat of Wanstead and Woodford, as the sitting MP, Patrick Jenkin, was standing down. Arbuthnot won the seat and increased the Conservative majority by over 2,000 to 16,412. In 1988 he became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Archie Hamilton at the Ministry of Defence and he entered the John Major government after the 1992 general election when he was made an Assistant Government Whip. He was promoted in 1994 as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Social Security, the following year he was promoted to Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence, where he remained until the end of the Major government in 1997. Arbuthnots seat of Wanstead and Woodford was abolished at the 1997 general election, in Opposition, he was a member of William Hagues Shadow Cabinet as the Conservative Partys Chief Whip until the 2001 general election when he returned to the backbenches. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1998, Arbuthnot returned to the Shadow Cabinet under Michael Howard as Shadow Trade Secretary in 2003, but stood down after the 2005 general election. He is a Senior Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute, Arbuthnot was the Parliamentary Chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel. He was also a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, in the 2009 expenses scandal, Arbuthnot apologised and repaid the public money he had claimed for his swimming pool to be cleaned. Later that year, he was criticised in the press for £15,000 of expenses he claimed for upkeep at his second home, including tree surgery. In June 2011 Arbuthnot announced that he would not contest the general election. On 6 September 1984, Arbuthnot married Emma Louise Broadbent, daughter of Michael Broadbent MW and he is a direct descendant of James V of Scotland. He and his wife have one son and three daughters, Lord and Lady Arbuthnot divide their time between London and Berkshire
