Bloxham School
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| Motto | Justorum semita lux splendens |
|---|---|
| Established | 1860 |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Headmaster | Mark Allbrook |
| Founder | Revd. Philip Reginald Egerton |
| Location | Bloxham, Banbury, Oxfordshire, OX15 4PE England |
| DfE URN | 123275 |
| Gender | co-educational |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Colours | Black & White |
| Former pupils | Old Bloxhamists |
| Affiliation | Woodard Corporation |
| Website | www.bloxhamschool.com |
Coordinates: 52°01′21″N 1°22′24″W / 52.0225°N 1.3733°W
Bloxham School (All Saints' School) is an independent co-educational day and boarding school located in the village of Bloxham, three miles (5 km) from the town of Banbury in Oxfordshire, England. It was founded in 1860 by the Reverend Philip Reginald Egerton and has since become a member of the Woodard Corporation. The Reverend Frederick Scobell Boissier, father of Harrow headmaster Arthur Boissier, taught there from 1878 to 1898 and was headmaster from 1886. The current headmaster is Mark Allbrook, who took over from David Exham in 2002. The school has around 430 pupils.[1]
The motto of Bloxham School is "Justorum Semita Lux Splendens" (Latin) — "The path of the just is a shining light".
The school describes itself as 'one of Britain's best smaller public schools.'
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[edit] Foundation
The original school on the site in the north of the village of Bloxham was founded in 1853, but was unsuccessful and closed a short time after it opened. In 1860, the school was re-founded as All Saints School by Philip Reginald Egerton, a local curate from Deddington. It was largely funded by Egerton’s wealthy wife, Harriet, and had the backing of several notable academics and clergymen including Bishop Wilberforce. Bloxham School was founded as a school of the Oxford Movement, by which Egerton had been heavily influenced. The School initially provided education for middle class boys in the public school tradition, although classics was originally not widely taught. Bloxham’s first headmaster to not be a priest was only appointed in 1925.[2]
The school quickly grew. Despite Egerton’s plans for the school to provide for farmers and tradesmen, a report in 1870 found that many of the boys were from professional families and the clergy.
[edit] Bloxham Project
The Bloxham Project is an inter-school council started in the 1960s to address the role of religion in schools.[3] It was started by the Chairman of Bloxham School Council and the school chaplain, Donald Dowie. The first Bloxham Conference on Public School Religion took place in 1967 at Bloxham School, and today approximately 120 independent schools take part in the project. It is a full-time organisation which continues to promote Christian educational values in the United Kingdom.[4]
[edit] Buildings and facilities
Bloxham School has grounds which cover approximately 60 acres (240,000 m2) in the village of Bloxham. The main school building, designed by George Edmund Street in neo-gothic style, dominates the school. The Dewey Sports Centre and swimming pool are available for public use. Recent building developments include the Raymond Technology Centre, the expansion of the Lower School building and the Vallance library which was opened by Colin Dexter in April 2006, but had to be closed for 4 months in 2011 for a roof replacement. New squash courts have also been built next to the Dewey Sports Centre, and the art school has been increased in size. The extension to the music school was completed in the summer of 2007, and officially opened by Aled Jones in November, 2008.[citation needed] Bloxham has a large Anglican chapel which can accommodate approximately 200 people.
Bloxham School has four large playing fields, three of which are used for cricket in the summer term. It has two AstroTurf all weather pitches, which are used for hockey and tennis. The Dewey Sports Centre has an indoor sports hall, a well-equipped gym and a climbing wall, as well a teaching area for PE. Bloxham also has Fives courts.
[edit] Houses
There are six boarding houses within the school, these are Crake, Egerton, Raymond, Seymour, Wilberforce and Wilson, with Raymond and Wilberforce being the girls' houses. There is also a junior boarding house, Park Close, for the first form (Year 7) and second form (Year 8) weekly boarders. The school operates a house based tutor system, in which pupils of several year groups share a tutor within one house. House captains are appointed each year and make up part of the school's prefect body. Originally there were only Crake and Wilson with all the other houses built later. The newest house is Seymour which was finished in 1982.
| House | Colours | Gender | Housemaster/mistress | Named after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crake | Red | M | Mr. D. R. Best | A former school chaplain |
| Egerton | Green | M | Mr. R. J. Thompson | The school's founder |
| Raymond | Blue | F | Mrs. J. H. White | A former pupil and master |
| Seymour | Pink | M | Mr. D. K. Jordan | A former headmaster |
| Wilberforce | Purple | F | Mrs. A. L. Cooper | The Bishop of Oxford |
| Wilson | Yellow | M | Mr. T. M. Skevington | The first boarder and former master |
[edit] Chapel
The founder of Bloxham, Revd. P. R. Egerton, envisaged Bloxham as a school which would take in the sons of the middle class and turn out young men ‘well educated in the Christian faith.’ Religion still plays a major role in the life of the school and this is focussed on the Chapel of All Saints. Two Eucharistic services are held each week for the pupils in the chapel, and Morning Prayer is held everyday. For larger school occasions such as Founderstide (the founder’s day) and Christmas, the school uses Bloxham parish church. The chaplain plays an important part in school life and is helped by a team of chapel prefects.
[edit] Sport
Sport plays a major role in Bloxham life, with entire afternoons on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays being allocated for games practices for pupils in years 9-13. Every pupil in the school is involved in sport, with the aim being that each pupil will represent the school in at least one team during their time at Bloxham. The major sports are rugby, hockey and cricket for boys, and hockey, netball and tennis for girls. Other sports played at Bloxham include squash, fencing, athletics, swimming, riding, polo, shooting, fives, sailing, cross-country, archery and badminton.[5]
The school's main sporting rivals include Stowe School, St Edward's School, Oxford, Warwick School, Rugby School and Magdalen College School, Oxford. Bloxham participates annually in the Daily Mail Cup.
[edit] Societies and pastimes
Bloxham has several societies, some of which are pupil-run. Notable school societies include the Scholars Society, the Debating Society and the Common Room Society. The Choral Society, or Chapel Choir, sing twice a week during the school's chapel services.
Besides that Bloxham School also offers a wide range of activities several times a week. The include amongst others a Photography Club, a Wildlife Club and a Model Railway Club. Bloxham School was host of the British Youth Go Tournament in 2011.
Bloxham runs a Combined Cadet Force (CCF) for pupils in third form (Year 9) and above. About once every term, there is a CCF over-night expedition. Pupils are also given the opportunity to take part in many other activities, such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award, dance, adventure training, horse riding and management and horticulture.[5] Many of these run on a Thursday afternoon in time set aside for school activities.
The school has a large music department which offers professional tuition in brass, guitar, keyboard, organ, percussion, singing, strings and woodwind.
The school magazine is called The Bloxhamist and is published at the end of every summer term.
[edit] Terms
Bloxham still operates a three term year, despite many schools in the UK having changed to a six term year schedule. The terms are:
- The Michaelmas Term, from early September to mid-December
- The Lent Term, from early January to late March
- The Summer Term, from late April to late June or early July
[edit] Notable Old Bloxhamists
- John Seargent (born 1944), journalist
- Gerald Howarth (born 1947), Conservative Member of Parliament
- General Sir Edward Burgess (born 1927), NATO Deputy Supreme Allied Commander
- Edward Woodward (1930–2009), actor
- Peter Arber, Chief of The Pepper Pot Society UK
- Tom Sharpe, (born 1928), novelist
- Will Bratt (born 1988), Formula Three racing driver[6]
- George S Elgood (1851–1943), painter
- Ian Davenport, headmaster of Blundell's School since 2004
- Air Commodore Sir Dennis Mitchell (1908–2002)
- Air Marshal Sir Francis John Linnell KBE CB Died in Active Service. Posthumously awarded the LoM (comdr.) (1892–1944)
- Denis Norman, former Government Minister, Zimbabwe
- Stephen Reynolds (1881–1919), writer
- Victor White (1902–1960), theologian and psychotherapist
- Joseph Vernon Whitaker (1845–1895), Editor, The Bookseller
- George Sumner Hand, Anglican Bishop
- Albert Chevallier Tayler (1962–1925), painter
- Major General Adrian Bradshaw Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Companion of the Order of Bath[7]
- Richard Reed, engineer of the Blackpool Tower
- Eustace Wyndham Maude, 7th Viscount Hawarden (1877–1958), colonial provincial governor in Sudan
- Alexander Granville PashaCommander of the Order of the British Empire, Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George[8] representative of Egypt at the League of Nations,
- Frederick Urquhart, colonial administrator in Australia
- Kenneth Jenkins (1918–2005), Keeper of the Coins at the British Museum
- Fr Sergei Hackel, senior priest in Britain of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sourozh.[9]
- Colonel Sir. Thomas Boswall Beach, C.M.G., C.B.E [10]
- Brigadier-General Sir William H Beach, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.[11]
- Brigadier-General Wilfred Ellershaw
- Major Derrick le Poer Trench, Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross[11]
- Major Vincent Turner, O.B.E.[12]
- Air Vice-Marshall T.G Bowler, C.B.E .[12][13][14]
- Colonel Sir Henry Allan Roughton May Companion of the Order of Bath.,[15]
- Brigadier Dimitry Dimitrievitch Zvegintzov,[12] Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. Distinguished Service Order[16]
- Col. W. E. Huddleston, C.M.G, D.S.O., C.B.E[11]
- Colonel Sir. L. A. Grimston, C L E ., C.B.E., V.D [17]
- Sir H. P. Miles, Officer of the Order of the British Empire[18]
- Major Sir. H. G. Mitchell, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Engineer/Soldier, chief engineer and Chairman of the Madras Port Trust also Member of the Madras Legislative Council[19][20]
- Surgeon General[21] Sir Bruce M. Skinner, C.M.G., C.B.E., M.V.O.[15]
- Captain Sir R. F. Bryant, Officer of the Order of the British Empire [22]
- Sir E. H. D. Nicolls, Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, Officer of the Order of the British Empire.[23]
- Sir E. Lamley Fisher, Member of the Order of the British Empire.[17]
- Dr. Sir H. C. Woodcock, Member of the Order of the British Empire[24]
- Sir Peter H Clutterbuck, Commander of the Order of the British Empire[12][25]
- Peter Snow, painter, theatre designer and teacher.[26]
- Dr. T. H. Sanderson-Wells, Member of the Order of the British Empire.[27]
- Sir Arthur Thomas Thomson, Officer of the Order of the British Empire[28]
- Sir P. W. Kidman, Officer of the Order of the British Empire [29]
- Sir E . H. D. Nicholls, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Companion of the Order of St Micheal and St George[29]
- Sir C. T. N. Moore, Member of the Order of the British Empire[29]
- Sir G. Meikle, Officer of the Order of the British Empire[30]
- Sir G . T. C. Morris, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services in Nigeria.[31]
- Sir Revd. P. A. Ettrick, Officer of the Order of the British Empire[32]
- Major Sir C. D. Buckle, Commander of the Order of the British Empire[32]
[edit] Bloxham School war dead
The stone arch at the main entrance to the school was built to the memory of Bloxham pupils who have died in conflict, and the school chapel contains memorials to the school's war dead as well. 76 former pupils were killed in World War I.[33]
[edit] Notable masters
- The Reverend Philip Reginald Egerton, founder
- The Reverend Frederick Scobell Boissier, former Headmaster, father of Arthur Boissier
- Kenneth Spring, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, former Commander of the CCF, housemaster and art master, English painter
- Sir David Hatch, student teacher (1950s), later managing director of the BBC
- Mark Allbrook, Headmaster since 2002, former county cricketer
- Cedric Boyns, Housemaster, England cricketer
- John Horton, Director of Sport, England flyhalf
[edit] References
- ^ "School Census Data". EduBase. Department for Education. http://www.edubase.gov.uk/establishment/census-data.xhtml?urn=123275. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
- ^ 'A Shining Light', A history of Bloxham School (Simon Batten, 2010)
- ^ 'A Shining Light' (Simon Batten, 2010), p.93
- ^ "Welcome". The Bloxham Project. http://www.bloxhamproject.org.uk/index.html. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
- ^ a b "Bloxham School on www.isbi.com". Isbi.com. 2010-09-20. http://www.isbi.com/viewschool.asp?school=515-Bloxham_School. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
- ^ "Will Bratt site". Willbratt.com. http://www.willbratt.com. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
- ^ "2009 New Year Honours - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". En.wikipedia.org. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_New_Year_Honours. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
- ^ http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1929_03.pdf
- ^ "Fr Sergei Hackel - Obituaries, News". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/fr-sergei-hackel-527248.html. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
- ^ http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1930_07.pdf
- ^ a b c http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1920_04.pdf
- ^ a b c d http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1950_04.pdf
- ^ "T G Bowler". Rafweb.org. http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Bowler_TG.htm. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
- ^ "Deddington OnLine - The Bowler Boys". Deddington.org.uk. http://www.deddington.org.uk/history/worldwars/personalstories/index/thebowlerbrothers. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
- ^ a b http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1924_03.pdf
- ^ "Person Page 42127". thePeerage.com. http://thepeerage.com/p42127.htm#i421265. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
- ^ a b http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1932_03.pdf
- ^ http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1935_04.pdf
- ^ http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1927_03.pdf
- ^ http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1925_06.pdf
- ^ "Powered by Google Docs". Docs.google.com. http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:sAcfYpi4aZoJ:www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2349441/pdf/brmedj07127-0030.pdf+Major+Sir+General+Bruce+M.+Skinner&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjid_LpWYaN1wqWdv6Cg2eIOodJ-bb5YJRhKUeIbAQkfMeOxeMGccNtDoUZh9Ah-96hFEweqk5-EgNkfUaC0CN0aQr-40lucmc4JklTJusZ8WCG1oOItjgz0ofwW6d67cBWX334&sig=AHIEtbRsOxjfruS4iCJKJULUg_MwYThe4A. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
- ^ http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1926_12.pdf
- ^ http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1930_04.pdf
- ^ http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1932_07.pdf
- ^ "Full text of "Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science"". Archive.org. http://www.archive.org/stream/reportofbritisha27adva/reportofbritisha27adva_djvu.txt. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
- ^ The Times. "Lives remembered: Peter Snow, Peter Glossop and Phyllis Thom | Times Online Obituary". Timesonline.co.uk. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article4827328.ece. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
- ^ http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1951_04.pdf
- ^ http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1953_06.pdf
- ^ a b c http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1953_11.pdf
- ^ http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1962_06.pdf
- ^ http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1965_04.pdf
- ^ a b http://oldbloxhamist.bloxhamschool.com/The%20Bloxhamist/1967_03.pdf
- ^ "Bloxham School Great War Roll of Honour". http://bloxhamschoolwardead.co.uk/index.html. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
[edit] External links
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