Ipswich School

Ipswich School
Address
Henley Rd. Ipswich , Suffolk , IP1 3SG England
Information
Type	Public day and boarding school
Established	1299 (founded in its current form in 1528)
Founder	Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (in its current form (1528)
Headmaster	Ian G Galbraith
Chairman of Governors	Karl Daniels
Gender	Coeducational
Age	2 to 18
Enrollment	c.1000 pupils
Houses	6 day houses and 1 large boarding house
Colour(s)	Navy Blue and white
Publication	The Ipswichian, The Cardinal, The Ipswichian Occasional
Visitor	HM Queen Elizabeth II
Website	http://www.ipswich.suffolk.sch.uk

Ipswich School is a co-educational public school situated in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. It was founded in its current form as The King's School, Ipswich by Thomas Wolsey in 1528. The School's Head Master, Ian Galbraith, is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

The School Today

Located north of the town centre, Ipswich School is comprised of four parts, located on three adjacent sites. The Pre-Prep and Nursery cater for pupils aged three to seven. The Prep School is located in brand new facilities costing £3.8 million. It was established in 1883 with the aim of preparing children aged 7 to 11 for entry into the Senior School.

The Senior School occupies the main school site. The school's main buildings are a distinctive example of Victorian architecture, with Tudor style brick. The main building and chapel are both Grade II listed. The school buildings surround a central playing field and cricket square along with the Cricket Pavilion. The remainder of the School's sport's fields are located at a nearby site on the edge of the town. Within the Senior School the students are divided into three, the Lower School (Years 7 and 8), the Middle School (Years 9-11) and the Sixth Form (Years 12 and 13). The Sixth form have just moved into new facilities vacated by the Prep School and number over 100 students.

The School continues to flourish under an independent, fee-charging basis, and does exceptionally well in league tables and with university entrances, sending between 6 and 12 students to Oxford and Cambridge every year. The School is designated as having a "Church of England" Religious Character as defined in "The Designation of Schools Having a Religious Character (Independent Schools) (England) Order 2005 (No. 1195)".

Sports and Activities

The School does very well in sports often reaching National Finals in competitions. The School offers a wide selection of sports ranging from the traditional rugby, hockey and cricket, to others such as indoor hockey, sailing and Eton Fives, being one of a handful of schools in the country to have Fives Courts. The School also offers a wide range of activites for the pupils to partake in including the Debating Society, a Sub Aqua Club, Duke of Edinburgh Award and a Combined Cadet Force of which the School has an Army and Royal Air Force section.

Music and Drama

The School has a flourishing music department. It provides several Orchestras, Ensembles and Choirs. Many plays are put on to a very high standard every year at Ipswich in either Great School Theatre or Little School. The Sixth Form direct and produce their own plays most recently putting on Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.

History

A view of Ipswich School from Christchurch Park, as seen in an old postcard

The oldest record of Ipswich School goes back to 1299 but the school was founded in its current form in 1528 by Thomas Wolsey, later Cardinal Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England, who was a pupil of the school. A merchant and Portman (Alderman) of Ipswich called Richard Felaw (a school house is named in his honour) bequeathed his house in what is now Foundation Street to the School, endowing it with lands so that children of needy parents could attend without paying fees. One of the first pupils to benefit from Felaw’s endowment was Thomas Wolsey who never forgot that it was largely thanks to Felaw that he became what he became. In part to thank the school, Wolsey wanted to transform it into an institution that would compete with likes of Eton College, recently founded by King Henry VI, and would become one of England's greatest educational institutions. Wolsey created his new college by absorbing into the former school some of the institutions in the town such as St. Mary's College, and named it (The King's School, Ipswich). Since the time of Wolsey the school has gone from strength to strength as he hoped it would.

After Wolsey's downfall in 1530 Thomas Cromwell ensured the survival of the School by securing for it a new endowment from King Henry VIII and the status of a royal foundation. This was confirmed by Queen Elizabeth I in the charter that she granted to the School in 1566. For part of the School’s history it was known as Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Ipswich. The School’s coat of arms and motto, Semper Eadem (Always the Same), are those of Elizabeth I. The Monarch of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is the School’s Visitor.

During the reign of James I part of the Blackfriars Monastery was appropriated for use as a classroom, and the Blackfriars remained the School’s home until 1842 when the building was deemed to be unsafe. For a few years teaching was carried on in temporary premises in Lower Brook Street. In 1851 Prince Albert laid the foundation stone for the School’s first purpose-built premises in Henley Road, and by 1852 the new buildings were in use. The School has remained on the Henley Road site ever since.

More recently the School has moved away from the traditional full boarding ethos still held by similar schools such as Eton and Harrow. The number of boarding houses has reduced to one and the majority of students are day pupils. However, despite frowns from the full boarding traditionalists, the School has flourished under this new approach.

Houses

The school now has six day houses - Holden, Rigaud, Sherrington, School, Broke and Felaw - into which all pupils are filtered from year 9/Upper 4th Form onwards, and a single large boarding house - Westwood. Those with relatives who attended the school are generally expected to be placed in the same house. There is a good deal of competition between the houses and every year, the houses compete for the Ganzoni Cup (house cup), which is won by gaining points from winning inter-house events. These include most sports as well as others such as debating and art. The final and most important event is Sports Day, in the Summer Term, on which the athletics competitions take place. Felaw has won more times than any other house, with Rigaud in second place; it is believed that School has not won since the days of the reign of Queen Victoria. However, School is the oldest house and dates from the days when the boys lived and were taught in one house (called School House). It later became the boarding house which occupied a part of the main building on Henley Road.

House	House Colours
Sherrington	Maroon/Yellow
Felaw	Brown/Blue
School	Navy/Yellow
Broke	Purple/Yellow
Holden	Scarlet/Yellow
Rigaud	Green/Yellow
Westwood	Grey/Black

The school's single large boarding house is called Westwood. Westwood is no longer a part of the school house system where students were organised into school houses depending on which boarding house they were in. For example Sherrington House occupied Highwood and, as previously mentioned, School House occupied part of the main Victorian building on Henley Road. A large percentage of the pupils who occupy Westwood today are overseas students, often Asian.

School Publications

The three main publications are The Ipswichian which is the annual School magazine, The Cardinal which is a publication for Old Ipswichians and The Ipswichian Occasional. The Occasional is the school newspaper published every Monday and written by pupils. It contains articles of note and interest to the members of the school such as sports results and upcoming events. It has recently celebrated its 500th issue and is now in full colour as of the start of the school year 2008.

Upper 6th Leaving Events

Ipswich School has a reputation for hosting some impressive pranks carried out by members of the departing 6th form leavers. The school's famous blue gates were painted pink in an effort to alleviate sexism. On the night of May 24th 2007, a group of undercover students placed 70 rubber ducks around the school grounds. To this day around a quarter ducks remain, although the whereabouts of the ducks are kept very secret. On May 25th, two "forts" were created at either end of the playground, using farm materials and scaffolding. To the entertainment of the school, a waterfight took place during morning break at 11am.

Literary References

Ipswich School is mentioned in Shakespeare's play, Henry VIII:

'Those twins of learning that he rais'd in you,
Ipswich and Oxford! One of which fell with him,
Unwilling to outlive the good that did it;
The other, though unfinish'd, yet so famous'

Notable Old Ipswichians

Old Ipswichians include:

• Sir H. Rider Haggard, author of King Solomon's Mines and She.
• Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, Nobel Laureate, Physician who coined the word synapse.
• Thomas Wolsey, Lord Chancellor of England, Head of Roman Catholic church in England
• Sir Robert Hitcham, 17th century Judge and member of parliament.
• William Kirby, 'the father of entomology'
• Rear Admiral Sir Philip Broke KCB, naval hero, Commander of HMS Shannon
• Edward Ardizzone, artist
• Peter Florence, founder of the Hay Festival held in Hay-on-Wye
• Charles Keene, artist, Punch
• Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, Commander of English forces, Battle of the Flodden.
• Sir Edward Poynter Bt, Artist, President of the Royal Academy
• Henry Staunton, Businessman and media mogul
• Tom Withers Klute (musician), Music Producer and DJ
• James King, Radio One film critic
• Geoffrey Rees-Jones, Former Welsh rugby international.
• John Penrose (born 1964), Conservative Member of Parliament
• Peter Brunt (1917-2005), ancient historian
• Harold Smith (1916-2006) of Ipswich Town Football Club
• Cecil Howard Lay, Architect, artist and poet

Sources

• John M. Blatchly, A Famous Antient Seed-Plot of Learning - A History of Ipswich School (Ipswich 2003).
• G.R.W. Webb, The History of Ipswich School and Education in Ipswich (Ipswich 2005).

External links

• Ipswich School website
• Historic England. "Details from listed building database ({{{num}}})". National Heritage List for England.