Magdalen College School, Oxford

Magdalen College School
Magdalen Crest
Location
Oxford , Oxfordshire England
Information
Type	Private School
Motto	Sicut Lilium (Latin: Like the Lily)
Established	1480
Master	Dr TR Hands
Usher	Mr. S.D.A. Grifiths. Head of School C.P. Bush
Number of pupils	713
Badge Founder	Lily William Waynflete
Website	www.mcsoxford.org

Magdalen College School is an independent school for boys located by The Plain in Oxford, England. It was founded as part of Magdalen College, Oxford by William Waynflete in 1480.

The Good Schools Guide described the school as having "A comfortable mix of brains, brawn and artistic flair but demanding and challenging too," adding, "Not what you might expect a boys' public school to look like or feel like.".

Foundation

The School was originally founded by William Waynflete to educate the sixteen boy choristers of Magdalen College, Oxford who sang in the college's chapel, as well as other gifted local children of high academic achievement. Since then it has grown from its original pupil population of approximately 30 to over 700. In 1890 the school moved from its original location in Magdalen College itself to its present location just over Magdalen Bridge and opposite the college. The choristers are still official 'scholars' of the school along with other pupils who attain excellence in a particular field (Art, Music, Sport and Academia).

History and Organisation

Magdalen College School was, from its foundation in 1480, based in the college itself (just over Magdalen Bridge). However, in the late 19th century the school detached itself, and was replanted across the river, using what is now the Junior section of the school as its entire school house. The school has moved on, and has spread across the road, and the Schoolhouse is now used for the Juniors (ages 7–11)) whilst the school facilities across Cowley Place are for the Seniors (ages 11–18)). The new Sir Basil Blackwell library has been built recently, and a new dining hall is now in use after its opening in September 2008.

While in the intervening centuries it enjoyed mixed fortunes, today Magdalen has established a position amongst the UK's best academic schools and has around 660 pupils aged between 7 and 18. The school was named Independent School of the Year by the Sunday Times in 2004 and in 2008, the first boys school to achieve this award twice. The School is currently consulting on taking girls in the sixth form from a date between September 2010 and September 2012.

The Headmaster is called the Master, who is at present Dr T.R. Hands, former Headmaster of The Portsmouth Grammar School. The deputy head is called the Usher (currently Mr. S.D.A. Grifiths). The Chair of Governors is currently Jeremy Palmer.

Junior School

The Junior School is the section of MCS for boys of ages seven to eleven (or years 3 to 6). Year 3 is called J1 and contains around 16 boys; Year 4 is J2 and contains approximately the same number; Year 5 is split into J3A and J3B and contains around 35 boys; while Year 6 is split into J4A and J4B and contains around 40 boys. The current head of the Junior School is Mr Matthew Coatsworth, while the deputy head is Mrs E. Stapleton.

Sport

Magdalen is a strong sporting school; teams fielded in rugby union, hockey, cricket and tennis have all met a degree of success, with the 1st XV in rugby last year winning nine out of ten matches played and the 1st XI in hockey winning all but one of their games last year. In cricket, notable performances came from the U14a team in 2008, they were one of the most successful cricket teams from Magdalen this millenium and could become National champions later this year. There are also strong individual sportsmen in the school; sailing has recently experienced a surge in popularity and results have gone up. The school rowing club is also very strong, an unbeaten 1st IV, powerhoused by Alex Creak, two of the nation's finest young rowers in the Steele brothers, and a marathon pair in James Curry and Hugh McCullough, who have completed the Boston Lincs. Rowing Marathon three years running.

Boys' pastimes

During lunchbreak and morning breaks, boys frequently play in the central playground or Milham Ford, behind the main teaching block (formerly grass and now occupied by hockey / tennis courts). "The Spit", an island underneath Magdalen Bridge, is used during breaktimes by the nearby Junior School, and has a fenced grass area and a Playground with swings, slides, etc. Informal activities during breaktimes include football, cricket, etc, as well as Magdalen's 'traditional' game, Kingball.

Magdalen has a longstanding culture of clubs and societies, frequently run and operated by boys, and some of which (such as the Computer Club) charge a small annual membership fee, the fees being used to fund club equipment and activities and in some cases (like that of the computer club) improve communal school resources. Such clubs include well-established, traditional clubs like those in other schools such as the Debating Society, Computer Club, Gun Club, Archaeological Society, and Choral Society (which, as a choir school, enjoys active participation). More esoteric clubs and societies include the well-established St. Thomas More Society and editorial of the School magazine, The Lily.

Newer additions to the Magdalen Roster of extracurricular activities include the anime club, climbing club, cheese club, model railway society, the wargaming society, Nitro Club and Ultimate Frisbee. The fitness suite, part of the school's new buildings, is open some lunchtimes.

A complete list of school clubs and societies, with meeting times, summaries, and masters-in-charge, is available on the School Website.

House System

There are six houses at Magdalen, named after old boys who died in the two World Wars. They are:

• Callendar
• Chavasse, named after Captain Noel Chavasse who was honoured with two Victoria crosses for his bravery during The First World War
• Leicester, named after Donovan, nicknamed 'The Saint' for his exemplary behaviour.
• Maltby
• Walker-Dunn (named after two heroes)
• Wilkinson-Blagdon (also named after two heroes)

Each house is divided into five different sections: Room 4, Room 3, Room 2 and Rooms 1a and 1b. In Room 4 the youngest boys of the 2^nd and 3^rd form are to be found, then in Room 3 the Lower 4^th and Upper 4^th boys are to be found, and some Upper 4^th boys and the 5^th form boys mix in Room 2. Finally in Rooms 1a and 1b the Lower 6^th and the Upper 6^th are split up between two separate rooms. In each of these houserooms there is a house tutor and Room 1a is usually run by the house master, who is the head of the house.

Chavasse have won the House Cup, awarded to the house with the most points (from all house activities) at the end of the year, for the past four years in a row.

The different houses of Magdalen College School help keep up a healthy and extremely competitive atmosphere among the boys and the house tutors are there to talk to if the boys ever need any advice. The houses run inter-house competitions such as debating, cross country, football, darts, hockey, swimming, a sports day, singing and drama.

The Melting Pot

The school newspaper at Magdalen is called The Melting Pot. It is run, published and distributed exclusively by boys, and comments on both school life and societical issues, as well as arts reviews and celebrity analysis. The Melting Pot editors' committee also maintain a Melting Pot website: The Melting Pot Online

Kingball

A Magdalen College School tradition, unique to the school is the game of Kingball. It was first played at Magdalen some time in the 19th Century, and although to some extent the rules are passed down from year to year, every new year that takes up the game usually adopts its own rules as well. The game has been actively played during breaktimes amongst pupils using a variety of courts involving parking spaces and paving stones, but in more recent years, the school has painted several standardised courts on the main school playground.

The game is played on a court that is very distinctly shaped. The ball (a tennis ball) is bounced around the court and the players progress up the shaped squares (although in fact none of them are square-shaped) until he is in the 'King' square. Then he serves and so the game progresses until he is eventually knocked off the 'King' square. The game is predominantly played by younger boys, ranging from 8–13 years old. However, whenever boys from this age range vacate the courts and there are no tutors to tell them otherwise, older boys enjoy to play the unique "sport". The seven squares are, in order of descending rank: King, Queen, Prince, Princess, Small square, Big square, and Rabies. If the court has been filled up then the people waiting to play must wait outside the rabies square. These players are called slaves.

The Predominant rules of Kingball are as follows:

1. After one bounce, a player has to palm the ball into his own square before it lands in an opponent's; 2. After two bounces, the ball must be hit directly into an opponent's square, without bouncing. 3. After three bounces, the ball must be kicked into an opponent's square without bouncing. 4. On the fourth bounce or failure to comply with the above rules, a player is demoted to the lowest available square (or court-side if no squares are available) and all other players who were previously below that player in the hierarchy move up a square, one step closer to becoming king.

In the last few years the game has lost its true spirit at MCS with younger boys changing the rules to make it easier, with the square names in descending order as: King, Queen, Prince, Big, Triangle (also called Pizza), Evil (also called Square), and Rabies. One can play with one player per square (Seven), Or can double up (14). Slave do not occur. When the game was played in the late 1970s and early 1980s the only lawful play was that identified at (1) above. If a player could not lawfully play the ball after the first bounce in his square (and at that time the squares were indeed square-shaped and measured about 1.5 to 2 metres from corner to corner) then he was demoted. Also at this time,the names of the squares were not fixed - save for the King square - although frequent references to Queen, Jack, 10 and so on (as per a suit in a pack of cards) were made informally. There was no fixed number of squares although the normal number was 6 (in a 3x2 formation); 8 was not infrequent and larger numbers could be chosen to avoid long queues of those described above as 'slaves'.

The service is played by palming the ball (having thrown it up into the air) into one's own square so as to bounce in another's square. The occupant of that square then plays as above.

School Songs

The school has had many famous musicians over time. There are many songs dedicated to the school by such past pupils with the school hymn being one of them, entitled "Miles Christi" ('Christ's Soldier'). The other school hymn is "The Lilies of the Field", which is sung at the Remembrance service every November, and at the Commemoration service at the end of the school year. The 'House Singing' competition has recently become an annual school event, in which the various houses of the school compete against each other in the form of singing.

Bibliography

Several books over the years have been written about the school. These include:

• Stanier, R.S. Magdalen School (Blackwell 1958)
• Clarke, D.L.L. Magdalen School: Five Hundred Years on (Blackwell 1980)
• Hey, Colin Magdalen Schooldays 1917-1924 (Senecio 1977)
• Orme, Nicholas Education in Early Tudor England: Magdalen College Oxford and Its School, 1480-1540 (Magdalen College 1988)

As an interesting addition to the above list, the novel North by long-serving former Head of English Brian Martin (Macmillan New Writing 2006) is widely acknowledged to be set in the school, although it is not mentioned by name. The main character, an 'eminently shaggable' Head of History never without her complement of fake tan, is a very clear example of the similarities, although despite rumours to the contrary, the titular "North" appears to be a fictional compound of several old boys (he notably conducts an affair with the teacher). Another novel which is clearly based on a fictional version of the school is The Singing Time by Maida Stanier, wife of a former Master (Michael Joseph, 1975)

Combined Cadet Force (CCF) & Community Service Organisation (CSO)

At the end of the Upper Fourth (Year 10), pupils choose between CCF or CSO. They are required to take part for the following 2 years on a Tuesday afternoon, but many stay on in the Upper Sixth.

The Magdalen College School Combined Cadet Force (MCS CCF) is divided up into four sections: Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and a Signals Corps open only to boys in the 6th form. Recently, the school has introduced 'after-school' CCF activities aimed at boys from 13 and above. About once every term, there is a CCF field-day, where pupils spend the entire school day involved with their particular activity. The Army usually camp overnight in a disused army camp, carrying out marches, taking part in tactical missions, or just relaxing beside a log-fire.

CSO, on the other hand, provides the chance for pupils to give something back to the community. There are three main options: working in a local junior school, helping in a charity shop or aiding at the John Radcliffe Hospital. The work is both rewarding and satisfying, and many people decide to carry on in the Upper Sixth . Another part of CSO is the Concert Party, which consists of 2 groups of boys visiting local junior schools and nursing homes, and performing a musical show. This year has produced a fabulous standard of concert, with junior schools around Oxford being awed by Disney Classics (e.g. 'Bare Necessities' from the Jungle Book and an adapted saxophone rendition of 'Arabian Nights' from Aladdin) and Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now'.

Tragedy

On Tuesday 20 March 2007, Dr David Brunton, the head of media studies and English teacher at the school was found dead at the base of St Mary the Virgin Church tower in Radcliffe Square, Oxford. His death was recorded as accidental. A bursary has since been set up in his honour.

Other schools of that name

Wayneflete's original foundation also included a Magdalen College School at Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, which closed in 1933.

There is still a Magdalen College School at Brackley, Northamptonshire.

Notable old boys

Old boys are called Old Waynfletes (OWs) after the founder.

Roughly in chronological order:

• St Thomas More (disputed) — Roman Catholic Martyr
• William Tyndale — first translator of the Bible into English
• Cardinal Wolsey (as Master) — Henry VIII's closest adviser
• John Foxe — martyrologist
• Sir Basil Blackwell — bookseller; the recently-constructed Library was named in his honour
• Noel Chavasse — one of three men to be awarded the Victoria Cross twice and widely regarded as Britains most deorated soldier of WW1. One of the schools houses- Chavasse- was named in his honour
• Ivor Novello — singer/songwriter
• John Caird — director of Les Miserables
• Christopher Peacocke — eminent philosopher
• Nigel Starmer-Smith — BBC rugby correspondent
• Jim Rosenthal — TV sports commentator
• Adam Lively — contemporary novelist
• Tim Hunt — Nobel Prize winner and scientist
• Wayne Masterson — scientist
• Sam Mendes — Oscar-winning film and stage director
• Guy Browning - humorous writer and business guru
• Misha Glenny - BBC Eastern Europe correspondent
• Rob Leslie-Carter — Engineer
• Ben Goldacre — journalist
• Daniel Sandford — BBC News Home Affairs Correspondent
• Julian Opie - Modern Artist
• William Edward Sherwood (Master and boy) - Mayor of Oxford 1913/14 and 1914/15
• Jonathan Bielby - Director of music at Wakefield Cathedral
• Jeremy R. Knowles - Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Harvard University
• Jonathan Bailey (Actor) - Actor
• Yannis Philippakis - Frontman of band Foals

External links

• Magdalen College School website
• Profile at the Good Schools Guide
• ISI inspection report
• A history of the choristers of Magdalen College School, Oxford
• The school paper - The Melting Pot's website