Gresham's School

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Gresham's School

Motto	Al Worship Be to God Only
Established	1555
Founder	Sir John Gresham
School type	Independent, co-educational
Affiliations	Church of England, Worshipful Company of Fishmongers, HMC
Headmaster	Mr Antony R. Clark MA (Cantab.) (2001-)
Chairman of Governors	Mr A.N.G. Duckworth-Chad OBE, DL
Chaplain	Reverend B.R. Roberts BD
Location	Holt, Norfolk
Country	England
Number of pupils	740
Teaching Staff	circa 90 full-time
School Colours	Black and White
School web site	Greshams.com

Gresham’s School is a prestigious independent boarding school at Holt in North Norfolk, England, founded in the year 1555, a member of the HMC.

[edit] History and Structure

The Senior School of Gresham's was established at Holt by Sir John Gresham in 1555, during the reign of Queen Mary I. Early records are in Latin and call the school Libera Schola Grammaticalis Johannis Gresham Militis. The founder endowed Gresham's generously, placing its property in trust with the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers of London, and full estate records dating from the school's foundation are held at the Guildhall Library. Close links with the Fishmongers' Company continue to this day.

The School Library contains the Foundation Library, a collection of books and manuscripts provided at the school's establishment in 1555 and later, described in A Catalogue of the Foundation Library of Gresham's School, by P.J. Lee (Holt, 1965).

On Christmas Day 1650, Thomas Cooper, MA, headmaster of Gresham's, was hanged for his part in a Royalist rebellion on behalf of Charles II. His body was left hanging on a gibbet in Holt's Market Place.

For three hundred and fifty years, the School was based in what is now called the Old School House, or 'Osh', the former manor house of Holt overlooking the Market Place in the town centre. In 1708, the school escaped a major fire which destroyed most of the rest of the mediaeval town of Holt. This resulted in most of the buildings now to be seen in the town centre belonging to the eighteenth century.

The Old School was rebuilt and converted in 1859. In the early 1900s, under an ambitious headmaster called George Howson (who had moved to Gresham's from Uppingham), the school expanded onto a new campus of some two hundred acres at the eastern edge of the town, while retaining the Old School House as one of its houses. When Howson arrived at Gresham's, he found it in numbers much as it had been when founded in 1555: in 1900 there were only forty Holt Scholars, plus seven boarders.

Girls were first admitted to the Sixth Form only in 1971. The school has been fully co-educational since the early 1980s.

There are now four boarding houses for boys and three for girls (see 'Houses' section below), as well as a wide range of buildings. These include Big School, the School Chapel, the Auden Theatre, the Cairns Centre, the School Library, the Music Centre, the Central Block, the Thatched Classrooms, the Reith Laboratories, the Biology Building, the Armoury, and others.

Gresham's operates a Preparatory School on a separate site at Holt, with its own Headmaster and staff. Like the Senior School, it is fully co-educational and takes full and weekly boarders as well as day pupils. The children, of whom there are over two hundred in the Preparatory School, are taken from the age of eight and normally leave at thirteen, many continuing into the Senior School. The present Kenwyn was previously a house of the Senior School called Bengal Lodge.

The Gresham's Pre-Preparatory School, housed in the Old School House, is a day school catering for one hundred boys and girls between the ages of three and eight.

[edit] Houses

Most Gresham's students are boarders and live in one of the school's seven houses. Four of these are for boys: Howson's (1905), Woodlands (1909), Farfield (1911), and Tallis (1961). Three houses are for girls: Oakeley (1971), (Edinburgh (1984), and Britten (1992).

Each house has a house-master or house-mistress and a house-tutor and matron. There are house teams for team sports, as well as other house activities, such as evening prayers, 'prep', and dramatic productions. Most houses are around seventy strong.

Senior boys and girls may be appointed as prefects. Some of those are then chosen as school prefects, and one in each house as House Captain.

The Old School House was previously a boarding house of the Senior School and is now the home of the Gresham's pre-preparatory school.

[edit] Boys' Houses

House	Housemaster	House Tutor	Matron
Howson's	Mr J.P.B. Martin BSc	Mr R. Hensen BA	Mrs M. Dimsdale
Farfield	Mr J.R.P. Thomson BEng	Mr D.A. Stanworth BA, MMus	Mrs J. Straton
Tallis	Mr P.C. Farmer-Wright BSc	Mr P.J. Watson BA	Mrs B. Aldridge
Woodlands	Mr F.J.V. Retter BA	Mr G.D. Bartle BSc	Mrs C. Day

[edit] Girls' Houses

House	Housemistress	House Tutor	Matron
Edinburgh	Mrs S. Radley BEd	Miss L.B. Roberts BA, ARCM	Mrs F. Daplyn
Britten	Mrs J.E. Moore	Miss K. Lahana BSc	Mrs V. Payne
Oakeley	Miss F.M.A. Gathercole BA OG	Mrs K.E. Curtis BA	Mrs D. Powles

[edit] Curriculum

The school teaches most subjects of the mainstream humanistic curriculum. While only limited choices between courses need to be made for GCSE, at A-level pupils choose three or four subjects, and most combinations are possible.

Classical Civilization, Latin and Greek
Modern Languages: French, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese
English language and literature
Mathematics
Physics, Chemistry, Biology
Electronics, Computing, Graphical Communication, Design & Technology
History, Geography, Politics, Economics, Business Studies
Religious Studies
Art, Theatre Studies, Music

The aim of the school is to give a good all-round education and to prepare pupils for university entry and for other careers, such as the armed forces. Most Greshamians move on to top British universities, such as Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews, Bristol, Durham and Edinburgh.

[edit] School Sports

Apart from its sports grounds for cricket, rugby football, hockey, and soccer, the school has its own indoor swimming pool, squash, tennis and badminton courts, gymnasium and extensive school woods. It owns a boat-house at Barton Broad and a shooting lodge at Bisley, as well as a shooting range at the school.

An Old Greshamian was a member of the gold-medal winning British hockey squad at the 1988 Summer Olympics and of the bronze-medal winning team at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Another OG was for many years the British number one squash player and now heads the world Professional Squash Association. In the field of rifle-shooting, Gresham's has been one of the top ten schools in England for about forty years, and an OG won a shooting Gold Medal in the 2006 Commonwealth Games at Melbourne. In the field of winter sports, the 11th Earl of Northesk won an Olympic medal for toboganning (then called 'skeleton') in 1928.

The principal school sports for boys are rugby football (Michaelmas Term), hockey (Lent Term), and cricket (Summer Term). There is a wide range of other school sports, including tennis, badminton, golf, soccer, squash, martial arts, swimming, riding, sailing, cross-country running, shooting and canoeing. As an alternative to formal sports, Gresham's students may take part in 'School Works', chiefly forestry activities in the extensive woodland attached to the main school campus.

[edit] Religion

Gresham's is a Church of England foundation, but the school is open to all denominations and religions. Services are a focal point of the School's life, with a morning assembly in Chapel on four mornings of the week and in Big School on the other three. The Saturday morning service is a choral practice, and Holy Communion may be taken on Sundays. There are also formal prayers in each boarding house in the evenings.

Non-Anglicans are excused communion services on Sundays, and Roman Catholics attend mass on Sunday at the church of Our Lady and St Joseph in Sheringham.

If wished, boys and girls may be prepared at the School for Confirmation into the Church of England, which is usually conducted by the Bishop of Norwich.

[edit] Out of School Activities

There is a School Orchestra, a Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme, and a range of school clubs, such as the Debating Society, the Natural History Society and the Chess Club. Participation in school and house plays is a voluntary but popular activity. North Norfolk Divers, a branch of the British Sub Aqua Club, is based at the school.

[edit] Combined Cadet Force

Military training is provided by the Gresham's School contingent of the Combined Cadet Force, the Army section of which is associated with the Royal Anglian Regiment. Some four hundred students are cadets (about 270 in the Army section) and training takes place on one afternoon of each week.

Activities include shooting, expeditions, combat manoevres, ambush and continuity drills, signals training, orienteering, climbing, kayaking, line-laying, first aid and lifesaving, motor mechanics, and hovercraft construction.

A Biennial Review of the Gresham's School CCF Contingent was carried out on 10 May 2006 by General Sir Richard Dannatt KCB CBE MC, Commander-in-Chief Land Command and Chief of the General Staff designate.

[edit] Scholarships

A range of scholarships is available, giving a reduction in school fees. These include Open Academic Scholarships, Music, Art and Drama Scholarships, Lockhart Academic Scholarships, Edinburgh Scholarships, Fishmongers' Company Open Scholarships and Fishmongers' Art Scholarships, Sports Scholarships and All Rounder Scholarships. There is also an award called the 450th Anniversary Boarding Award.

Examinations for Academic Scholarships are held every November for admission the following September, while Scholarsips in Music, Sport, Art, and Drama are awarded on the basis of interviews and practical work.

The maximum value of a Scholarship is half of the school's fees, but the value may be increased by a bursary in cases of financial need.

Enquiries about Scholarships should be made to The Registrar, Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk NR25 6EA (registrar@greshams.com).

[edit] Fees

The school's annual fees for the academic year 2005-06 were:

Senior School boarders: £20,670
Senior School non-boarders: £16,020
Preparatory School boarders: £15,075
Preparatory School non-boarders: £11,565
Pre-preparatory School Year 3: £6,345
Pre-preparatory School Year 2: £6,030
Pre-preparatory School Year 1: £5,715

Arms of the Fishmongers' Company

[edit] Governing Body

More than half of the school's Governing Body represent the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers, who have been the school's trustees since 1555. The Chairman of Governors (currently Mr A.N.G. Duckworth-Chad, D.L., a Norfolk landowner) is always a past or present Prime Warden of the Fishmongers' Company. The previous Chairman was the late Admiral Earl Cairns.

The governing body includes a representative of Cambridge University, currently Lady Perry of Southwark, and one of Norfolk County Council, and it also seeks to include some distinguished Old Greshamians.

The Clerk of the Fishmongers' Company also acts as Clerk to the Governing Body, and its meetings are held at Fish Hall in the City of London.

The Gresham grasshopper

[edit] The Grasshopper

The Grasshopper is used as the badge of several Gresham's School clubs, and a long-established school periodical is called The Grasshopper. The green insect appears as the crest above the school's coat of arms, commemorating the Founder, Sir John Gresham, whose family crest it was. The Gresham Grasshopper is also used by Gresham College and can be seen as the weathervane on the Royal Exchange in the City of London, founded in 1565 by Gresham's nephew Sir Thomas Gresham, and the similar weathervane on the Faneuil Hall in Boston, Massachusetts, is modelled on the Royal Exchange's. The first Royal Exchange was profusely decorated with grasshoppers.

According to a legend of the Greshams, the founder of the family was a foundling abandoned as a new-born baby in long grass in North Norfolk and found there by a woman whose attention was drawn to the child by a grasshopper. A beautiful story, it is also possible that the grasshopper is simply an heraldic rebus on the name Gresham, with gres being a Middle English form of grass (Old English grœs).

In the system of English heraldry, the grasshopper is said to represent wisdom and nobility.

[edit] Development and External Relations

During the celebrations of the school's 450th Year in 2005, the establishment was announced of a Foundation to focus on encouraging legacies and donations for scholarships, bursaries and specific major projects. A Director of Development and External Relations has since been appointed, as part of a programme of reaching out to Old Greshamians, and gatherings are planned around the UK and overseas.

[edit] Books about Gresham's

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement and Instruction, 27 August 1825 (has article on Gresham's School)
Crockford's Scholastic Directory, 1861 (has article on Gresham's School)
History of Holt: a brief study of parish, church and school (Rounce & Wortley, 1908)
Gresham's in Wartime by Philip S. Newell and Bernard Sankey
Schoolmaster's Harvest: some findings of fifty years, 1894-1944 by James Herbert Simpson, (London, Faber and Faber, 1954)
The History and Register of Gresham's School, 1555-1954 by Charles Lawrence Scruton Lidell and A.B. Douglas (Ipswich, 1955)

A Catalogue of the Foundation Library of Gresham's School, by Peter John Lee (Holt, 1965)

When Heroes Die by Sue Smart (Breedon Books, 2001) ISBN 1859832563

I Will Plant Me a Tree: an Illustrated History of Gresham's School by S.G.G. Benson and Martin Crossley Evans (James & James, London, 2002) ISBN 0-907383-92-0

[edit] Some Old Greshamians

[edit] Public Life

Sir John Tusa

11th Earl of Northesk - parliamentarian
Viscount Dunluce
Most Rev. David Hand - Archbishop of Papua New Guinea
Alastair Hetherington - editor of The Guardian
James Klugmann - historian of the Communist Party
Major General John Lethbridge - soldier
Donald Maclean - diplomat and spy
John Moorman - Bishop of Ripon
Laurance Reed - Conservative politician
Lord Reith - first director general of the BBC
Wilfrid Roberts - Liberal politician
11th Lord Strabolgi - Labour politician
Dr Thomas Stuttaford - Conservative politician and journalist
Lord Simon of Glaisdale - Conservative politician and law lord
Lord Simon of Wythenshawe - socialist and journalist
Sir Philip Toosey - Bridge on the River Kwai commander
Sir John Tusa - Director of BBC World Service
Tom Wintringham - soldier, military historian, communist

[edit] Arts

Sienna Guillory

Wystan Hugh Auden - poet
Maurice Ash - writer, environmentalist
Matt Arnold - television presenter
Michael Aldridge - actor
Sir Lennox Berkeley - composer
Peter Brook - theatre director
Benjamin Britten, Lord Britten of Aldeburgh - composer
Norman Cohn - historian
Nigel Dick - director, screenwriter
Sir Philip Dowson - architect and President of the Royal Academy
Boris Ford - literary critic, editor
Stephen Frears - film director
Sienna Guillory - actress
John Davy Hayward - editor and critic
Andrew Jefford - wine writer and poet
John Lanchester - novelist
Michael Laskey - poet
Robert Mawdesley - actor
Robert Medley RA - artist
Christopher J. Monckton - organist and conductor
Ben Nicholson, OM - artist
Paddy O'Connell - television presenter
John Pudney - poet and novelist
John Saltmarsh - historian
Sebastian Shaw - actor
Humphrey Spender - photographer
Sir Stephen Spender - poet
George Stiles - composer
Tony Tuckson - artist
Roderick Watkins - composer
Charles Mayes Wigg - artist
Sabin Willett - novelist

[edit] Sciences

Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin

L.E. Baynes - aeronautical engineer
Derek Bryan - sinologist
Sir Christopher Cockerell - inventor of the hovercraft
Sir James Dyson - inventor and entrepreneur
Dr John Grange - immunologist
Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin - winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine
Sir John Hammond - agricultural research scientist
Harry Hodson - economist
G. Evelyn Hutchinson - zoologist
David Keith-Lucas - aeronautical engineer
David Lack - biologist
Maurice Lister - chemist
Jonathan Partington - mathematician
Christopher Strachey - computer scientist
Sir Owen Wansbrough-Jones - chemist, weapons research scientist
Sir Martin Wood - engineer

[edit] Sports

Ralph Firman

Glyn Barnett - rifleman, Commonwealth Games gold medallist 2006
Gawain Briars - British No. 1 squash player
11th Earl of Northesk - Olympic medallist (tobogganing, 1928)
Matthew Dickinson - mountaineer and adventurer
Ralph Firman - Formula One racing driver
Richard Leman - hockey player and Olympic gold medallist
Peter Lloyd - mountaineer
Andy Mulligan - captain of the British Lions Rugby XV
Pat Symonds - Formula One racing

[edit] Other

Sir Harold Atcherley - arts administrator
Sir John Agnew - landowner, festivals organizer
Jeremy Bamber - mass murderer
Colin Forrester-Paton - missionary and Chaplain to H.M. The Queen in Scotland
William Lubbock - 18th century divine
Lady Flora McDonnell
Lady Alice McDonnell

[edit] In Fiction

Horace Rumpole, a notable Gresham's parent

Few fictional OGs have so far been identified. However, John Mortimer's television barrister Rumpole sent his son Nick to the school during the 1970s.

[edit] See also

[edit] Headmasters of Gresham's

Thomas Cooper, MA (Cantab.) (c. 1640-1650) - hanged in 1650 as a Royalist rebel
John Holmes, MA (18th C.)
Charles Elton, MA (Cantab.)(mid 19th C.)
George Howson, MA (1900-1919) - reforming headmaster
James R. Eccles, MA (1919-1935)
John B. Williams, OBE, MA (Cantab.)
M. J. Olivier, MA (to 1955)
Logie Bruce Lockhart, MA (Cantab.) (1955-1982) - international rugby footballer
Tim Woods, MA (Oxon.) (1982-1985) - Rhodes Scholar
Hugh Wright, MA (from 1985)
John Arkell, MA (Cantab.) (to 2001)
Antony R. Clark, MA (Cantab.) (2001- )

[edit] Other Gresham's Masters

[edit] Archives

The Manuscripts Section of the Guildhall Library in the City of London holds the following Gresham's School records -

Estates records 1547-1904
Administrative records 1633-1901
Admissions Register 1729-1857
Prize List 1846-1891

Reference: Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section (Accessions 7282, 7789A/1-2, 7791/1-4, 20341 and 20342/1-2)

The Norfolk Record Office also holds some Gresham's accessions, including a bundle of correspondence relating to the school from 1799 to 1810 between the Fishmongers' Company and Adey & Repton, including copies of statutes (reference NRA 27820 Repton).

[edit] References

The History and Register of Gresham's School, 1555-1954 (Ipswich, 1955);
I Will Plant Me a Tree: an Illustrated History of Gresham's School (James & James, London, 2002)
Gresham's School online
Gresham's Preparatory School
The Worshipful Company of Fishmongers Official site

[edit] External links

[edit] Schools in Norfolk

Norfolk Schools
Comprehensive Schools: Cromer High School \| Smithdon High School \| Lynn Grove High School \| Litcham High School Wymondham College
Sixth Form Colleges: Paston College \| Notre Dame High School (Norwich)
Special Schools: None yet on Wikipedia
Former Schools: Norfolk County School \| Watts Naval School
Independent Schools: Frisby's English School
Public Schools: Gresham's School \| Norwich School, Norwich

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