Christ's Hospital

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Bluecoat School directs here. For the school in Oldham, Greater Manchester, see Blue Coat School, Oldham, or in Coventry, see Coventry Blue Coat Church of England School
View of the Christ's Hospital campus
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View of the Christ's Hospital campus
View of the Christ's Hospital quad
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View of the Christ's Hospital quad

Christ's Hospital (also popularly known as the Bluecoat School, and also known by the nicknames Housey and CH) is a full board boarding school located in the countryside just south of Horsham, West Sussex, England. The school was originally founded in the 16th century in Blackfriars, London and Hertford.

Until recently Christ's Hospital was unique for a British independent school in that it still educated a large proportion of its students for free. This stemmed from its founding charter as a charitable school. School fees are paid on a means-tested basis, with substantial subsidies paid by the school so that students from all walks of life are able to have a comprehensive, high quality, public school education that would otherwise be beyond the means of their parents.

In 2005/6, just over 20% of parents paid nothing at all and about one third paid less than £250 per year per child. The entrance process uses exams and interviews and prefers to award school places to those who show academic potential that would benefit from the high quality environment that the school offers to those that would otherwise not be able to afford it. The number of pupils that pay the full fee (~£18,400) is limited to 6% of the School population. Recently however, the school stopped its policy of allowing students in for free and made the minimum fee £100 per year due to financial problems. [citation needed]

Contents

[edit] History

Christ's Hospital's buildings in London in 1770.
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Christ's Hospital's buildings in London in 1770.

Christ’s Hospital was the result of the vision of King Edward VI, assisted by Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, and Sir Richard Dobbs, Lord Mayor of London. Its genesis was the earlier dissolution of the monasteries and the resultant overflow onto the streets of the poor and destitute. Encouraged by a sermon from Ridley, exhorting mercy to the poor, the King wrote to the Lord Mayor encouraging him to action. This he did via a committee of 30 merchants. Henry VIII had already granted the use of Greyfriars to the City for the relief of the poor and Edward granted The Palace of Bridewell, his lands of the Savoy and rents and other chattels to create three Royal Hospitals – Bridewell Hospital (now the King Edward's School, Witley, Surrey), St Thomas Hospital and Christs Hospital, which was for the education of poor children.

The first boys and girls entered the School in Newgate in 1552. The Royal Charter was granted and signed by its Founder, Edward VI, the following year.

The School occupied Newgate as its major site for 350 years, but from time to time children were housed in other parts of the country, especially after the Great Fire of London made parts of the School uninhabitable. Eventually, the girls settled at Hertford and the boys were relocated from Newgate to the purpose built site in Horsham in 1902. The Foundation stone was laid by Edward, Prince of Wales on 23 October 1897, on behalf of the Sovereign, the date being the anniversary of the birthday of the Founder.

This early 19th century picture shows the Great Hall on St. Matthew's Day, 21 September. On this day, two Grecians destined for scholarships to Oxford and Cambridge Universities gave orations in praise of the school, one in Latin and the other in English. The Verrio painting can be seen along the wall on the right.
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This early 19th century picture shows the Great Hall on St. Matthew's Day, 21 September. On this day, two Grecians destined for scholarships to Oxford and Cambridge Universities gave orations in praise of the school, one in Latin and the other in English. The Verrio painting can be seen along the wall on the right.

Christ’s Hospital was bestowed with its second Royal Charter by Charles II in 1673. This Charter specifically created the Royal Mathematical School whose original purpose was to train mathematicians and navigators who would progress into careers as Naval officers or merchant seafarers. Samuel Pepys, Secretary to His Majesty’s Navy and later Vice President of Christ’s Hospital, featured strongly in his considerable contribution to Christ’s Hospital

Over the centuries Christ’s Hospital has continued to enjoy Royal patronage. His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge started a tradition of Royal Presidents in 1854. In 1919 His Majesty George V became the first Royal Patron, followed by His Majesty George VI in 1937 and Her Majesty the Queen in 1953. The magnanimous support of the City of London Corporation and Livery companies of the City (some 20 actively support children in the School) remains uninterrupted. Christ’s Hospital remains true to its Founder’s principles of supporting disadvantaged children and by remaining a School for the public.

Two of 19th century London's most notable architects, John Shaw Senior and John Shaw Jr were architects/surveyors to Christ's Hospital throughout the first half of the 1800s. The Shaws' work included the old school hall (c.1825).

[edit] Christ's Hospital today

The move to the 1200 acres at Christ’s Hospital was greeted with much consternation among Christ’s Hospital Governors, being at the behest of a Government commission. His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge was moved to say "I am one of those who are perfectly prepared to go with the spirit of the age in which we live, but I confess that I am also one of those who do not love change for change’s sake. To upset an old and long standing institution… is a very dangerous experiment to try." Nevertheless the 'experiment' was to work spectacularly well, and Christ's Hospital now enjoys the benefits of the gentle Sussex countryside whilst being (in terms of campus size) the largest school in the country.

The Hertford school for girls merged with the boys at Horsham in 1985 and hence Christ’s Hospital returned to its original co-educational roots. The Charitable Foundation staff, who had remained in Great Tower Street, London, moved to Horsham in 1987.

Christ's Hospital is the most philanthropic of all independent schools with assets of £261 million and an income from its investments in property and securities of £9 million (a substantial proportion of the income goes towards subsidising school fees). It said it was in a sound enough position to "withstand the vagaries of the markets". However, recent expenses (such as a gas leak which required a complete replacement of the CH gas pipes, and ongoing refurbishments which have incurred spiralling costs) have dented this title, and Christ's Hospital is now in a much poorer financial situation, which is serious enough to end the school's policy of allowing students with poor financial situations in for free.

Christ's Hospital recently took part in the first series of the reality television programme Rock School, in which KISS legend Gene Simmons helped a group of CH pupils form their own rock band.

The school band led the procession at the Queen's 80th birthday in London on 21 April 2006.

The School is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, and the current Headmaster is Dr Peter Southern, a graduate of Oxford and Edinburgh Universities.

The Chapel recently hosted an exhibition of the "Brangwyns": cartoons by the artist Frank Brangwyn depicting scenes from Christian history such as Peter standing up with the eleven, conversions and martyrdoms. This was a part of the commemoration of the 50 years since the artist's death.

[edit] Traditions

The school is best known for the Tudor uniform: long blue coat, knee-breeches, yellow socks, and bands at the neck for boys.

Second and third form pupils wear a simple leather belt with a buckle, once a pupil reaches their Little Erasmus (year 9) they receive a more elaborate hallmarked sterling silver broadey buckle and belt which they keep after they leave the school.

A complementary uniform was introduced for girls on re-unification of the schools – knee length pleated skirt, summer jacket, yellow socks (for the boys and junior girls), and grey socks or grey/black tights for senior girls, as well as the long coat in winter, and the bands. The nickname "Blue-coat School" comes from the blue coats worn by the students – however the nickname used within the school community itself is "Housey" and the long coat is called a housey coat.

Links with the City and the Lord Mayor of London are maintained, with an annual parade through the City of London on St Matthew's Day and a regular place in the Lord Mayor's Show.

One of the Christ's Hospital traditions is marching into lunch with the band, which is done each day, weather permitting, except Sunday.

[edit] Organisation of the school

[edit] Year groups

The ages currently range from 11 to 18, although "Leigh Hunt" was originally a prep school which took children from the ages of 8/9, in preparation for the senior school.

The School uses traditional year group names. The nomenclature used by the school and its National Curriculum equivalence are shown in the following table:

School

Nat.Curric. equiv.

Second Form

Year 7

Third Form

Year 8

Little Erasmus

Year 9

Upper Fourth

Year 10

Great Erasmus

Year 11

Deputy Grecians

Year 12 (lower sixth)

Grecians

Year 13 (upper sixth)

[edit] Music

Christ's Hospital has a long and distinguished musical tradition and has one of the largest school music departments in the country, with around 35 visiting staff and 9 residential staff. The school's Chapel (seating 1000 and second only in size to Lancing College Chapel) has a large five-manual Rushworth and Dreaper organ, one of four organs in the School. The 120-strong Chapel Choir has made many recordings and through these has earnt an excellent reputation; there is also the School's Symphony Orchestra and many other smaller choirs and instrumental ensembles, along with the celebrated annual House Singing Competition. Many musically gifted pupils have gone on to take up Choral and Organ Scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge throughout the School's history. The Music Department also organise a concert every February at London's Purcell Room, thus providing an excellent performance opportunity for budding soloists and chamber musicians, alongside masterclasses with musicians such as Stephen Kovacevich, Hugh Bean, Adrian Thompson and Patrick Russill. The School is also famous for being the first place in England to host a complete cycle of the chamber music of Brahms, under the direction of the then Head of Piano John Thwaites. However, the School's most famous ensemble is the Band, which plays for the daily parade and performs in the annual Lord Mayor's Show in the City of London. The Band also played in the prestigious Rose Bowl Parade in California in 2002. The residential music staff include John Forster as Head of Piano and Conducting (a former Professor of the Royal College of Music) and Terry Whittingham as Bandmaster (a former Bandmaster of the Queen's Own Highlanders); the current Director of Music is Bruce Grindlay, who succeeded Peter Allwood in 2001. Famous alumni of the Music Department at Christ's Hospital include the conductors Sir Colin Davis, Charles Hazlewood, Adrian Bawtree and Simon Joly, the trumpeter David Mason (formerly Principal Trumpet of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), the tenor Charles Corp, and the composer and conductor Constant Lambert.

[edit] Accommodation

View of Grecians East
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View of Grecians East

The School Houses are named after notable Old Blue writers. Each House has an "A" and "B" side, each housing roughly 50 pupils:

  • Peele
  • Thornton
  • Middleton
  • Coleridge
  • Lamb
  • Barnes
  • Maine
  • Leigh Hunt
  • Grecians East & Grecians West

Grecians East and Grecians West were completed early in 2001 and provide individual study bedrooms plus several general common rooms and kitchenettes shared by a group of 7 to 10 pupils.

Originally the other houses provided two dormitories (Upper Dorm and Lower Dorm) sleeping up to about 30 boys each. As the merger of the boys and girls approached, some dormitories were divided into cubicles, and subsequent developments created dormitories accommodating about 12 pupils each. Since 2001 there has been a rolling refurbishment program (due for completion in 2007). The refurbished houses provide a range of accommodation: 4-bed rooms for the junior pupils to 1-bed rooms for the more senior pupils.

Until the 1960s, boys at Horsham lived in all-through houses from 2nd Form to Grecians. Then houses were divided into Senior houses (Peele, Thornton, Middleton, Coleridge and Lamb) and Junior houses (Barnes, Maine, Leigh Hunt) with boys transferring to a Senior house after L.E. In conjunction with the merger, a further reorganisation occurred with each house converting to a Senior side and a Junior side. This system reverted to the all-through houses in 2000.

In addition to this, Thornton will be converted into a girls' house in 2006/2007 (with girls moving into Thornton B in September 2006, and boys being moved out of Thornton A at the end of the 06/07 school year and girls moving into Thornton A in September 2007) in order to balance the boy/girl ratio to 1:1, instead of the 5:3 ratio that has existed since the early 90's.

[edit] Old Blues

Former pupils (known as Old Blues) include:

Samuel Pepys was never a pupil but served on the governing council for a time.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  • Christ's Hospital, G.A.T. Allan (revised J.E. Morpurgo), London 1984, ISBN 0-86364-005-2
  • Christ's Hospital quad and Grecians East photos by Sergiu Panaite
  1. ^ Website of Alumni that have recently climbed Everest

[edit] External links

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopaedia.

Coordinates: 51°02′39″N, 0°21′47″W

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