Culford School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Culford School is a public school, in Culford, near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England.

Contents 1 History of the School 2 The School Today 3 Sport 4 Headmasters of Culford School 5 Notable alumni 6 The Fifth Dinner Club 7 External links

[edit] History of the School

The school was founded in Bury St Edmunds as the East Anglian School for Boys, and incorporated the school founded in 1873 by Dr J. H. L. Christien, a Congregationalist minister, in 1881. The school's original premises were in Northgate Street, but in 1916 the school moved to the site later occupied by the East Anglian School for Girls on Thingoe Hill. The school was established by the Methodist Church but with the support of other nonconformist groups in the town in order to provide an appropriate Christian education.

In 1935 the school moved to Culford Park, about 4 miles north of Bury, which was sold by William Cadogan, 7th Earl Cadogan. The school thereafter became known as Culford School.

The School is situated in a palatial 480-acre estate designed by Humphry Repton and originally consisted of the Hall, which became dormitories and classrooms, a laundry which became the sanatorium (later Fitzgerald House), a forge which housed art and woodwork classes (now the Pringle Centre), and the stables which became the Junior School. The first new building to be added was Cadogan House, for the junior boys, which was built close to the stables in 1938. The Leigh Memorial Swimming Pool (state of the art for its time) was built in the same year. It was demolished in the early 1990s. The Skinner and Hastings buildings were added in the 1960s to accommodate Science, Mathematics and English classrooms, but the dormitories remained in the main building until work began on purpose-built boarding houses in 1972.

1972 was the year in which Culford amalgamated with its sister school, the East Anglian School for Girls. Culford was one of the first schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) to embrace co-education. The houses created were:

• Edwards (Senior Boys)
• Cornwallis (Senior Boys)
• Jocelyn (Senior Girls)
• Cadogan (Junior Boys)
• Fitzgerald (Junior Girls)
• Storey House (Sixth Form Co-educational House)

Edwards and Cornwallis were merged in 1993 to create a single house for Senior Boys, Storey House. In 2003 the house system was reorganised producing the following:

• Edwards (Boys)
• Cornwallis (Boys)
• Jocelyn (Girls)
• Robson (Boys)
• Fitzgerald (Day Girls Only)
• Cadogan (Prep School)

[edit] The School Today

The school is a co-educational day/boarding school, which accepts pupils from nursery right the way through to sixth form. There are three main parts to the school:

Pre-Prep, (Fieldgate House), is the first stage of the school's academic tuition, taking girls and boys from the ages of 3 - 7. It was founded in 1984 and is set on the edge of Culford park, (the village side of the park), and is overseen by the current headmistress Mrs Lesley Blacker. The Culford Foundation raised funds to add a new nursery and a new dining hall.

The Preparatory School, (junior school), is the second stage of the school's academic tuition, being a day/boarding school for boys and girls from the ages of 8 - 13. It is situated at the north side of the School in a conversion of the original house's stable blocks. Cadogan House nearby houses the boarders and is surrounded by numerous rugby and hockey pitches exclusive to the Prep School. The present headmaster is Tim Collins. Mr David Kidd left last year. Upper 3 (year 8) are required to sit entrance exams and common entrance to get into the Senior School and get given all the jobs (prefects, house captains, librarians, computer monitors etc). There is a Charity Committee which organises charity events such as 'Scary Day' on Friday 13th October 2006, in aid of Breast Cancer research.

The Senior School incorporates mixed day/boarding facilities for ages 14 - 18. The boarding houses are situated next to the Prep School and overlook the senior rugby and hockey pitches. Culford Hall is currently being restored with help from the Culford Foundation. Other noticeable achievements of the charity are the construction of a new astro-turf and the William Miller science block (built after a generous donation by William Miller, an Old Culfordian and now a successful businessman in the USA), as well as the final completion of the sports centre. Currently the senior boarding houses are in the process of being completely renovated. On 12 October 2006, HRH the Duke of Gloucester visited the School, 25 years after his first visit to mark the School's centenary, to officially open the brand new Studio Theatre which will form part of the proposed Performing Arts Centre at Culford.

The Culford Foundation, set up in 2000, assists the development of academic, cultural and sporting facilities at the School, all of which help to maintain Culford's position as one of the region's leading independent boarding schools.

The Methodist Church supports the School as part of its Christian mission. It seeks to extend the School's ethos and character as well as to contribute to the diversity of education here.

[edit] Sport

Culford offers a wide range of sporting activities to suit everyone. The school is set in 480 acres of parkland and aims to make sure that it is used to its full potential. Regionally strong in Rugby, Cricket and particularly Hockey, Culford offers a wide range of sports with national champions in Karate and Polo currently on the school roll. The School offers climbing to clay pigeon shooting, badminton to basketball through to sub aqua, trampolining and table tennis.

• West Suffolk Swimming Team train daily
• Northampton Saints Rugby Academy train weekly at Culford
• Suffolk County Cricket Youth Squad train regularly, run courses and play matches at Culford
• Centre Court Tennis is based at Culford and provides expert LTA training for all ages of pupils

[edit] Headmasters of Culford School

• H A Davidson 1881-1882
• S Leigh 1882-1915
• W C Newman 1915-1924
• Dr J W Skinner 1924-1951
• Dr C Storey 1951-1971
• D Robson 1971-1993
• J S Richardson 1993-2005 (currently Cheltenham College headmaster)
• J F Johnson-Munday 2005- (formerly Mill Hill School deputy headmaster)

[edit] Notable alumni

• Sir David Plastow (formerly Vickers)
• Admiral Sir Derek Reffell
• Lieutenant General John McColl
• John Motson (sports commentator)
• Judy Aslett (foreign correspondent ITN);
• Gary Newbon (Head of Sport, Central TV)
• Kate Jackson (Lead Singer, 'The Long Blondes')
• Dr Colin White (Director of the Royal Navy Museum, Portsmouth)
• Ian Hendry (Actor, most notably, The Avengers)
• Matthew Grinham (Southgate Hockey Club Men's Captain)
• Grenville Cross, SC (Director of Public Prosecutions, Hong Kong)
• Rev Dr John C A Barrett (Former Headmaster of the Leys School, 1990-2004. He is currently chairman and president of the World Methodist Council)

Earl Cadogan sits on the Governing Body.

[edit] The Fifth Dinner Club

1926 saw the birth of a club, still going strong at Culford today. The name derived itself from the fact there were 5 founding members. G G Hawes, R H Tuffs, Gaubert, Downs and Marley. The activities of the club are shrouded in secrecy and membership is only open to boy prefects who pass an initiation test and are deemed worthy of participation. The club recently celebrated its 80th annversary in Newmarket, with over 100 old boy members and the current school members enjoying a great dinner with countless stories and plenty of wine. This event was also attended by the current headmaster and some privileged members of the Common Room. Diu Vivamus Pingues Moriamur

[edit] External links

• Culford School Website