Downside School

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Downside School

'Apud bonos jura pietatis'
Established	1606
School type	Independent
Principal	Dom Leo Maidlow Davis
Students	~380
Location	Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset
Website	http://www.downside.co.uk

Downside School is a Roman Catholic Public School in Stratton-on-the-Fosse near Bath, situated next to Downside Abbey.

Contents 1 The school 2 History 3 Sports 4 Downside's Mission Statement 5 Press coverage 6 Old Gregorians 7 References 8 External links

[edit] The school

The School is attached to the Benedictine Abbey and Monastery of Downside, some of whose monks work in the school as staff or chaplains. The current headmaster is Dom Leo Maidlow Davis.

The School is divided into four houses: Roberts, Barlow and Smythe for boys and Caverel for girls (it had previously been a boys' house). Barlow and Roberts are named after the Community's Saints (Saint Ambrose Barlow and Saint John Roberts) and the other two are named after the Community's benefactors. There were originally 2 more houses, Ullathorne and Ramsay, which were closed in the mid 90s as a result of falling pupil numbers.

[edit] History

Monks from the monastery of St Gregory’s, Douai, in Flanders, came to Downside in 1814. In 1607 St Gregory’s was the first house after the Reformation to begin conventual life with a handful of exiled Englishmen. For nearly 200 years St Gregory’s trained monks for the English mission and six of these men were beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929. Two of these monks, SS John Roberts and Ambrose Barlow, were among the forty English and Welsh Martyrs canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

Driven from France at the Revolution, the community settled for twenty years at Acton Burnell, Shropshire, before finally arriving at Downside in 1814. The Monastery was completed in 1876 and the Abbey Church in 1925, being raised to the rank of a minor basilica in 1935 by Pius XI.

The School attached to the Monastery is for Catholic boys and girls (Although up until 2004 it was an all-boys school) from the age of 10 to 18 years and one of Britain's more distinguished Catholic schools. During the nineteenth century Downside remained a small monastic school. It was Dom Leander Ramsay who was the founder of modern Downside. He planned the new buildings that opened in 1912 and now form two sides of the Quad.

The 20th century brought about huge changes for Downside in the expansion of the school buildings and school numbers - at one point there were about 600 boys at the school. In the middle of the century, Downside is said to have sent the highest proportion of pupils to Oxbridge of any school in the country. Over the decades and through the changing times, Downside came to the decision to accept girls, as the number of pupils had been gradually falling.

However with the arrival of girls the number of boys began to rise again as well as an increasing number of girls every year. The present administration believes that the number of girls would never equal that of the boys, owing to the school's nature as a previous boys' school. However, a second girls house has been planned.

[edit] Sports

Downside has cultivated a strong tradition of excellence on the sports field. This is no more apparent than in rugby at Downside, which has had large success recently with two unbeaten 1st XV teams, reestablishing the school as a power on the pitch. Downside has had a long standing rivalry with Sherborne School, which often sees the whole school, countless Old Gregorians as well as a sizeable contingent from Sherborne crowding the sidelines. The rivalry has been so intense at some stages that the fixture has sometimes been cancelled or played mid week, so as to make the game less accessible.

In addition to rugby, pupils also participate in other sports, hockey and cricket being the most prominent in the latter two terms. However in recent years football has challenged hockey as the main sport in the Lent term.

[edit] Downside's Mission Statement

"In partnership with families, guided by the Gospel and inspired by the Rule of St Benedict, the monks and staff aim to educate the young people entrusted to their care to achieve the highest academic standards according to their ability and to develop all their gifts for the good of themselves and of others, so that they may become more fruitfully committed to Christ and his Church, and to the service of all his people."

[edit] Press coverage

Downside has appeared frequently in the press in recent years. This has been due to a number of causes, including an educational experiment whereby a teenager from London, Ryan Bell, who had been expelled from a number of state schools was moved to Downside to see how a difficult student would change in a school like Downside. After excelling in his Latin set and on the rugby field Ryan Bell was expelled after a 'drinking episode'^[1]. Father Antony Sutch OSB, Downside's former Head Master, also made the front page of The Daily Telegraph when he attacked the 'geek culture' that is overwhelming schools and teachers due to government imposed bureaucracy.^[2]

[edit] Old Gregorians

Alumni, known as Old Gregorians, include Richard Stokes, Auberon Waugh, Barry England, Rupert Allason, Jared Harris, Rev. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, Simon Tolkien, James Miller, Luis Gordon, Adam Zamoyski, Peter Rawlinson, Gervas Douglas, Christopher Butler.

[edit] References

1. ^ Mary Riddell (2003-05-11). Young, gifted, but black. The Observer. Retrieved on 2006-10-28.
2. ^ Damian Thompson and John Clare (2002-10-07). Prince condemns disinheritance of pupils. The Telegraph. Retrieved on 2006-10-28.

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Music Department
• Old Gregorians