The Blue School, Wells

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The Blue School, Wells is a secondary school located in Wells, Somerset, England. It has some 1500 students aged 11-18 of both genders and all ability levels and is the largest school in Somerset.^[1] It is currently a Church of England Voluntary controlled school. The school motto is "Recta Certa" meaning straight and true.

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools in the UK identified the School in 1999/200- as a "particularly successful school".^[2] The School is a Specialist Science College and in 2006 the Princess Royal opened a new science centre.^[1]

[edit] History

The School was founded in 1654 as one of the first free schools in the country.^[3] The name Blue comes from the early uniforms which were blue in colour. An example of one of these early school uniforms is on display at the school.

In 1654 Margaret, widow of Ezekiel Barkham of Wells, purchased a farm in Yenston, Somerset, to endow a school in Wells. The Blue School retained the farm for nearly 350 years until it was sold in 1990 and 1992.^[4] The income from the endowment was to be used for paying a schoolmaster's salary of £20-0-0 pa. and the residue for apprenticing the boys when they could 'read, write and cast accounts'.^[5] The school owned a number of properties in the area scattered over several parishes.^[5]

Other schools were united with the Blue School foundation, including Hodge's Charity School.^[5]

A charity for the benefit of the poor of St. Cuthbert's parish was established in 1675 by the will of Adrian Hickes of London, although lands in Wells and Glastonbury to endow the charity were not purchased until 1701. In 1713 a voluntary subscription school was established in Wells for boys and girls and a schoolroom was built for this purpose by Philip Hodges. He also purchased land in Glastonbury St. John, the income from which was to be used to pay the master's salary. In 1715 it was proposed that a charity established by Barkham be almalgamated with that deriving from the Hickes bequest.

Philip Hodges's will of 1723 empowered the master of the subscription school established in 1713 to teach also the pupils of Barkham's charity school. Lands in Lympsham, East Pennard and Pylle were purchased in 1732 and an estate at Norwood Park, Glastonbury in 1735. In 1740 the estates of all three charities were transferred to new trustees. Some property in Frome was acquired between 1732 and 1764 and in Queen Camel between 1730 and 1739. The charities all became part of the Blue School foundation.^[5]