St Olave's Grammar School

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St Olave's and St Saviour's Grammar School
Motto Olaf to Right the Wrong
Established 1571
Type Voluntary aided grammar school
Religious affiliation Church of England
Headmaster Anthony Jarvis
Chair Malcolm Edwards
Specialism Maths and Computing (Operational)
Location Goddington Lane
Orpington
London
BR6 9SH
EnglandFlag of England
LEA London Borough of Bromley
Ofsted number 101676
Students 934
Gender Boys (Mixed in the sixth form)
Ages 11 to 18
Houses Bingham, Cure, Harvard, Leeke
School colours Main: Purple, Black, White
Houses, respectively: Yellow, Red, Green, Blue
Chaplain Hugh Broadbent
Affiliation Member of the Woodard Foundation
Beneficiary of Alleyn's College of God's Gift in Dulwich Estate
Website www.saintolaves.net
Coordinates: 51°22′03″N 0°06′14″E / 51.3675, 0.104

St Olave's and St Saviour's Grammar School for Boys (also known as St Olave's, St Olave's Grammar School, or simply Olaves) is a selective boys' secondary school in Orpington, England. The name is either pronounced /ˈoʊlævz/, or /ˈɒlɪvz/ (homonymous with "olives"). The school is consistently one of the top achieving state schools in the UK.

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[edit] History

The school in its current form was formed from an agreement in 1896 between two schools, St. Olave's Grammar School (founded 1571), and St Saviour's Grammar School (founded 1562). (Its sister school, St Saviour's and St Olave's School, was re-established as a girls school in 1903). The school, was founded for the parish of St Olave in Southwark (1096-1926) which was named after Saint Olaf. In the seventeenth century St. Olave's Headmaster Robert Browne was imprisoned for his religious non-conformism.

Originally situated on the south bank of the Thames in Southwark in Tooley Street (the street name is a corruption of St Olave's), the school moved to suburban Orpington in 1968.

[edit] General information

The school has an Anglican foundation, and is also affiliated to the Woodard Foundation. The school's headmaster is currently Anthony Jarvis, an associate member of the HMC.

The school is heavily oversubscribed (more than 7 applicants per place in 2004). Entry is determined by competitive tests in English and Mathematics. Since 1998, the school has admitted girls to its sixth form. It is currently designated as a mathematics and computing specialist school.

Members of the school are known as Olavians, and alumni as Old Olavians. There are four houses: Bingham, Cure, Harvard and Leeke. These exist for the purposes of the classes and house competitions in the Lower School (Year 7 to 9) and for games competition in Year 10.

St. Olave's exclusively provides Choristers for the Choir of the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy, London, the Chapel of the Royal Victorian Order and the Duchy of Lancaster.

The school was at the centre of controversy in 1996 when Labour Party Cabinet minister Harriet Harman sent her son to the school, despite it being some considerable distance from where she lived. Many considered her sending her son to a selective school to be contrary to Labour's supposedly egalitarian principles.

St Olave's has a strong relationship with Newstead Wood School for Girls, a selective all girls school situated a mile away. The St Olave's Foundation also supports the all girls St Saviour's and St Olave's School in New Kent Road. Established in 1903, this is a non-selective school in an economically deprived area that is very different in nature from its brother school.

[edit] Sports

The school is notable for being one of only a few state schools to play the game of Eton Fives (housing the only indoor Eton Fives courts in the country). In the 2004 Rugby Fives National Championships at the Year 8 level, St.Olaves had four players (Martin Bassot, Jamie Moore, Luke Wooldridge and James Goodman) in the semi-finals of the main competition (therefore having the top 4 players in the country), something that no school had ever done before. Jamie Toop won the English Schools Senior Fives title three years running. The school fields successful Rugby teams from U-12 to the first and second XVs. The second XV have now been unbeaten at home for 3 years. Former School Captain David Akinluyi played for Northampton Saints in the Guinness Premiership until 2007.

The school has been successful in basketball, winning the Kent Cup between 2002 and 2005. In Cricket: James Goodman is in the Kent academy and has trained at the World Cricket Academy in Mumbai, India. He has also captained the U16 England International Team. Dinesh Yoganantham is also a prominent member of the school's cricket team.

In Chess: The St Olave's chess team have continued to impress over a decade by winning the prestigious Millfield International Chess tournament. Notable players are Callum Kilpatrick, Richard Lobo and Jia Shen Lee who have all represented the UK, and Constantine Phillapou, Pedrum Hashemi, Vishnuu Nithyananthan, Sunil Parthiban, Sanjeev Math and Jack Seibert who have all represented Kent and some of which, have represented their county at a national level.

However, the brilliance of the chess team may soon diminish as they will be losing their top 12 players in two years - and therefore, only be left with amateurs.

[edit] Notable alumni

This is a partial list. For a more comprehensive one see: List of notable Old Olavians

† Alumni of St Saviour's Grammar School prior to the merger

[edit] References

  • Carrington, R.C. Two Schools: A History of the St Olave's and St Saviour's Grammar School Foundation and its Schools. McCorquodale Printers Ltd., London, 1971.

[edit] External links

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