Bradfield College

Infobox UK school
name = St Andrew's College, Bradfield (Bradfield College)


size = 100px
latitude =
longitude =
dms =
motto = "Benedictus es, O Domine doce me Statuta Tua" (Latin: "You are blessed, Lord: teach me your laws.")
motto_pl =
established = 1850
approx =
closed =
c_approx =
type = Public School
religion = Church of England
president =
head_label = Headmaster
head = Mr Peter J M Roberts, MA
r_head_label =
r_head =
chair_label = Warden (Chair of governors)
chair = Sir Colin Lucas
founder = Rev. Thomas Stevens, Rector and Lord of the Manor of Bradfield
founder_pl =
specialist =
street =
city = Reading
county = Berkshire
country = Englandflagicon|England
postcode =
LEA =
ofsted =
staff = 120 (approx.)
enrollment = 720 (approx.)
gender = Mixed
lower_age = 13
upper_age = 18
houses = 12
colours = Blue and Green
publication =
free_label_1 = Former pupils
free_1 = Old Bradfieldians
free_label_2 =
free_2 =
free_label_3 =
free_3 =
website = http://www.bradfieldcollege.org.uk/
website_name = www.bradfieldcollege.org.uk

Bradfield College is a coeducational public school located in the small village of Bradfield in the English county of Berkshire.

The college was founded in the 1850s by Thomas Stevens, Rector and Lord of the Manor of Bradfield. It now has around 570 male and 150 female pupils.

Overview

According to the "Good Schools Guide", the "Pastoral, extra-curricular and academic aspects [are] all strong in a very beautiful setting. [The school is u] nusually family-friendly and with exceptional boarding." [http://goodschoolsguide.co.uk/school/bradfield-college.html]

The school, which admits pupils between the ages of 13–18, has been co-educational since September 2005. All first years pupils (fourth formers) enter a first year boarding house (Faulkners) and then, from the second year (known as the shell), they move to their main boarding houses for the remaining four years.

Bradfield's Motto: "Benedictus es, O Domine doce me Statuta Tua", which means, "You're blessed, Lord, Teach me your Laws."

The Greek Play

Bradfield is most renowned for its Greek theatre and Greek play, which is performed on a three-year rota ('presumably', says Tatler's Good Schools Guide, 'it takes that long to build up the stamina again) in conjunction with Cambridge University and Oxford University. Started to save the school from bankruptcy, the Greek plays have been staged by the school for almost 150 years. The students who act in it receive no formal training in speaking Ancient Greek, and have only nine months to learn the lines and direction, as well as keeping up with their other studies. The 2006 play was Euripides’s Medea, directed by John Taylor. It has been noted for its groundbreaking advances, including the addition of projected subtitles and the bold decision of incorporating the orchestra into the skene, using a ramp covered in sand and flooded to symbolise the sea and Medea's situation of being "between places".

Cartel

In 2005 the school was one of fifty of the country's leading private schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by "The Times", which had allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents. [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article588559.ece Independent schools face huge fines over cartel to fix fees - Times Online ] ] Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared. [ [http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2006/182-06 The Office of Fair Trading: OFT names further trustees as part of the independent schools settlement ] ]

The Commission for Social Care Inspection, which inspects standards at private and state boarding schools, praised Bradfield, for its "safe and caring environment" and for endeavouring to "develop a more modern approach to boarding".Fact|date=May 2008 The "Daily Telegraph" reported that, ‘against the relevant 47 standards, Bradfield achieved 16 gold stars. In only two areas was it judged to have "minor shortcomings”.

Other information

Former footballer, Vinnie Jones, once worked in the kitchens at the college. Vinnie’s father, Tom, was the school hairdresser and got him a job washing pots and pans. Although at the time Jones was at a particularly low ebb, the Bradfield days appear in a chapter entitled ‘Life in a Bin Liner’ – he writes with some tenderness about the friends he made, and the room in which he lived: 'It was built on a corner and overlooked the gardens and the sports field, which was lovely, and there was a river the pang at the bottom.' .Citation
last1=Jones
first1=Vinnie
publication-date=2001
title=Vinnie: My Life
publisher=Headline Books]

The oldest building is college gateway, which incorporates part of a barn of 1382. The wrought iron was made by the village blacksmith.

Bradfield College played host to the UK's first "reverse" triathlon in the 1990s: The "IRT" (TRI backwards) followed the run-bike-swim format. The finisher's T-shirts declared "It doesn't 'ave to 'urt to do the IRT".

Notable Old Bradfieldians

*George Blackall Simonds (1843–1929), sculptor
*Edward Armstrong (1846–1928), historian and Pro-Provost, Queen's College, Oxford
*Archibald Robertson (1853–1931), Bishop of Exeter
*Stephen Coleridge (1854–1936), author, anti-vivisectionist and co-founder of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
*Cecil Tyndale-Biscoe (1863–1949), missionary in Kashmir
*Gordon Craig (1872–1966), theatre director, stage designer and wood engraver
*H. Pelham Lee (1877–1953), internal combustion engine pioneer and founder of the Coventry Climax Engines company
*Zachary Nugent Brooke (1883–1946), historian
*William Ormston Backhouse (1885–1962), agricultural geneticist
*Cyril Falls (1888–1971), military historian
*Admiral of the Fleet Bruce Fraser, Baron Fraser of North Cape (1888–1981), Chief of the Naval Staff
*George Grey Wornum (1888–1957), architect
*Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Courtney (1890–1976), Royal Air Force officer
*Air Chief Marshal Sir Guy Garrod (1891–1965), Royal Air Force officer
*Oscar Henderson (1891–1969), Royal Navy officer, Private Secretary to the Governor of Northern Ireland, and television executive
*G. Norman Knight (1891–1978), civil servant and indexer
*Air Chief Marshal Sir Roderic Hill (1894–1954), Royal Air Force officer
*Hubert Foss (1899–1953), composer and music publisher
*Basil Gray (1904–1989), British Museum curator
*Robin Ironside (1912–1965), painter and writer
*Brigadier Mike Calvert (1913–1998), Chindits and Special Air Service commander
*Terence Reese (1913–1996), bridge player and writer
*Martin Wight (1913–1972), historian and international affairs expert
*Vivian H. H. Green (1915–2005), historian and Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford
*Morrice James, Baron Saint Brides (1916–1989), High Commissioner in Pakistan, India and Australia
*Charles Phillips (1916–1994), neurophysiologist
*George Paine (1918–1992), Registrar General
*Sir Martin Ryle (1918–1984), Astronomer Royal
*Richard Adams (born 1920), author
*Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Andrew Humphrey (1921–1977), Chief of the Air Staff and Chief of the Defence Staff
*Tony Hancock (1924–1968), comedian
*Sir Michael Marshall (1930–2006), politician
*Peter Jones (1930–1990), broadcaster
*Sir John Nott (born 1932), Secretary of State for Defence
*Sir Cyril Townsend (born 1937), politician
*David Owen, Baron Owen (born 1938), Foreign Secretary and co-founder of the SDP
*Graham Roope (1946–2006), Surrey and England cricketer
*Nick Clarke (1948–2006), journalist and BBC Radio 4 presenter
*Stephen Milligan (1948–1994), auto-asphyxiated Conservative MP
*Louis de Bernières (born 1954), novelist
*Peter Ainsworth (born 1956), Conservative Member of Parliament for East Surrey and member of the Shadow Cabinet
*William Strang (1859–1921), painter and engraver
*Mark Nicholas (born 1957), cricketer and TV presenter
*Charles Tannock (born 1957) Conservative Member of the European Parliament
*Richard Benyon (born 1960), Conservative Member of Parliament for Newbury
*James Chalmers (Actor)
*Tim Dellor (born 1975), BBC Local Radio presenter
*Claudia Harrison, actress
*Will Lyons (born 1976), wine writer
*Kaddy Lee-Preston, TV weather presenter
*Suresh Guptara (born 1988), Novelist
*Ed Robinson (born 1971), Sky Sports presenter
*Hamza Riazuddin (born 1989), Hampshire County Cricket Club player
*Harrison Davies (born 1991), son of William Davies (screenwriter), screenwriter

See also

*Independent school (UK)
*List of independent schools in the United Kingdom

References

External links

* [http://www.bradfieldcollege.org.uk/ Bradfield College website]
* [http://goodschoolsguide.co.uk/school/bradfield-college.html Profile at the Good Schools Guide]
* [http://www.schoolsguidebook.co.uk/schools/Bradfield_College.html Schoolsguidebook]
* [http://www.obsociety.org.uk/ Old Brafieldians Society Website]