Carmel College (Oxfordshire)

Carmel College was a Jewish co-educational boarding school situated in Mongewell Park, near Wallingford, Berkshire between 1948 and 1997.

History

The school was founded in 1948 by the late Kopul Rosen and closed in June 1997 due to diminishing numbers and financial difficulties. The school grounds were sold to property developers for an undisclosed fee in 1997, however, the sale was overturned by the charities commission following significant pressure from parents and former students who claimed the land was undersold. The distinctive concrete synagogue, dining hall, and amphitheatre, designed by local architect Thomas Hancock, are Grade II listed buildings; the Julius Gottlieb gallery and boathouse, designed by Sir Basil Spence, is Grade II* listed.

Location

The school grounds in Mongewell Park had the straightest run of the River Thames flowing through it, and Oxford University made full use of this during their preparation for the annual varsity boat race.

Structure

It was attended by children from the age of 11 until 18 - although earlier on there was a preparatory school which took children from around the age of 8. Later a girls school was built - about a mile from the main campus, although the buildings were never actually used for this purpose. Instead, it was turned into a junior school in the late 1960s for children up to the age of 13, when they then moved to the main school. Girls were later admitted into the main school, starting at the sixth form in the early 1970s. However there were daughters of teachers at the school even before this, including the youngest daughter of Carmel's founder Rabbi Kopul Rosen, who was a pupil in the late 1960s. The Junior school was closed down several years before Carmel closed, and the buildings sold.

Carmel and had several boarding houses, which changed regularly throughout the school's life. The final boarding houses were as follows:

* Mansion House - 1st, 2nd, 3rd year male.
* Ridgeway House - 4th & 5th year male.
* School House & Sherman House - L6 & U6 male.
* Newnham House - 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th year female.
* River Court - L6 & U6 female.

Earlier house names included Gilbert House, Raleigh House and others.

At the time the school closed, the headmaster was Philip Skelker, head boy Toby Tenenbaum and head girl Lyna Tahan.

External links

* [http://www.carmelcollege.org Carmel College Website]
* [http://www.geocities.com/chaimsimons/carmelcollege.html Seven Years at Carmel College]
* [http://www.riskybuildings.org.uk/docs/05carmel/index.html Risky Buildings: Carmel College]
* [http://www.danland.co.uk/showpictures.php?album=carmel Photos of Carmel College in 2006]
* [http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/7854/liverpool08.html We are not the only Jewish School - recollections of Jewish Schools]