Bablake School

Infobox UK school
name = Bablake School


size = 900+ pupils, 60+ staff
latitude =
longitude =
dms =
motto = "The spirit of opportunity"
motto_pl =
established = 1344
approx =
closed =
c_approx =
type = Independent selective school
religion = Non-denominational
president =
head_label =
head = Mr J Watson
r_head_label =
r_head =
chair_label =
chair =
founder = Isabella of France
founder_pl =
specialist =
street = Coundon Road
city = Bablake
Coventry
county = West Midlands
country = England
postcode = CV1 4AU
LEA = Coventry
staff =
enrollment = 893
gender = Co-educational-mixed
lower_age = 11
upper_age = 18
houses = Bayley, Crow, Fairfax, Wheatley
colours = Maroon and gold
publication =
free_label_1 =
free_1 =
free_label_2 =
free_2 =
free_label_3 =
free_3 =
website = http://www.bablake.com/home.asp
website_name = www.bablake.com

Bablake School is an coeducational independent school located in Coundon, Coventry, England. The school motto is "The spirit of opportunity". Bablake is part of the Coventry School Foundation with King Henry VIII School and Coventry Preparatory School. The current headmaster is John Watson, who succeeded Dr Stuart Nuttall following his retirement in 2006.

Bablake is rated the third-highest independent private school in the West Midlands.Fact|date=April 2008

History

Started by Edward II's wife Isabella in 1344, Bablake was first sited in Hill Street, Coventry. In the 1800s it moved to its current site of Coundon Road, where it was an all boys' boarding school. During the war, the school was evacuated to Lincoln, and in the Blitz, the new Library was bombed so badly the only thing to remain intact was a page from a German dictionary. In the 1970s it had its first girl pupil and stopped admitting boarders, with what had been the bedrooms becoming the Mathematics department and the Headmaster's house becoming the Geography department. In the late 1980s the school built its modern languages block; a few years later Bablake Junior School opened and in 2000 the English, Drama and Music block was completed, sited on what was originally the Headmaster's garden.

Layout

The Bablake site houses two schools, a junior school that takes children between year 3 and year 6, and a senior school that takes children between year 7 and sixth form. Although the junior school is formally independent, its intake generally move up as a group to the senior school. The school has a swimming pool and indoor sporting facilities on site. It also has four tennis courts, which are used as netball courts at other points in the year. Off site there are four rugby pitches, hockey astroturf (with floodlights) and a cricket square. The cricket pavilion, which housed the changing rooms, was hit by lightning on 28 June 2005, and was out of use until Spring 2006.

Houses

The four modern-day houses of Bablake are:
* Wheatley
* Bayley
* Crow
* Fairfax

The two houses which are no longer in use are:
* Baker
* Billing

Notable former pupils

Former students, known as , include:
*Robert Clift (born 1962), hockey player
*Sir John Egan, (born 1939), executive, Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Warwickshire
*Shane Geraghty (born 1986), rugby player
*Courtenay Griffiths QC, criminal barrister
*Kenneth Hegan OBE (1901–1989), England international footballer
*Leonard Lord (1896-1967), industrialist
*Brian Matthew (born 1928), broadcaster
*Jack Parsons (1890–1981), cricketer
*Nick Skelton (born 1957), showjumper
*Donald Trelford, former editor of "The Observer"

Footnotes

References

* "The Lion and the Stars: A history of Bablake", Peter Burden

External links

* [http://www.bablake.com/home.asp Official Homepage]
* [http://www.isi.net/report/0265.htm Independent Schools Council entry for Bablake School]