Monkton Combe School

Monkton Combe School

Motto	"Verbum Tuum Veritas (Thy Word is Truth)"
Established	1868
Type	Independent, Boarding
Headteacher	Richard Backhouse (Senior School), Chris Stafford (Prep School) Kathryn Morrell (Pre-prep)
Location	Monkton Combe, Near Bath Somerset England
Students	700 (all three schools)
Colours	Red, White, Blue
Website	monktoncombeschool.com

Coordinates: 51°21′25″N 2°19′37″W / 51.3569°N 2.3270°W / 51.3569; -2.3270

Monkton Combe School is an independent boarding and day school of the British public school tradition, near Bath, England. The Senior School is located in the village of Monkton Combe, while the Prep School, Pre-Prep and Nursery are in Combe Down on the southern outskirts of Bath. Founded in 1868, the school maintains many strong traditions with a particular emphasis on high academic and sporting achievements. The school also has a strong Christian ethos within the Anglican tradition. The school is also a member of the Rugby Group of independent schools in the United Kingdom. ^[1]

The Senior School (current pupil numbers are around 350) admits children from age 11 through to 18; the Prep School admits children from age 7 to 13 and the Pre-Prep has classes in Kindergarten (3–4), Reception (4–5) and Years 1 and 2 (5–7). The Nursery provides pre-school care (ages 2–3). The Senior School and Prep School both have a strong boarding tradition; however, day pupils comprise one third of the intake of the Senior School and are in the majority in the Prep School. Since 1992 the school has been co-educational, having merged with clarendon school for Girls.

History

The Senior School was founded in 1868^[2] by the then Vicar of Monkton Combe, the Reverend Francis Pocock. The Junior School was established with four pupils in 1888 in a private house in Church Road, Combe Down ^[2] by a Mrs Howard (the daughter of the Senior School Principal) and moved into its current purpose-built premises in June 1907. The Pre-prep was added in 1929.^[2] In 1992, the School became fully co-educational, merging with Clarendon School for Girls, Bedford. In 2006 the Junior School was renamed Monkton Prep School.

The school has many historical traditions and a strong religious heritage, with particular emphasis on sporting and academic achievements, and has produced many important society figures through the years.

The official history of the school's first hundred years can be found in A Goodly Heritage: A History of Monkton Combe School 1868-1967 by A.F. Lace, published in Bath by Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1968.^[3]

Sport and other activities

Monkton Combe School maintains a strong sporting tradition. Both the Senior and Junior schools have a wide range of sporting and other extra curricular activities. The main sports played are Rugby, Rowing, Hockey, Tennis and Cricket for boys and Hockey, Netball, Rowing and Tennis for girls. A range of "minor sports" are also available (named in this way as they are generally not played competitively against other schools).

The school has produced six Olympic rowing gold medallists to date, each of whom represented Great Britain, and an Olympic Gold Medallist who represented Great Britain at men's hockey. The school's boat club is famous for being one of the most successful small clubs in the UK, and frequently competes against many of the UK's best teams.

The school has a strong musical and theatrical tradition with the majority of pupils learning an instrument and taking part in school plays. Other major activities include the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) and various clubs and societies. There are also annual (optional) visits overseas, such as a Rugby tour of South Africa and a Rowing training camp in Nantes-France, as well as academic trips such as foreign language exchange trips.

Facilities

The School maintains a range of sporting facilities including outdoor and indoor swimming pools, sports halls with fully equipped gyms, two astroturfs, nine grass and three hard tennis courts, a boathouse with access to the River Avon and many acres of grounds. All buildings are made of sandstone, in the same style as many buildings in and around the city of Bath, in order to keep with the traditional architectual style around Bath.

Several of the buildings are listed, including the main Senior school block known as The Old Farm,^[4] and the part of the Terrace Block known as The Old Vicarage.^[5] In 2008 the Senior School completed a 5 million pound project which involved re-building, extending and re-furbishing its Mathematics and Science departments.

Boarding

Many of the pupils are either weekly or full-time boarders. The Senior school maintains six boarding houses, two of which are for girls (Nutfield and Clarendon) and four for boys (Grove-Grange, Eddystone, School and Farm). The Preparatory school operates a boys' and a girls' boarding house. There are many strong traditions in each house, as well as many inter-house competitions throughout the year. Students are allowed to visit the City of Bath each weekend. Lessons take place on Saturday mornings with sporting matches against other schools taking place on most Saturday afternoons.

Notable Alumni

See also Category: Old Monktonians.

• Steve Williams MBE, 1976- , 2004 and 2008 Olympic rowing Gold Medallist (Great Britain Coxless Four) and four-times World Champion at Coxless and Coxed Fours
• Alex Partridge, 1981- , 2005 and 2006 Rowing World Champion (Great Britain Coxless Four) and 2008 Olympic Silver Medallist (Great Britain Eight)
• Rowley Douglas MBE, 1977- , 2000 Olympic rowing Gold Medallist (cox to Great Britain Eight)
• Dr William George Ranald Mundell "Ran" Laurie, 1915–1998, 1948 Olympic rowing Gold Medallist (Great Britain Coxless Pairs)and father of actor, Hugh Laurie.
• Michael Lapage, 1923- , 1948 Olympic rowing Silver Medallist (Great Britain Eight)
• Alfred Mellows, 1922–1997, 1948 Olympic rowing Silver Medallist (Great Britain Eight)
• Paul Barber, 1955- , field hockey player, 1988 Olympic Gold Medallist and 1984 Olympic Bronze Medallist
• Iain Torrance TD, 1949- , President of Princeton Theological Seminary, Queen's Chaplain and former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
• Sir Richard Peirse, 1892–1970, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Air Force and of RAF Bomber Command^[6]
• Richard Stilgoe OBE, 1943- , songwriter and lyricist
• Bernard Cornwell, 1944- , author of the Sharpe novels
• Sir Timothy Lankester KCB MA, 1942- , former Deputy Secretary of H.M. Treasury and Permanent Secretary, Department for Education, since 2001 President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford)
• Michael J D Stear KCB CBE QCVSA, DL MA FRAeS, 1938- , former Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces Central Europe and former President of the Royal Air Forces Association
• Richard Dearlove KCMG OBE, 1945- , Head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1999 until 2004 and Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge
• Stefan Booth, 1979- , actor (Hollyoaks, The Bill, Dancing on Ice)
• Ian Cundy, 1945-2009 ^[7], Bishop of Peterborough 1996-2009
• Maurice Arthur Ponsonby Wood DSC, 1916–2007, Bishop of Norwich who took the first church service on liberated French soil in June 1944
• John Desmond Clark OBE, 1916–2002, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of Berkeley, USA and pre-eminent African archaeologist
• George Herbert Jose, 1868–1956, Dean of Adelaide (Australia)
• Michael Head, 1900–1976, composer, musician and broadcaster
• Michael Barton Akehurst, 1940–1989, international lawyer
• Dr. Wilfred Edward Shewell-Cooper MBE, 1900–1982, British organic gardener and pioneer of no-dig gardening.
• Alfred Young, 1873–1940, outstanding mathematician and inventor of Young tableau for use in theory of groups and quantum mechanics
• David Howard Adeney, 1911–1994, Protestant Christian missionary in China and East Asia
• Major General John Dutton Frost CB, DSO & Bar, MC, DL, 1912–1993, British airborne officer best known for being the leader of the small group of airborne forces at Arnhem bridge during the Battle of Arnhem
• Adrian Mitchell, 1932–2008, author and Shadow Poet Laureate ^[8]
• John Frank Ewan Bone, 1930- , former Bishop of Reading from 1989 until 1996
• Josh Ovens, 1989- , professional rugby union player for Bath Rugby and England Under 20s
• Kevin Walton GC, 1918–2009, awarded the George Cross in 1946
• John Bush, 1937- , Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire

References

1. ^ http://www.monktoncombeschool.com monktoncombeschool.com
2. ^ ^{a b c} "History". Mokton Combe School. http://www.monktoncombeschool.com/?page=alumnihistory. Retrieved 2009-07-04. 
3. ^ "Senior School History". Monkton Combe School. http://www.monktoncombeschool.com/index.php?id=149&searched=Senior+School+History&advsearch=oneword&highlight=ajaxSearch_highlight+ajaxSearch_highlight1+ajaxSearch_highlight2+ajaxSearch_highlight3. Retrieved 2010-10-04. 
4. ^ "Monkton Combe School, (the main or old block known as The Old Farm". Images of England. English Heritage. http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=400296. Retrieved 2009-07-04. 
5. ^ "Monkton Combe School, (the part of the Terrace Block known as The Old - Vicarage". Images of England. English Heritage. http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=400244. Retrieved 2009-07-04. 
6. ^ L, Klemen (1999-2000). "Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Edmund Charles Peirse". Forgotten Campaign: The Dutch East Indies Campaign 1941-1942. http://www.dutcheastindies.webs.com/peirse.html. 
7. ^ "The Right Reverend Ian Cundy". The Daily Telegraph (London). 2009-05-11. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/religion-obituaries/5309760/The-Right-Reverend-Ian-Cundy.html. 
8. ^ Burgess, Kaya (2008-12-22). "Adrian Mitchell Shadow Poet Laureate dies aged 76". The Times (London). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5381267.ece. 

External links

• Monkton Combe School website
• Bluefriars Boatclub website
• Senior School Good Schools Guide Report
• Monkton Combe Village Website