Barnard Castle School

Infobox School2
name = Barnard Castle School
motto = "Parvis imbutis tentabis grandia tutus" (Latin: "Once you have mastered small things you may attempt great ones safely")
established = 1883
type = Independent School
free_label_1 = Ages
free_1 = 4 to 18
head_name = Headmaster
head = David Ewart
city = Barnard Castle
state = Durham
country = England
school_colours =

Barnard Castle School, founded in 1883, is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in Barnard Castle, County Durham, England. It caters for pupils aged 4 to 18, with pupils younger than 11 being taught in a separate on-site Preparatory School ("Prep School").

Set in its own fifty acre estate, Barnard Castle School is located in an area of outstanding natural beauty. The school is located on the outskirts of the town of Barnard Castle.The school has often come under scrutiny by local residents and media noting that the name 'Barnard Castle School' is inaccurate as very few of the pupils originate from Barnard Castle, the surrounding areas or the district.

Barnard Castle Preparatory School

The Prep School is an integral part of Barnard Castle School, having access to all its facilities and expertise. It is situated in a separate area of the school grounds with its own organisation, staff and buildings. Pupils, therefore, have the benefit of the security of their own area while benefiting from many extras. The Prep School has recently undergone a substantial refurbishment programme and the next few years should see more developments.

Pastoral

Pastoral care for senior school pupils is provided through a house system. Each pupil is assigned to a house. Each house has its own accommodation in the school and its own set of tutors to look after members of the house.

There are eight houses in total each with its own colour and shield: The two boys' boarding houses are York (red) for junior boys and Northumberland (sky blue) for seniors. The three day boys' houses are Tees (dark green) and Dale (maroon), both originally formed from Teesdale House, the first day boys' house, and finally Durham (gold), which was converted from boarding to day when the school expanded in the 1990s. The boarding girls belong to the original Sixth Form girls' house, Longfield (dark purple), and the new houses formed for day girls when the school became co-educational are Bowes (light green) and Marwood (purple).

The houses form the basis for much competition within the school. The first competition in the school year is the House Singing Competition in which every member of the school takes part. Thereafter, throughout the school year, the houses compete against each other in a variety of academic, artistic, and sporting events.

Academic

*Humanities: Geography, History, English Literature, English Language, Religious Studies
*Social Sciences: Ethics, Business Studies, Economics, Politics, Physical Education
*Sciences: Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Further Maths, ICT, Computing
*Creatives: Theatre Studies, Art, Music, Design Technology
*Classics: Latin, Classical Civilisation, Ancient History, Greek
*Languages: French, German, Spanish

In 2007, GCSE results were the best ever with 92.8% of the pupils passing GCSE's at grade A*-C. At A level, there was a 100% pass rate, 56.7 at grade A or B.

Both the senior and the Prep school were inspected in March 2005. The Independent Schools Council (ISC) reports are available [http://www.isi.net/reports/2005/0068_05.htm from the ISC website] .

A recent (January 2008) addition to the school has been the Macfarlane Building, housing the Physics and ICT departments and also offering an "open access" area of network stations for all pupils.

Sport

Rugby is the major sport in the Autumn Term for boys and hockey for girls. Girls' hockey is very popular in the school and is played to a high standard with pupils regularly representing Durham County Under 14, 16 and 18 levels.

In the Spring Term the boys play football, hockey and squash whilst the girls play netball and lacrosse. Both boys and girls take part in cross country running and swimming.

During the Summer Term cricket is the most important sport for boys. Teams have toured Majorca and the Caribbean in recent years. Members of the 1st XI often gain representative honours for their counties and the North of England. Girls focus on rounders in the summer whilst girls and boys both play tennis and do athletics. School athletics has recently been improved dramatically with the junior girls winning the northern HMC competition at Gateshead Stadium.

Barnard Run

The Barnard Run is probably the second oldest school competition, consisting of a cross-country trial over a hilly course. It dates back to 1893 when Lord Barnard donated and presented the trophy. (The Wilson Run at nearby Sedbergh School dates back to 1881.) The modern Barnard Run involves girls and boys competing at Junior (Years 7 and 8), Intermediate (Years 9 and 10) and Senior (Years 11 and Sixth Form) levels. The race takes place annually at the end of the first half of the Spring Term. It is keenly contested and between individuals and houses. The girls' and younger boys' race is about two and a half miles long while the senior boys' is four. This competition is a key event in the school calendar.

Rugby

The school seems to have a knack for producing international rugby players both at schoolboy and senior level. The best known are Rob Andrew, brothers Rory Underwood and Tony Underwood, and Mathew Tait who have all played for England at senior level.

Rob Andrew captained the school's first XV in 1981. He went on to play for England from 1985-1997 appearing 71 times and scoring 369 points for England. He holds five international caps for the British and Irish Lions, the highest representative honour for British and Irish rugby union footballers. Andrew is England's third highest points scorer after Paul Grayson and Jonny Wilkinson (Andrew's protégé). Rob Andrew was Director of Rugby for the Newcastle Falcons before leaving in 2006 to become the Rugby Football Union's Elite Director of Rugby.

Rory Underwood is England’s leading try scorer with 49 tries. Having played on both wings for England, he is also England’s second most capped player with 85 caps. Underwood also appeared in 6 international tests for the Lions. Tony Underwood also played for England on the wing 27 times and the two became the first brothers to play for England together since 1937.

As of the end of the 2008 Six Nations, Mathew Tait holds 22 caps for England He became the youngest player for England since Jonny Wilkinson being just 18 when he made his debut against Wales in the 2005 Six Nations. An accomplished Sevens player, Tait won a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games with England. In April 2008 it was revealed that Tait trandsfer to the Sale Sharks at the end of the 2007/08 season.

Many other Old Barnardians are involved in professional rugby, especially with the Newcastle Falcons. Lee Dickson (who moves to Northampton Saints for the 2008/09 season), Tim Visser, Alex Tait and Ed Williamson have all represented the Falcons in the Guinness (formerly Zurich) Premiership. Numerous others are members of the senior academy.

Calum Clark, the school's 1st XV captain for the 2006-2007 season, made his Premiership debut in 2007 for Leeds Carnegie, just three months after leaving school, becoming the youngest ever forward to play in the Premiership.

Many current Barnardians represent junior international sides, as well as the North of England, several northern county sides (such as Durham, Cumbria, Yorkshire and Cheshire) and the Independent Schools' Barbarians. In recent years Alex Gray, Tom Catterick and Rory Clegg have represented England at Under 16 and 18 levels. Gray captained the international side to a Grand Slam Under 16s Four Nations in 2007 as the first pupil to captain an international side whilst at the school. Sean Dougall, 1st XV captain for 2007-2008, was continually overlooked by England and the Falcons and turned down the chance to play for Scotland Under 18s. Now he represents Ireland Under 19s and is on the books at Leeds.

The team reached the final of the national Daily Mail Cup [ [http://www.schoolsrugby.co.uk "Schools Rugby website"] ] 3 times in 5 seasons between 2002 and 2007. Nicknamed the Barney Army, the team have lost to Oakham, Colston's and Warwick in each final. In 2008 the 1st XV were beaten in the semi-finals 19-16 by St Benedict's School. The 1st VII have also appeared in final of the North of England Sevens and Rosslyn Park Sevens.

The first team coach since 1999 has been Martin Pepper. A former professional back-rower for Harlequins, Pepper appeared in a number of games for England but never an international test.

International Rugby Honours

columns
col1 =Full England caps
*James E. Hutchinson (1906)
*Tom Danby (1949)
*Rory Underwood (1984-1996)
*Rob Andrew (1985-1997)
*Tony Underwood (1992-1999)
*Mathew Tait (2005-present)

England Saxons
*Mathew Tait
*Lee Dickson

England Under 20s
*2007-2008 Alex Tait
*2007-2008 Calum Clark

England Under 19s
*2006-2007 Alex Tait
*2003-2004 Mathew Tait
col2 =England Under 18s
*1985-1987 Tony Underwood
*2001-2002 Joe Clark
*2002-2003 Mathew Tait
*2002-2003 James Hamer
*2003-2004 Ross Batty
*2003-2004 Phil Dawson
*2004-2005 Tim Visser
*2004-2006 Alex Tait
*2005-2007 Calum Clark
*2006-2008 Rory Clegg
*2007-2008 Alex Gray (as Captain from July 2008)
*2007-2008 Tom Catterick
col3 =England Under 16s
*2006-2007 Alex Gray (Captain)
*2006-2007 Tom Catterick
*2005-2006 Rory Clegg
*2002-2003 Ross Batty
*2001-2002 Mathew Tait
*1997-1998 Tim Foster
*1984-1985 Andrew J. Hetherington

Scotland Under 18s
*Adam Mckenzie
*Lee Dickson

Ireland Under 18s
*2006-2007 Sean Dougall

Ireland Under 19s
*2007-2008 Sean Dougall

Tradition

Cheers: If a school sports team is victorious the entire team will, on return to school, stand on Central Hall Table (Central Hall being the school's focal point) and the captain will lead three cheers for the school. For the 1st XV cheers also take place after home victories. The team gathers in what is known as Back Porch immediately after the match and three cheers are sounded.

Nailing Up: This occurs at the every end of term school chapel service. Originally taking place in Central Hall, the captain of the house team which had won that term's major sporting event would climb up to his house shield and nail the award to the shield. Nowadays the captain of the winning house team comes to the front of chapel and ceremonially taps the shield.

Speech Day: Occurring on the final day of the Summer Term (usually a Saturday) the entire school community including parents, relatives and friends of the school, meet for Speech Day. The Chairman of the Governors, the Headmaster, an invited Speaker and the Head of School make speeches, and academic prizes are awarded to pupils.

Notable alumni (Old Barnardians)

* Bentley Beetham, Ornithologist, Photographer, Mountaineer (member of George Mallory's 1924 Everest team). See also [http://www.bentleybeetham.org The Bentley Beetham Collection]
* David J. Bodycombe, puzzle author
* Andrew Cantrill, organist
* Giles Deacon, fashion designer
* Robert Dinwiddie, professional golfer. See [http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/european/players/Robert+Dinwiddie/8963 Yahoo! Sports, European Golf]
* Nigel Farndale, journalist
* Glenn Hugill, TV producer
* Professor Edward Mellanby (discoverer of vitamin D)
* Kenneth Mellanby
* Graham Ratcliffe, Mountaineer (twice conqueror of Everest). See also [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/336522.stm BBC News item.]
* Alexander Taylor, furniture designer. See also [http://www.alexandertaylor.com/ Alexander Taylor]
* Ian Hodgson, Jack Frater and Andrew Mason, See [http://www.thenesthome.com]
* Andrew Thornton, jump jockey
* Richard Tomlinson, former MI6 officer
* Kevin Whately, "Inspector Morse" actor
* Guy Wilks, rally driver
* Mathew Tait, professional England Rugby Union Footballer with Sale Sharks
* Alex Tait, professional rugby player with Newcastle falcons
*Calum Clark, professional Rugby Union Footballer with Leeds Carnegie
* Tony Underwood, former professional England Rugby Union Footballer
* Rory Underwood, former professional England Rugby Union Footballer
*Rob Andrew, former professional England Rugby Union Footballer, now Director of Elite Rugby at the RFU
* Lee Dickson, professional Rugby Union Footballer with Northampton Saints

References

Sources

Much of the information on Barnard Castle School is taken from: 1. The school prospectus 2. The school magazines 3. The book "Barnard Castle School, a Centenary Book", published by the Old Barnardians' Club in 1983. ISBN 0950862207 4. The book "The History of Barnard Castle School 1883-1933" compiled by R C Hitchcock M.A. (Publ.1933) 5. Present and past staff and pupils

External links

* [http://www.barnardcastleschool.org.uk/ School Website]