Fettes College

Fettes College
Fettes College
Fettes.png
Motto Industria
Established 1870
Type Independent school (UK)
Headmaster Michael Spens
Chaplain The Revd Dr David Campbell
Location Carrington Road
Edinburgh
Scotland
Local authority Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education
Students 670
Gender Mixed
Ages 7–18
Houses Carrington, Glencorse, Kimmerghame, Moredun, Arniston, College East, College West & Craigleith
Colours Chocolate & Magenta         
Publication The Fettesian & The Buzz
Founder Sir William Fettes
Former pupils Old Fettesians (OFs)
Mascot a Bee (also crest)
Website Fettes College

Fettes College is an independent school for boarding and day pupils in Edinburgh, Scotland with over two thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. It is sometimes referred to as a public school, although strictly speaking this only applies to the English schools covered by the Public Schools Acts.

Contents

History

To perpetuate the memory of his only son William, who had predeceased him in 1815, Sir William Fettes (1750–1836), a former Lord Provost of Edinburgh and wealthy city merchant, bequeathed the then very large sum of £166,000 to be set aside for the education of poor children and orphans.

After his death the bequest was effected and invested and the accumulated sum was then used to acquire the land, to build the main building and found the school in 1870. Fettes College thus opened with 53 pupils (40 were Foundation Scholars with 11 others boarding & 2 day pupils).

The Headmaster who provoked most controversy was Anthony Chenevix-Trench (1971–79), formerly of Eton. The investigative journalist Paul Foot wrote an exposé in Private Eye detailing his excessive use of corporal punishment while he was a Housemaster at Shrewsbury School. Tim Card, a former Vice-provost of Eton College, said Chenevix-Trench's resignation from that school was caused by his heavy drinking and his overuse of the cane.[1]

An all-boys school until 1970, when female pupils were first admitted for the final year, Fettes has been fully co-educational since 1983. Because of its prestige and high profile, some journalists have recently described Fettes as "the Eton of the North",[2][3][4].

  • In 1998 Fettes was placed 4th in the Daily Telegraph league table of Schools.[5]
  • In 1999 Fettes was placed 5th in the Sunday Times list of top mixed independent schools in the UK.[6]
  • In 2001 Fettes was declared "Scottish School of the year" by the Sunday Times.[7]
Fettes College

In 2002, three incidents, two involving drugs, occurred and were dealt with by the school. Three sixth-form boys were excluded from the school over drugs: two were caught with cannabis at a school event, while the other failed a drugs test while on a school trip.[7] In April of that year, a pupil was shot at with an air pistol by another pupil – the incident was dealt with by school authorities.[8]

In early 2007, videos made at the school – apparently based on the television programme Jackass – were posted on the video-sharing website YouTube. These videos featured stunts such as pupils smashing branches over their heads and walking on banisters, as well as nudity and the consumption of alcohol.[9]

Fettes pupils wear distinctive chocolate and magenta coloured blazers. It is said that Fettes "used to have a hearty, rugger-bugger, Caledonian image".[10]

In 2009 Fettes won the Bell Lawrie Scottish School's Cup, at Murrayfield Stadium, for the first time.[11]

In April 2009 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) published a report on Fettes that evaluated the school as “excellent” in four out of five Quality Indicators and “very good” in the other one.[12]

In October 2009, 5 pupils were expelled for smoking cannabis on school grounds with a further 15 suspended for possession of the drug or for smoking the drug off campus.[13]

Curriculum

Fettes College follows the English rather than Scottish education system. Pupils take GCSEs rather than Scottish Standard Grades and, due to the recent removal of the Scottish Highers examination, students now have the choice between the A Level exam system and the new International Baccalaureate Diploma, but cannot take Scottish exams.[14]

Fettes is an IB World School, one of only three schools in Scotland to have attained this status.[15]

Fettes College main building.

Boarding houses

There are currently eight houses; four for boys, three for girls and one for boys and girls. The houses are named after the estates of the first Trustees. The male houses are large period buildings which stretch from East Fettes Avenue to Carrington Road; two of the female houses are in the upper floors of the main College Building and the third is in a modern building in the eastern part of the grounds. An innovation, reflecting the changes in responsibilities of teenagers in the school and society, is the Upper Sixth Boarding House, for both boys and girls in their last year at Fettes, which opened in September 2007. A new girls house, "Dalmeny" is now under construction and is expected to be finished, and in use by the beginning of the school year in September 2012. The new house is being built to reduce the pressure on the 3 girls houses which are accommodating more pupils than the 4 boys houses.[16]

Boys

  • Arniston (1967-1982)
  • Carrington (1872-present)
  • Glencorse (1873-present)
  • Kimmerghame (1920-present)
  • Moredun (1870-present)
  • Schoolhouse (1870-1983) Later split into College East and College West.

Girls

  • Arniston (1982-present)
  • Schoolhouse (1983-present) Later split into College East and College West.
  • Dalmeny (under construction)

Boys and girls

  • Craigleith (2007-present) Mixed Upper Sixth Form boarding house.

History

  • Dalmeny was renamed to Carrington in 1873 due to a post office confusion.
  • Inverleith was the previous name for the Preparatory School, now an entity in its own right.
  • Dalmeny was the name of the day girls' boarding house on the ground floor of the west wing in the 1980s.
  • Kimmerghame was the name of the junior boarding house between 1884 and 1895.
  • Kimmerghame was closed during the years of World War II due to lack of pupils in the school.

Architecture

The college's main building by David Bryce (built 1863-9) blends the design of a Loire château with elements of the 19th century Scottish Baronial. According to the school's website, the combination of styles and the site of the building led a modern architectural expert to praise it as "undeniably one of Scotland's greatest buildings".[17]

The war memorial, a fine bronze figure of a fallen officer telling his men to "carry on" is by William Birnie Rhind, 1919.[18]

Coat of arms

The school crest is a bee because it appears at the top of Sir William’s Coat of Arms and his Seal (for letters etc) was also a Bee. When the College Arms were granted, they were Sir William’s with the colours reversed. Nowadays a more modern image is used but it is still the same Coat of Arms.

The bee is the origin of the school's motto 'Industria'. Its motif features prominently around the school. Beehives appear over the now-unused East and West doors of the College. A Bee in stone watches over the front of Malcolm House (1880) and the Prep School. A large bee fronts Kimmerghame (1928) and there is an original lead bee in the porch of the Headmaster’s Lodge.[19]

Fettes tartan

A school tartan was designed in 1996 at the prompting of the Headmaster, Malcom Thyne. It is a fine balance between the traditional kilt colours of green, blue and black and the Fettes colours of chocolate and magenta, with white stripes to add brightness.

The Fettes tartan is worn as a kilt by boys and as a kilt skirt by girls who do not have a family tartan. The first showing of the kilt was on the hockey/lacrosse tour of Australia and Japan in 1998.[20]

Fettes in fiction

Body Politic

In his first crime novel Body Politic, published in 1997, featuring detective Qunitilian Dalrymple and set in Edinburgh in 2020 , Paul Johnston features Fettes College as a ruin, “blown to pieces in 2009” after it became a base for drug traders.

James Bond

Whilst expanding on James Bond's back story, Ian Fleming wrote in You Only Live Twice that the agent had attended Fettes College, his father's old school, after having been removed from Eton. "Here the atmosphere was somewhat Calvinistic, and both academic and athletic standards were rigorous. Nevertheless, though inclined to be solitary by nature, he established some firm friendships among the traditionally famous athletic circles, at the school. By the time he left, at the early age of seventeen, he had twice fought for the school as a light-weight and had, in addition, founded the first serious judo class at a British public school."[21]

While Fleming never claimed there was any other source for the name of Bond than James Bond, an American ornithologist, there was a real life James Bond who did attend Fettes. He was a frogman with the Special Boat Service, much as the fictional character Bond has a naval background. The school had his "Who's Who" entry copied and framed over the Second Master's office door in one of its main corridors. This has since been removed.

Captain Britain

Captain America "Uh, it's Captain Britain, right? Tony was telling me all about that submarine rescue you guys did a few weeks back. That was pretty amazing."

Captain Britain "Oh, Tony's hilarious, isn't he? Everyone here just absolutely loved him. We've all been very excited about meeting you too, Captain. Did you know I used to have a poster of you on my wall when I was a pupil up at Fettes College in Edinburgh?"
— The first meeting of Captains America and Britain[22]

Later to become Marvel Comics' Captain Britain, the British equivalent of Captain America, Brian Braddock was born to aristocratic parents in the town of Maldon, Essex. After falling upon hard times, Brian's family had lost their place in society, leaving Brian a lonely yet gifted child who immerses himself in the study of Physics.

A prodigious talent, Brian is selected to attend Fettes College where he excels in his studies. Following the death of his parents (Sir James and Lady Elizabeth) in what seemed to be a laboratory accident, Brian accepts a fellowship at Darkmoor nuclear research centre. When the facility is attacked by the Reaver, Brian tries to find help by escaping on his motorcycle. Although he crashes his bike in a nearly fatal accident, Merlyn and his daughter the Omniversal Guardian Roma appear to the badly injured Brian. They give him the chance to be the superhero Captain Britain. He is offered a choice: the Amulet of Right or the Sword of Might. Considering himself to be no warrior and unsuited for the challenge, he rejects the Sword and chooses the Amulet. This choice transforms Brian Braddock into Captain Britain, the champion of the British Isles.[23]

Headmasters

There have only been nine headmasters of the school since it was founded:[24]

  • 1870 - 1889 Alexander Potts
  • 1890 - 1919 William Heard
  • 1919 - 1945 Alec Ashcroft
  • 1945 - 1958 Donald Crichton-Miller
  • 1958 - 1971 Ian McIntosh
  • 1971 - 1979 Anthony Chenevix-Trench
  • 1979 - 1988 Cameron Cochrane
  • 1988 - 1998 Malcolm Thyne
  • 1998 - present Michael Spens

Notable Old Fettesians

See also: Category:Old Fettesians

Four Old Fettesians have won the Victoria Cross and one the George Cross, please see the above list for details. Former pupils of the school sometimes refer to themselves as "OF" and can use the post nominal "OF".

See also

References

  1. ^ Peter Victor, "Where to send your children to school if you want them beaten", Independent on Sunday, London, 1 May 1994.
  2. ^ "Tony Blair's revolting schooldays", The Scotsman, Edinburgh, 23 July 2004.
  3. ^ "Under the Green Oak, an old elite takes root in Tories", The Guardian, London, 12 August 2006.
  4. ^ "House of rivals shares the bond of an educated elite", The Times, London, 12 December 2005.
  5. ^ "Daily Telegraph League Table of Top Schools", Daily Telegraph, 29 August 1998
  6. ^ "Top 250 Independent Schools", Parent Power Supplement, Sunday Times, 15 November 1999
  7. ^ a b Top school expels pupils over drugs BBC News, 5 February 2002
  8. ^ "Fettes pupil shoots classmate with airgun", The Scotsman, 1 May 2002.
  9. ^ "Fettes pupils in Jackass row", The Scotsman, 5 March 2007.
  10. ^ The Tatler Schools Guide 2007.
  11. ^ "Gammell jnr helps spark Fettes revival", The Scotsman, 15 March 2009.
  12. ^ "Fettes HMIE Report", 28 April 2009.
  13. ^ 19 kids in Fettes drugs The Sun, 18 November 2009
  14. ^ Fettes College: Academic Curriculum
  15. ^ Another two schools offer the IB BBC News, 17 August 2006
  16. ^ Planning Application for the New Boarding House Edinburgh City Council, April 2011
  17. ^ Fettes College: The Building Retrieved 2009-03-21
  18. ^ Philp, p. 53
  19. ^ Fettes College: The Bee Retrieved 2009-03-21
  20. ^ Fettes College: The Fettes Tartan Retrieved 2009-03-21
  21. ^ Ian Fleming, "You Only Live Twice", Chapter 21, Obit Retrieved 2009-03-21
  22. ^ Ultimates 2, No. 4, May, 2005
  23. ^ Chris Claremont (w), Herb Trimpe, Fred Kida (a). Captain Britain Weekly 1 (Week ending October 13, 1976), Marvel Comics
  24. ^ Philp, pp. 130-131
  25. ^ John de Chastelain: arms and the man BBC News, 30 May 1999
  26. ^ George Cross Database

External links

Coordinates: 55°57′49″N 03°13′34″W / 55.96361°N 3.22611°W / 55.96361; -3.22611


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