Bryanston School
Encyclopedia
Bryanston School is a co-educational independent school
for both day and boarding pupils in Blandford, north Dorset
, England
, near the village of Bryanston
. It was founded in 1928. It occupies a palatial country house designed and built in 1889-1894 by Richard Norman Shaw
, the champion of a renewed academic tradition, for Viscount Portman
, the owner of large tracts in the West End of London, in the early version of neo-Georgian style that Sir Edwin Lutyens called "Wrenaissance
", to replace an earlier house, and is set in 400 acres (1.6 km²).
Bryanston is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
and the Eton Group
. It has a reputation as a liberal
and artistic school using some ideas of the Dalton Plan
.
During the mid-1930s, Bryanston School was the location of Anglo-German youth camps where the Hitler Youth
and Boy Scouts
tried to develop links.
In 2005 the school was one of fifty of the country's leading independent schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel (exposed by The Times
newspaper), which allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents, although the schools made clear that they had not realised that the change to the law (which had happened only a few months earlier) about the sharing of information had subsequently made it an offence. Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared.
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
for both day and boarding pupils in Blandford, north Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, near the village of Bryanston
Bryanston
Bryanston is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour one mile west of Blandford Forum. The parish has a population of 968 . The village is adjacent to the grounds of Bryanston School, an independent school.The village was named after Brian de Lisle, a...
. It was founded in 1928. It occupies a palatial country house designed and built in 1889-1894 by Richard Norman Shaw
Richard Norman Shaw
Richard Norman Shaw RA , was an influential Scottish architect from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings.-Life:...
, the champion of a renewed academic tradition, for Viscount Portman
Viscount Portman
Viscount Portman, of Bryanston in the County of Dorset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1873 for the former Lord Lieutenant of Somerset and Liberal Member of Parliament Edward Portman, 1st Baron Portman. He had already been created Baron Portman, of Orchard...
, the owner of large tracts in the West End of London, in the early version of neo-Georgian style that Sir Edwin Lutyens called "Wrenaissance
Edwardian Baroque architecture
The term Edwardian Baroque refers to the Neo-Baroque architectural style of many public buildings built in the British Empire during the Edwardian era ....
", to replace an earlier house, and is set in 400 acres (1.6 km²).
Bryanston is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference is an association of the headmasters or headmistressess of 243 leading day and boarding independent schools in the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and the Republic of Ireland...
and the Eton Group
Eton Group
The Eton Group is an association of 12 leading English independent schools within the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference including some of the most elite academic schools in the country...
. It has a reputation as a liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
and artistic school using some ideas of the Dalton Plan
Dalton Plan
The Dalton Plan is an educational concept created by Helen Parkhurst.Inspired by the intellectual ferment at the turn of the 19th century, educational thinkers such as Maria Montessori and John Dewey began to cast a bold vision of a new progressive approach to education...
.
History
The school opened on 24 January 1928 with 23 pupils and seven members of staff. In 2004, the school had around 650 pupils and 80 teachers.During the mid-1930s, Bryanston School was the location of Anglo-German youth camps where the Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
and Boy Scouts
The Scout Association
The Scout Association is the World Organization of the Scout Movement recognised Scouting association in the United Kingdom. Scouting began in 1907 through the efforts of Robert Baden-Powell. The Scout Association was formed under its previous name, The Boy Scout Association, in 1910 by the grant...
tried to develop links.
In 2005 the school was one of fifty of the country's leading independent schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel (exposed by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper), which allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents, although the schools made clear that they had not realised that the change to the law (which had happened only a few months earlier) about the sharing of information had subsequently made it an offence. Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared.
Facilities
The school has many facilities at the disposal of its students, including:- Over 400 acres (1.6 km²) of grounds
- A 25 metre indoor heated pool
- 4 indoor squash courts
- 3 indoor eton fivesEton FivesEton Fives, one derivative of the British game of Fives, is a hand-ball game, similar to Rugby Fives, played as doubles in a three-sided court. The object is to force the other team to fail to hit the ball 'up' off the front wall, using any variety of wall or ledge combinations as long as the ball...
courts - Free weights room
- Gym ( Rowing Machines, Treadmills, Cross-trainers, Exercise bikes, Benches, Multi gyms)
- 2 sport halls (1 wooden gymnasium)
- Up to 50 tennis courts ( 36 permanent: 10 grass, 12 carpet, 15 hard)
- 2 Astroturf Pitches
- Medical centre, with over 20 beds
- 600 seat theatre (Coade Hall, named after Thorold CoadeThorold CoadeThorold Francis Coade was a British school teacher and headmaster.Thorold Coade was headmaster at Bryanston School in Dorset for much of his career , succeeding J. G. Jeffreys. He believed in self-discipline and developed this ethos at the school...
) - 3 tier Science centre with 1 tier for each of Biology, Chemistry and Physics
- Cafeteria
- A darkroomDarkroomA darkroom is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light sensitive photographic materials, including photographic film and photographic paper. Darkrooms have been created and used since the inception of photography in the early 19th century...
- 2 tier technology centre (upstairs ICTInformation and communication technologiesInformation and communications technology or information and communication technology, usually abbreviated as ICT, is often used as an extended synonym for information technology , but is usually a more general term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of...
and Design & Technology downstairs) - Music school, hosting approximately 600 individual music lessons, a senior orchestra, string chamber orchestra, junior wind band, concert band, six choirs, choral society, brass trio, wind, string and vocal ensembles, many different chamber groups, jazz bands and rock bands.
- Outdoor Greek Theatre
Heads of Bryanston
- J. G. JeffreysJ. G. JeffreysJ. G. Jeffreys was an Australian schoolteacher who moved to England and founded Bryanston School in Dorset.Jeffreys first taught in Australia. He came to England in 1921 to teach chemistry at Westminster School in London. The headmaster of the school encouraged him to take a second degree at...
(1928–1932) - Thorold CoadeThorold CoadeThorold Francis Coade was a British school teacher and headmaster.Thorold Coade was headmaster at Bryanston School in Dorset for much of his career , succeeding J. G. Jeffreys. He believed in self-discipline and developed this ethos at the school...
(1932–1959) - Robson FisherRobson FisherFrancis George Robson Fisher was a British educationalist and headmaster.Robson Fisher, as he was generally known, attended Liverpool College, where he became head boy...
(1959–1974) - David Jones (1974–1982)
- Bob Allan (acting head, 1982–1983)
- Tom WheareTom WheareTom D. Wheare FRSA is an English school teacher and headmaster.Tom Wheare was educated at the Dragon School and Magdalen College School in Oxford. He then went on to King's College Cambridge and Christ Church, Oxford Tom D. Wheare FRSA (born 1944) is an English school teacher and headmaster.Tom...
(1983–2005) - Sarah Thomas (2005– present) — First female head of Bryanston. Previously, since 1999, she was Deputy Head of Uppingham SchoolUppingham SchoolUppingham School is a co-educational independent school of the English public school tradition, situated in the small town of Uppingham in Rutland, England...
and before that taught classicsClassicsClassics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
at Sevenoaks SchoolSevenoaks SchoolSevenoaks School is an English coeducational independent school located in the town of Sevenoaks, Kent. It is the oldest lay school in the United Kingdom, dating back to 1432. Almost 1,000 day pupils and boarders attend, ranging in age from 11 to 18 years. There are approximately equal numbers of...
for 13 years before moving to Bryanston.
Old Bryanstonians
Alumni of the school are known as Old Bryanstonians; there is an alumni organisation called The Bryanston Society. "The Society exists to further the cause of Bryanston in the broadest possible sense. It aims to bring together the whole Bryanston family through social and sporting events."Other information
- The school estate has Europe's tallest London PlaneLondon PlanePlatanus × acerifolia, the London plane, London planetree, or hybrid plane, is a tree in the genus Platanus. It is usually thought to be a hybrid of Platanus orientalis and the Platanus occidentalis . Some authorities think that it may be a cultivar of P...
tree (160ft). This tree may also be England's tallest deciduous tree. - Each year, the JACT Ancient GreekAncient GreekAncient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
Summer School is held at Bryanston; the school has played host to many of the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's classicists, both as teachers and pupils.
See also
- List of independent schools in the United Kingdom
- Don PotterDon PotterDonald Steele Potter , was an English sculptor, wood carver, potter and teacher.-Early life:Don Potter was born in Newington, near Sittingbourne, Kent, the son of a school teacher, and attended a private school...
(1902–2004), sculptor, potter and teacher at the school 1940–1984 - R. Norman ShawRichard Norman ShawRichard Norman Shaw RA , was an influential Scottish architect from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings.-Life:...
(1831–1912), architect of the main building - The Coade HallThe Coade HallThe Coade Hall is a brick-built theatre and concert hall at Bryanston School, near Blandford Forum in Dorset, England. It was opened in 27 May 1966 by the Duke of Edinburgh On the opening night, there was a concert with music by Brahms, Britten, and Mozart....
, a theatre at the school
Further reading
- The Burning Bow, Thorold F. Coade. London: Allen & UnwinAllen & UnwinAllen & Unwin, formerly a major British publishing house, is now an independent book publisher and distributor based in Australia. The Australian directors have been the sole owners of the Allen & Unwin name since effecting a management buy out at the time the UK parent company, Unwin Hyman, was...
(1966). ISBN 0-04-370001-2. - Bryanston Reflections: Et nova et vetera, Angela Holdsworth (editor). London: Third Millennium Publishing (2005). ISBN 1-903942-38-1.
External links
- Bryanston School website
- UK Schools Guide entry
- Independent Schools Inspectorate report, 2007
- Dorset Life article on the history of the school building
- Leading sculptors mark school's 75th birthday, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 2 June 2003