Magdalen College School, Oxford
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| Magdalen College School | |
 |
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| Motto | Sicut Lilium (Like the Lily) |
| Established | 1480 |
| Type | Independent School |
| Religion | Anglican |
| Master | Dr Timothy Hands BA |
| Usher | S. D. A. Griffiths MA |
| Founder | William Waynflete |
| Location | Oxford Oxfordshire United Kingdom |
| Staff | 160 (approx.) |
| Students | 708 |
| Ages | 7 to 18 |
| Houses | 6 Senior; 6 Junior |
| Colours | |
| Publication | The Lily, The Melting Pot, The MCS Inquirer |
| Former pupils | Old Waynfletes (OWs) |
| Head of School | T. F. Roberts |
| Website | www.mcsoxford.org |
Magdalen College School is an independent school for boys located by The Plain in Oxford, England. It was founded as part of Magdalen College, Oxford by William Waynflete in 1480.
The Good Schools Guide described the school as having "A comfortable mix of brains, brawn and artistic flair but demanding and challenging too," adding, "Not what you might expect a boys' public school to look like or feel like."[1].
The school was named Independent School of the Year by the Sunday Times in 2004[2] and in 2008,[3] the first boys school to achieve this award twice.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
The school is headed by a Headmaster (known at Magdalen only as the Master) and a Board of Governors, who appoint the Head. It has both a senior school and a junior school. It contains 6 boys' houses in Big School each headed by a housemaster, selected from the more senior members among the teaching staff, who number some 160. There are also six separate houses in the Junior School.
Almost all of the school's pupils go on to universities, about a third of them to Oxford or Cambridge.[4]
The Master, Dr Tim Hands, is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference denoting the school as a Public School.
[edit] History
The School was originally founded in 1480 by William Waynflete to educate the sixteen boy choristers of Magdalen College, Oxford who sang in the college's chapel, as well as other gifted local children of high academic achievement. Since then it has grown from its original pupil population of approximately 30 to over 700. In 1890 the school moved from its original location in Magdalen College itself to its present location just over Magdalen Bridge and opposite the college.
The school has moved on, and has spread across the road, and the Schoolhouse, built in the nineteenth century on the current site, is now used for the Juniors (ages 7–11) whilst the school facilities across Cowley Place is the location for Big School (ages 11–18)). Recent additions to the campus have been the Sir Basil Blackwell Library and a new school refectory and art building.
On Tuesday 20 March 2007, Dr David Brunton, the head of media studies and English teacher at the school was found dead at the base of St Mary the Virgin Church tower in Radcliffe Square[5], Oxford. His death was recorded as accidental. A bursary has since been set up by pupils, parents and staff in his honour.
The Governors of the school announced in March 2009 that girls would be admitted into the Sixth Form[6]. Reaction to the news has varied with a wide variety of opinions among boys and parents. The announcement has been likened to the decision to abolish Saturday morning education, an idea which was initially met with outcry, but nearly a decade on, has been generally accepted.
[edit] Junior School
The Junior School is the section of MCS for boys of ages seven to eleven (or years 3 to 6). Year 3 is called J1 and contains around 16 boys; Year 4 is J2 and contains approximately the same number; Year 5 is split into J3A and J3B and contains around 35 boys; while Year 6 is split into J4A and J4B and contains around 40 boys. The current head of the Junior School is Mr Matthew Coatsworth, while the deputy head is Mrs Elizabeth Stapleton.
[edit] Terms
Ostensibly, and to some controversy when originally announced, the school operates the same six term year as most state schools in the UK. However, in practise it has made little difference to the original three term structure, and the school still refers to its terms in their original titles based on Oxford University's names for them. They are;
- The Michaelmas Term, from early September to mid December.
- The Hilary Term, from mid-January to late March.
- The Trinity Term, from late April to late June or early July.
[edit] Boys' Houses
[edit] House Names
There are six houses at Magdalen, named after old boys who died in the two World Wars.[7] They are:
- Callendar, named after John Clement Callender
- Chavasse, named after Captain Noel Chavasse who was one of only three men to ever be awarded VC and Bar
- Leicester, named after Donovan Nicholas Leicester, nicknamed 'The Saint' because he was said to be 'too good for this world'. The only house to have its own newsletter, The Saint
- Maltby, named after Charles Robert Crighton Maltby
- Walker-Dunn, named after Geoffrey Walker and Bruce Dunn
- Wilkinson-Blagden, named after Frank D. Wilkinson and Maurice Bernard Blagden
[edit] House Structure
Each house is divided into five different sections: Room 4, Room 3, Room 2 and Rooms 1a and 1b. In Room 4 the youngest boys of the 2nd and 3rd form are to be found, then in Room 3 the Lower 4th and Upper 4th boys are to be found, and some Upper 4th boys and the 5th form boys mix in Room 2. Finally in Rooms 1a and 1b the Lower 6th and the Upper 6th are split up between two separate rooms. In each of these houserooms there is a house tutor and Room 1a is usually run by the housemaster. Each house also has a Head of House who is a boy appointed by the housemaster.
There are numerous inter-house competitions held throughout the year, which include House Singing, House Swimming, House Cross-Country, House Quizzing, House Football, House Drama and House Hockey among many others. Houses have House Captains in each of these competitions.
The house structure helps keep a healthy and friendly atmosphere among the boys and the house tutors are there to talk to if the boys ever need any advice.
[edit] Recent House History
Chavasse have won the House Cup, awarded to the house with the most points (from all house activities) at the end of the year, for the past five years in a row (2005-2009).
[edit] Sport
Sports are a major feature of life at Magdalen. The school's central city location somewhat inhibits the scale of the fields, but it has in past years secured the use of many of the University's facilities around the city as well as using the enormous School Field which is surrounded by the River Cherwell. The school also has a smaller field known as 'The Spit' which can be seen from Magdalen Bridge.
- During the Michaelmas Term, the sport curriculum is dominated by Rugby Union.
- The Hilary Term it is dominated by Hockey, played on the University Astroturf field.
- During the Trinity Term, there is a division between those who play Tennis and those who play Cricket. Athletics is also a major sport, and in recent years Ultimate Frisbee has also become a popular summer sport.
Rowing, Sailing, Golf and Physical Education in the School's fitness centre occur throughout the year. The school has a number of nationally-honoured rowers, and the school's sailing team regularly competes against and beats university sailing teams from around the world.
Magdalen also has, in recent times organised sports fixtures to aid charity, or for the general amusement of all. A netball match was won against Christ Church ladies, a rugby 7s victory against the staff and a 2006 U15B team cricket reunion against the current 4th XI was won by the former, sporting a vivacious orange kit.
[edit] Kingball
Kingball is a game played at Magdalen.[2][8] The tradition, unique to the school, was first played at Magdalen some time in the 19th Century, and although to some extent the rules are passed down from year to year, every new year that takes up the game usually adopts its own rules as well. The game has been actively played during breaktimes amongst pupils using a variety of courts involving parking spaces and paving stones, but in more recent years, the school has painted several standardised courts on the main school playground. The game is still played every day at the school.[9]
[edit] Game Layout
The game is played on a court that is very distinctly shaped. The ball (a tennis ball) is bounced around the court and the players progress up the shaped squares (although in fact none of them are square-shaped) until he is in the 'King' square. Then he serves and so the game progresses until he is eventually knocked off the 'King' square. The game is predominantly played by younger boys, ranging from 8–13 years old. However, whenever boys from this age range vacate the courts and there are no tutors to tell them otherwise, older boys enjoy to play the unique "sport". The seven squares are, in order of descending rank: King, Queen, Prince, Princess, Small square, Big square, and Rabies. If the court has been filled up then the people waiting to play must wait outside the rabies square. These players are called slaves. Newer generations of pupils have "invented" a new square that fits between Princess and rabies. Although there is no line presenting the new square (Tiny), it is an informal way of allowing eight players without creating "slaves."
[edit] Rules
- After one bounce, a player has to palm the ball into his own square before it lands in an opponent's.
- After two bounces, the ball must be hit directly into an opponent's square, without bouncing.
- After three bounces, the ball must be kicked into an opponent's square without bouncing.
- On the fourth bounce or failure to comply with the above rules, a player is demoted to the lowest available square (or court-side if no squares are available) and all other players who were previously below that player in the hierarchy move up a square, one step closer to becoming king.
In the last few years the game has lost its true spirit at MCS with younger boys changing the rules to make it easier, with the square names in descending order as: King, Queen, Jack, Big Square, Triangle, Evil, and Rabies. One can play with one player per square (Seven), Or can double up (14). Slaves do not occur. When the game was played in the late 1970s and early 1980s the only lawful play was that identified at (1) above. If a player could not lawfully play the ball after the first bounce in his square (and at that time the squares were indeed square-shaped and measured about 1.5 to 2 metres from corner to corner) then he was demoted. Also at this time,the names of the squares were not fixed - save for the King square - although frequent references to Queen, Jack, 10 and so on (as per a suit in a pack of cards) were made informally. There was no fixed number of squares although the normal number was 6 (in a 3x2 formation); 8 was not infrequent and larger numbers could be chosen to avoid long queues of those described above as 'slaves'.
The service is played by palming the ball (having thrown it up into the air) into one's own square so as to bounce in another's square. The occupant of that square then plays as above.
The rules above have been taken and conveted to a game without a court. This new game is called "eggy" and was created around 1999 due to the lack of court space in the payground.
[edit] Societies and Pastimes
[edit] Societies
Magdalen has a longstanding culture of clubs and societies, frequently run and operated by boys, and some of which (such as the Computer Club) charge a small annual membership fee, the fees being used to fund club equipment and activities and in some cases improve communal school resources. Such clubs include well-established, traditional clubs like those in other schools such as the Debating Society, Computer Club, Historical society, Model United Nations, Gun Club, Archaeological Society, and Choral Society. More esoteric clubs and societies include the well-established St. Thomas More Society, the Warhammer Club and the Cheese Club.
During lunchbreak and morning breaks, boys frequently play in the central playground or Milham Ford, behind the main teaching block (formerly grass and now occupied by hockey / tennis courts). 'The Spit' (one of the school fields) is used during breaktimes by the nearby Junior School, and has a fenced grass area and a Playground with swings, slides, etc. Informal activities during breaktimes include football, cricket, etc, as well as Magdalen's traditional game, Kingball.
Magdalen has a strong chess tradition, coming third in the National Finals in 2007.
[edit] CCF & CSO
At the end of the Upper Fourth (Year 10), pupils choose between CCF or the Community Service Organisation (CSO). They are required to take part for the following 2 years on a Tuesday afternoon, but many stay on in the Upper Sixth as well.
The Magdalen College School CCF is divided up into four sections: Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and a Signals Corps open only to boys in the 6th form. Recently, the school has introduced 'after-school' CCF activities aimed at boys from 13 and above. About once every term, there is a CCF field-day, where pupils spend the entire school day involved with their particular activity. The Army usually camp overnight in a disused army camp, carrying out marches, taking part in tactical missions, or just relaxing beside a log-fire.
CSO provides the chance for pupils to give something back to the community. There are three main options: working in a local junior school, helping in a charity shop or aiding at the John Radcliffe Hospital. The work is both rewarding and satisfying, and many people decide to carry on in the Upper Sixth . The Concert Party, a subsection of the CSO, consists of 2 groups of boys visiting local junior schools and nursing homes, and performing a musical show.
[edit] School Magazines
The school has an annual magazine, a student newspaper and a satirical publication. The Lily is the official school magazine, published yearly, detailing the activities and progress of the school and staff. It is run by a senior boy Editor and a member of staff with the assistance of an editing team.
The school also has an newspaper called The Melting Pot. It runs many articles on a wide variety of subjects, both related and unrelated to the school. It is published periodically over the year and is run by an Editorial Committee.
A rival in the form of the satirical and unofficial paper The MCS Inquirer is also published, albeit somewhat irregularly, and without school sanction.
[edit] Music and Drama
[edit] Music
The current Director of Music is Jon Cullen, and the school boasts an organ and a building for music (performance spaces include the School Hall (called 'Big School'), the Music school and the new refectory). Many instruments are taught, and many ensembles catering to a wide variety of tastes and styles operate on a weekly basis. The school participates in many national competitions; many pupils are part of the National Youth Orchestra and National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, and the school gives scholarships for dedicated and talented musicians.
The school also serves as the school for the Choristers of Magdalen College, Oxford.[10] There are sixteen choristers at any one time, in a tradition that has been unbroken since 1458, who sing daily services in the college chapel and perform in other concerts and events throughout the year. It was the education of the choristers for which the school was originally founded in 1480.
[edit] Drama
Many plays are put on every year at Magdalen; there is one main theatre, called 'Big School', and several other venues (including the Jacqueline du Pré building in St Hilda's College, Oxford opposite the school). There is an annual house drama competition where each house produces a small 10 minute segment of drama, often written by its own members. The School musical in the Michaelmas Term is normally fully booked every night, such is its reputation. Other productions are put on throughout the year. Most recently, the school has put on Grease, Anything Goes, David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, Socrates' Oedipus Rex, Coram Boy and a number of student-written pieces. Often girls from surrounding schools, such as Oxford High School and Headington School come in to play female roles.
In 2009 the school's Arts Festival will feature performances of William Shakespeare's The Tempest and an adaptation of Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby as well as other student-written productions.
[edit] School Songs
The school has had many famous musicians over time. There are many songs dedicated to the school by such past pupils with the school hymn being one of them, entitled 'Miles Christi' ('Christ's Soldier'). The other school hymn is "The Lilies of the Field", which is sung at the Remembrance service every November, and at the Commemoration service at the end of the school year.
The 'House Singing' competition has recently become an annual school event, in which the various houses of the school compete against each other in the form of singing. A guest judge attends each year to cast the verdict on the results of the tournament. The 2009 competition featured exceptional renditions of 'No Woman No Cry' by a small group of Leicester boys, and an innovative version of 'Hounds of Love', performed in a similar style to the cover by 'The Futureheads', by a Chavasse representation.
[edit] Celebrations
Magdalen's best-known celebration takes place on 'Commemoration' on the last Saturday of full term in the Trinity Term. This day is begun with a service the University Church of St Mary's, with full recitation of the hundreds of names of the benefactors of the school, followed by tea, music and sports in the afternoon.
Other notable events include 'Madrigals', performed on the evening of the last Friday of Trinity Term, where a select number of the Choral Society are punted out to one of the school's landing stages on the side of the river and perform a concert of madrigals in the punts; and 'Midsummer Mania' which is a fair-like event held by the Parents Association with games, sports, raffles and an infamous karaoke.
[edit] Other schools of that name
Wayneflete's original foundation also included a Magdalen College School at Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, which closed in 1933.
There is still a Magdalen College School at Brackley, Northamptonshire. The relation it has with the college is that it was founded as a place for evacuated students to attend in wartime and so is an affiliate to the school in this way.
[edit] Notable old boys
Old boys are called Old Waynfletes (OWs) after the founder.
Roughly in chronological order:
- St Thomas More (disputed) — Roman Catholic Martyr
- William Tyndale — first translator of the Bible into English
- Cardinal Wolsey (as Master) — Henry VIII's closest adviser
- John Foxe — martyrologist
- Sir Basil Blackwell — bookseller; the recently-constructed Library was named in his honour
- Noel Chavasse VC - The most highly decorated soldier in British history
- Sir Henry John Stedman Cotton, KCSI, Chief Commissioner of Assam; Cotton College, Guwahati is named after him
- Ivor Novello — singer/songwriter
- John Caird — director of Les Miserables
- Christopher Peacocke — eminent philosopher
- Nigel Starmer-Smith — BBC rugby correspondent
- Jim Rosenthal — TV sports commentator
- Adam Lively — contemporary novelist
- Tim Hunt — Nobel Prize winner and scientist
- Wayne Masterson — scientist
- Sam Mendes — Oscar-winning film and stage director
- Guy Browning - humorous writer and business guru
- Misha Glenny - BBC Eastern Europe correspondent
- Rob Leslie-Carter — Engineer
- Ben Goldacre — journalist
- Daniel Sandford — BBC News Home Affairs Correspondent
- Julian Opie - Modern Artist
- William Edward Sherwood (Master and boy) - Mayor of Oxford 1913/14 and 1914/15
- Jonathan Bielby - Director of music at Wakefield Cathedral
- Jeremy R. Knowles - Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Harvard University
- Jonathan Bailey - Actor
- Yannis Philippakis - Frontman of band Foals
[edit] Bibliography
Several books over the years have been written about the school. These include:
- Stanier, R.S. Magdalen School (first edition, Clarendon Press 1940; second edition Blackwell 1958)
- Clarke, D.L.L. Magdalen School: Five Hundred Years on (Blackwell 1980)
- Hey, Colin Magdalen Schooldays 1917-1924 (Senecio 1977)
- Orme, Nicholas Education in Early Tudor England: Magdalen College Oxford and Its School, 1480-1540 (Magdalen College 1988)
As an interesting addition to the above list, the novel North by long-serving former Head of English Brian Martin (Macmillan New Writing 2006) is widely acknowledged to be set in the school, although it is not mentioned by name. The main character, an 'eminently shaggable' Head of History never without her complement of fake tan, is a very clear example of the similarities, although despite rumours to the contrary, the titular "North" appears to be a fictional compound of several old boys (he notably conducts an affair with the teacher). Another novel which is clearly based on a fictional version of the school is The Singing Time by Maida Stanier, wife of a former Master (Michael Joseph, 1975)
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ "The Good Schools Guide". http://goodschoolsguide.co.uk/school/magdalen-college-school.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-07.
- ^ a b O'Reilly, Judith. "Independent Secondary School of the Year 2004". Sunday Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/parentpower/previous_schools_of_the_year.php?p=independent_secondary&y=2004. Retrieved on 2009-06-07.
- ^ O'Reilly, Judith. "Independent Secondary School of the Year". Sunday Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/parentpower/schools_of_the_year.php?p=independent_secondary. Retrieved on 2009-06-07.
- ^ http://www.mcsoxford.org/page.aspx?id=164
- ^ Tower Fall Inquest Opens (from Oxford Mail)
- ^ "Proposed Admission of Sixth Form girls". http://www.mcsoxford.org/page.aspx?id=242. Retrieved on 2009-04-05.
- ^ Bates, Nigel. "A history of the Houses of MCS". http://www.mcsoxford.org/resource.aspx?id=8. Retrieved on 2009-06-07.
- ^ "Tatler Schools Guide: Magdalen College School". http://guides.tatler.co.uk/WCS/Schools/2009/Details.aspx?Type=Public&Area=South%20East&ID=2262&List=. Retrieved on 2009-05-28.
- ^ "Magdalen College School Extracuricular Activities Booklet 2008-09". http://www.mcsoxford.org/resource.aspx?id=94. Retrieved on 2009-05-28.
- ^ "Junior School: Choristers". http://www.mcsoxford.org/page.aspx?id=113. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
[edit] External links
- Magdalen College School website
- Profile at the Good Schools Guide
- ISI inspection report
- A history of the choristers of Magdalen College School, Oxford
- The school paper - The Melting Pot's website
Coordinates: 51°44′57″N 1°14′39″W / 51.74903°N 1.24429°W
