The Leys School
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The Leys School is an independent co-educational boarding and day school for over 520 pupils aged between 11 and 18 years. It is located in Cambridge, United Kingdom, and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
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[edit] History
The nineteenth century saw the founding of a large number of schools, especially by the churches. Although there were already several leading schools which offered an education for the sons of Ministers, Methodists were asking for schools for sons of lay members of their church. The Methodist Conference set up a committee to look at the possibility of starting a school at Oxford or Cambridge.
Following several visits to Cambridge, they discovered that a 20 acre (80,000 m²) site called The Leys Estate was being offered for sale. The Reverend Doctor Moulton, who had been the secretary of the committee, was asked to become headmaster of the new school. The School opened on 16th February, 1875 with sixteen boys, all from English Methodist families. After two years there were 100 pupils.
During the twentieth century, The Leys expanded significantly, during the Second World War temporarily decamping to Pitlochry. The majority of the pupils are boarders. Since the admission of girls to the Sixth Form in the 1980s, the school has become fully co-educational, and now accepts pupils from the age of 11, rather than the age of 13 as it was before.
[edit] Principles
One of the remarkable strengths of The Leys is that despite its proud Methodist traditions it is the case that for more than fifty years it has been liberal on religion. Many pupils received confirmation into the Church of England in the school chapel, and many other pupils had religious backgrounds from other faiths. There are chapel services each week and holy communion happens once a term.
The school motto is in fide fiducia (In Faith we Trust), which is also the motto for its associated prep school, St. Faith's School. The two schools make up the Leys and St. Faith's Foundation. The school song is Rev B. Hellier's Χαίρετε. The school recently underwent a change of image (including Cambridge colours on the signage) which has caused controversy.
The school is considered to have a strong sense of community, due in no small part to its array of extra-curricular activities. This has led to rivalry with non-boarding schools, like The Perse, which make use of its sports hall and swimming pool. Another cause of competition in the past has been its limited entrance selection, as the school depends more on the flexibility of its staff and an assessment of a pupil's potential than exam grades.
[edit] Sport
Sport has always played an important part at The Leys. The three main sports are played during the three terms: Rugby Football (Autumn); Hockey (Spring) and Cricket (Summer) for the Boys and Hockey (Autumn), Netball (Spring) and Tennis (Summer) for the girls. Famous Leysian sportsmen include Neil White (Olympic hockey in 1948); Freddie Brown (Captain of England's cricket team); Geoff Windsor-Lewis (Wales Rugby 1960) and Paul Svehlik (England and Great Britain Hockey).
Swimming is taken very seriously, competing against schools such as Eton (the only team to do so), and on a national level at the annual Bath cup. The swimming team has recently travelled to Florida on a training trip, in the manner of other sports teams. The rugby regularly tours every couple of years, the previous 2 being to South Africa in the summers of 2001 and 2003. There is an upcoming tour of Singapore and New Zealand in 2007.
There is also a very successful rowing team, with a well-equipped boat house in prime position on the Cam. Along with sailing (at St. Ives), this is a minority sport, counted among the confusingly named pitch games (non-team sports). Other pitch games, which run concurrently, include squash, badminton, tennis, athletics, karate, fives and golf.
[edit] Houses
There are 11 separate Houses.
School is a 13-18 boys' boarding house with 30-35 boarders and 20-25 home boarders. School House is situated in the heart of the main campus overlooking the Thomson (Science) Building, Old Music School and Swimming Pool.
West is a 13-18 boys' boarding house with room for 45-48 boarders with 25-30 home boarders. West House is situated on the far side of the Campus overlooking the Astro Turf and the new classroom block (Clapham Building).
North A is a boys' boarding house of 40-45 boarders and 15-20 home boarders. It is situated close to the Main Library, Sixth Form Club, Tuck Shop and the Chapel. It overlooks the stunning Upper Quadrangle.
North B contains three co-educational day houses, Barker, Barrett and Bisseker, each with a dedicated Housemaster or Housemistress. It is situated close to the Main Library, Sixth Form Club and the Chapel. It overlooks the stunning Upper Quadrangle.
Dale is a girls' boarding house with 35-40 boarders and 20 to 25 home boarders. Dale House is situated in the centre of the main Campus and is close to the Drama Studio, Science Building, Music School and Swimming Pool.
Fen is a girls' 13-18 boarding house with 45-50 boarders and 20-25 home boarders. It is situated close to the Theatre and Rugg Technology Centre overlooking the main playing fields and Coe Fen at the western edge of the main Campus.
East is the Sixth Form boys' house with 27-30 boarders. Boys making direct entry into the Sixth Form are normally accommodated here. It overlooks the Deer Park and Chapel to the North. There are also views over the main playing fields and the modern Sports Complex to the south.
Granta is the Sixth Form girl's house with 30 boarders and up to 2 home boarders. Girls making direct entry into the Sixth Form are normally accommodated here. It is situated in the centre of the Campus overlooking the Chapel and Deer park.
Moulton is the Junior 11-13 house for 20-25 boarders and 35-40 day pupils. The day facilities are situated on East of the Campus overlooking the Deer Park and Chapel to the North. There are also views of the main playing fields and the modern Sports Complex. The boarding house is a five minute walk from the main gates in an extensive Victorian town house with its own gardens.
[edit] Alumni
Known as Old Leysians, they include:
- Sir John Clapham, (North 'A' House 1887-1892): Historian
- Sir Henry Dale, (School House, 1891-1894): Scientist
- Tanaka Ginnosuke, (North 'A' House, 1891 - 1893): introduced rugby to Japan
- J. Arthur Rank, (North 'B' House, 1901-1906): Industrialist and film producer.
- Donald Woods Winnicott, (North 'B' House, 1910-1914): Pediatrician and psychoanalyst
- James Hilton, (School House, 1915-18): Author, including "Goodbye, Mr. Chips", a semi-autobiographical novel based on the school and in particular one of his schoolmasters, W.H. Balgarnie.
- Donald Bailey, (North 'B' House, 1916-1919): inventor of the Bailey Bridge
- Eric Havelock, (1917-1921): Classicist
- Malcolm Lowry, (West House, 1923-1927): Author, including "Under the Volcano"
- Michael Rennie, (West House, 1924-1926): Actor
- Neville Robinson, (School House, 1938-43) Physicist .
- Sir Alastair Burnet, (School House, 1942-1946) : Journalist and broadcaster.
- J. G. Ballard, (North 'B' House 1946-1949): Author, including "Empire of the Sun".
- Richard Taylor, (North 'B' House, 1947-53) independent MP for Wyre Forest
- Martin Bell, (East House, 1952-56): Former BBC News Correspondent and independent MP for Tatton.
- Christopher Hitchens, (North 'B' House, 1962-1966) Journalist and polemicist
- Peter Hitchens, (West House, 1965-1967) Journalist and polemicist, brother of Christopher
- Sir Andrew Wiles, (North 'A' House, 1966-70): Mathematician, proved Fermat's last theorem.
Old Leysians have their own old boys sports clubs including the "Old Leysian Football Club" which in its hey day (in the 1930s) was one of the leading Rugby clubs in the London area. There is also an active "Old Leysian Golfing Society".
[edit] Former Headmasters
- Rev Dr John Barrett, 1990-2004, now principal of the Anglo-Chinese School (International) in Singapore
[edit] Further reading
- Baker, Derek (1975). Partnership in Excellence: A Late-Victorian Educational Venture: The Leys School, Cambridge, 1875-1975. Cambridge: The Governors of The Leys School.
- Houghton, Geoff and Pat (2000). Well-regulated Minds and Improper Moments: A History of The Leys School. Cambridge: The Governors of The Leys School. ISBN 0950172189.
