Repton School

Repton School
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ReptonSchool2007.JPG
Motto 'Porta Vacat Culpa'
(Latin: literally, 'the gate is free from blame')
Established 1557
Type Independent day and Boarding School
Religion Anglican
Headmaster Robert A. Holroyd
Chaplain Reverend Adam Watkinson
Chairman of Governors Jonathan M. Fry
Founder Sir John Port
Location Repton
Derbyshire
DE65 6FH
England Coordinates: 52°50′27″N 1°33′04″W / 52.8409°N 1.5510°W / 52.8409; -1.5510
DfE URN 113009 Tables
Students ~600
Gender Coeducational
Ages 13–18
Houses 10
Colours

Navy & Yellow

         
Preparatory School Repton Preparatory School
Former pupils Old Reptonians
Website www.repton.org.uk

Repton School is a co-educational English independent school for both day and boarding pupils located in the village of Repton, in Derbyshire, in the Midlands area of England. Founded in 1557, it educates pupils in the British public school tradition. Some of the remains of the oldest buildings date back to the 6th century.

History

On 6 June 1557 Sir John Port of Etwall died without a male heir and his bequests included funds to provide almshouses at Etwall but also the means to found a "Grammar School in Etwalle or Reptone", where the scholars every day were to pray for the souls of his parents and other relatives.

In 1559 the executors of Sir John Port's will purchased from the Thacker family, for £37.10s (£37.50), the land which had once housed a twelfth-century Augustinian Priory, and the accompanying buildings which had survived Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries and subsequent upheavals, namely, the Guest Chamber and Prior's Lodging (which as the Old Priory currently houses the School Library and Common Room), Overton's Tower (now part of School House), the Tithe Barn, and the Arch, which is all that now remains of the priory's original gatehouse and which helped inspire the School's motto: porta vacat culpa.

Repton School

A preparatory school was founded during the Second World War to ensure that Repton School had enough pupils, and after the war the prep school moved to nearby Foremarke Hall. In 1970, the school led a soon to be growing trend in public schools and started accepting girls in the sixth form (the last two years). Carole Blackshaw, a local girl, and Sally Keenan became the first female Repton sixth formers in 1970 after Sally, entirely on her own initiative, asked headmaster John Gammell if she could attend Repton. He agreed and then The chairman of governors also agreed, as long as she found a like-minded friend to "keep her company". Carole went on to become Lady Mayoress of London in 2002/03. Repton later became fully coeducational around 1990.[citation needed]

Repton uses an unusual nomenclature for its year groups: Year 9, 10 and 11 are known as "B", "A" and "O" blocks respectively.

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Motto

The school's motto, Porta Vacat Culpa ("the gate is free from blame"), is a quotation from Ovid's Fasti.[1] 'The gate' (Porta) refers to the school's famous arch[2] and, by a synecdoche of pars pro toto, the school itself, whilst also being a pun on the name of the school's founder, Sir John Port.[3] It is an unusual motto for a public school in that it does not form an exhortation to, or a claim of, virtue or excellence but seems rather to act as a disclaimer: the school cannot be held responsible for the shortcomings of those educated there. One should note, however, that the line immediately following in the "Fasti" reads: "sed tamen omen habet", which means something like "but, however, it has ominous connotations".

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Houses

Repton school has 10 houses, 6 for boys and 4 for girls. The boys' houses are School House, The Priory, Orchard, Latham House, The Cross, and New House, each consisting of about 65 boys across 5 school years. The girls' houses are The Abbey, The Garden, Field House, and The Mitre (which used to be a boys house), with roughly the same number of members each. School House was originally two houses. Hall and Brook House were joined together as houses. The original Brook House building has now been converted to flats. Hall was also split into A-K and L-Z for sports competitions, but that was ended by the time of the conjunction.

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Sports

Repton has a long tradition of sporting excellence,[4] having produced numerous top-level sportsmen and women including the second-to-last male British Wimbledon tennis finalist, Bunny Austin, and 130 first-class cricketers.[5] The school competes in sports typical of a medium-sized English public school (football, Field hockey, athletics, etc.), and more recently Rugby and tennis. Repton also competes in lesser-known sports such as Eton Fives. Repton have been National Champions in hockey, cricket, swimming and tennis in recent years.[4][6]

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Repton Dubai

On 24 January 2006, it was announced that Repton School is to branch out internationally with the launch of a new boarding school in Dubai, an initiative of the Dubai Education Council (DEC).[7] The school opened to the public in September 2007. The school is similar in many aspects of its teaching and layout to Repton School. It is situated on a 50-acre (200,000 m2) site in Nad al Sheba and, according to the Good Schools Guide International, enjoys "very expensive facilities".[8] Houses in Repton Dubai include Foremarke, School, Dahl, Orchard, Brook, New, Latham and Jumeirah.

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Film and TV settings

The exterior of Repton School was used to represent the fictional Brookfield School in both the 1939 and the 1984 BBC television drama version of the story, while Sherborne School was the location in the 1969 musical version originally written by James Hilton.[9][10] Around 200 Repton boys stayed at the School during the holidays in order to appear as extras in the 1939 film.[11]

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Notable Old Reptonians

See also: Category:People educated at Repton School
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Headmasters

  • Thomas Whitehead (1621–1639)[19]
  • Philip Ward (1639–1642)[19]
  • William Ullock (1642–1667)[19]
  • Joseph Sedgwicke (1667–1672)[19]
  • Edward Letherland (1672–1681)[19]
  • John Doughty (1681–1705)[19]
  • Edward Abbot (1705–1714)[19]
  • Thomas Gawton (1714–1723)[19]
  • William Dudson (1723–1724)[19]
  • George Fletcher (1724–1741)[19]
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Gallery

  • Repton School

  • New House, part of Repton School

  • Through the archway is Repton School

  • School art work

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References

  1. ^ Ovid's Fasti, book 2, line 204
  2. ^ Repton School website
  3. ^ article entitled "Pro Pelle Cutem, The Hudson's Bay Company Motto" by E. E. Rich in Manitoba Pageant, April 1961, Volume 6, Number 3
  4. ^ a b The 2008 Telegraph School Sport Matters Awards winners 7 October 2008
  5. ^ Repton Pilgrims 1st Class cricketers
  6. ^ Daily Telegraph Repton School uphold reputation for hockey excellence 7 January 2010
  7. ^ Repton Dubai Website
  8. ^ Good Schools Guide International, accessed Sept 2008
  9. ^ Movies made in the Midlands, accessed March 2011
  10. ^ Repton, Derbyshire, accessed March 2011
  11. ^ 1930s: A year of tragedy and war worries, accessed March 2011
  12. ^ Harold Abrahams' Blue Plaque details
  13. ^ Harry Altham Biography at Cricinfo.com
  14. ^ a b Dahl, Roald "Boy" ISBN 0-435-12300-9 (hardcover, 1986) (see also Boy: Tales of Childhood)
  15. ^ Basil Rathbone biography
  16. ^ Robinson, Patrick Horsetrader ISBN 0-00-638105-7 (paperback, 1993)
  17. ^ Robert Sangster's Times obituary
  18. ^ Warsop, Keith (2004). The Early FA Cup Finals and the Southern Amateurs. SoccerData. pp. 126–127. ISBN 1-899468-78-1. 
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Robert Bigsby Historical and Topographical Description of Repton Woodfall and Kinder 1854
  20. ^ a b c d Repton Church Monuments
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External links

Schools in Derbyshire
Primary
Secondary
Independent (preparatory)
Independent (senior)
Former
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Last modified on 6 April 2013, at 08:23