6 ғасырлық Уостер Школының тарихы

School in Worcestershire, UK

Until 1992 it accepted boarders. Boarding pupils would reside in Whiteladies House, a building that is rumoured to contain hidden treasure from Charles I from when he sought refuge there during the Civil War. It is now a day school. Tracing its origins back to the 7th century, it is the sixth oldest school in the world.

The school was founded as a secular monastic school in Worcester in around 685 by Bishop Bosel. This makes it the 6th oldest school in the world. It was located outside the monastic precincts (as with the King's School, Canterbury) and catered for the relatives of monks and children intending to go into the monastery. The first written reference to the school appears in 1265 when the Bishop of Worcester, Walter de Cantilupe, sent four chaplains into the city to teach. Conclusive evidence appears in 1291 when an argument was settled by Bishop Godfrey Giffard regarding who owned the wax from the candles used at the feast of St Swithun. It was decided that the scholars of the Worcester School owned it, and the Rector of Saint Nicholas Church had to rely on the generosity of the scholars in order to get candle wax. The headmaster is mentioned as Stephen of London. The letter dated December 1291 is in the County Records Office in Worcester. The next headmaster was appointed in 1312 as Hugh of Northampton as recorded in the Bishop's register for that year. He was appointed personally by the Bishop of Worcester, Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Chancellor Walter Reynolds. The school continued to exist under the control of the city guilds through the centuries with various records of headmasters being appointed, again listed in the registers of the bishops of Worcester. One in particular was 'Sir Richard (Chaplain)', who was dismissed by the bishop of Worcester, Philip Morgan, in 1422 for taking money from the scholars for his own use. He was replaced the same year by Sir John Bredel. Sir Richard Pennington was appointed in 1485 and is known to have given money to the Archbishop of Canterbury's fund, showing the strong connection of the school with the church.

After a petition by some notable citizens of Worcester to endow the school permanently, the school was given a Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth I in 1561 and a governing body known as the Six Masters was set up, which remains as the governing body of the new RGS Worcester school today. Amongst famous Six masters are John Wall, Earl Beauchamp, Charles William Dyson Perrins and Anthony Lechemere.

The house system was introduced in 1899 by the then headmaster Frederick Arthur Hillard. Initially six houses were established, and membership of houses was based on the place of residence of each boy. The original houses were: Boarders, Barbourne, City, St. John's, County A, and County B. In 1909 the house system was changed to reflect the increasing number of boys in the school, and the difficulty of allocating pupils on the basis of where they lived. The six houses created in 1909 were: School House, for boarders, (which, due to common usage, changed to Whiteladies, as this was the building in which the boarders lived); Temple (after Henry Temple, headmaster 1850s); Tudor (after Elizabeth I); Woolfe (after Richard Woolfe, benefactor 1877 ); Wylde (after Thomas Wylde, benefactor 1558); and Yewle (after Robert Yewle, Six Master 1561). In 1963 two additional houses were created by the then headmaster Godfrey Brown, namely Langley (after William Langley, Six Master 1561) and Moore (after John Moore, benefactor 1626). The ground has also played host to several Second XI fixtures for the Worcestershire Second XI in the Second XI Championship and Second XI Trophy. In 2007, the ground held a single List A match for Worcestershire when they played Sri Lanka A. Each year in the summer term cricket is played at Flagge Meadow.

St. Oswald's, the school's second playing field, is located further down the canal and is mainly used for athletics, football and rounders.

The Old School buildings were built in 1868 on a site owned by the school since 1562. The Perrins Hall was built in 1914 to the plans of Alfred Hill Parker (an Old Boy) in a Jacobethan style with an Oriel Window on the staircase end and balcony looking over the hall. The interior is panelled with fitted bookcases (which make up the Dowty Library is made of Cotswold Limestone, and is surmounted by the carved head of Old Father Time. Its name derives from the white habit that is worn by Cistercian nuns, who were based at a Nunnery, which was adjacent to Whiteladies. and has produced British champion crews at the British Rowing Championships in 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.

The school offers Rugby union and football to boys and hockey and netball to girls. The school stopped teaching lacrosse in 2010. Both boys and girls are taught tennis, athletics, swimming and, after a six year campaign by a former pupil, cricket is now taught to girls as well as boys.

Teachers who have served 25 years at the school are celebrated on the name board, installed during the 1980s, in the Philip Sawyer Library. TeacherStart DateEnd DateLength of ServiceR. J Carter1900194242 yearsW. A. H Chessall1910194636 yearsMiss D. A Hussey1916194933 yearsW. Stratford1920195838 yearsE. F James1921195332 yearsF. V Follett1921195029 yearsG. Ward1921195736 yearsS. J. H Balchin1922196038 yearsJ. F. T Hills1923196340 yearsJ. M Young1924196743 yearsA. T Shaw1925196237 yearsE. Billingham1926196236 yearsF. C Holland1926196640 yearsR. D Wormald1927196134 yearsA. S Stockdale1927196639 yearsJ. C Giblin1928196133 yearsT. R. C Protheroe1931197140 yearsW. G Wright1936196933 yearsR. D Allen1939197940 yearsW. F Wheeler1942197533 yearsE. Orton1947197932 yearsA. R Wheeler1950198737 yearsA. T Chester1950198030 yearsD. C Hooker1952197927 yearsS. N Robertson1952198735 yearsB. Hunt1960199636 yearsA. J Bennett1961199433 yearsW. Reed1967199730 yearsB. M Rees1967200134 yearsJ. E Fretwell1968199325 yearsI. C Matthew1970199525 yearsH. M Fincher1972199725 yearsR. L Blackbourn1974200531 yearsN. R Humphries1975200025 yearsA. R Millington1975201136 yearsR. H Savage1976200832 yearsE. A Dovey1976201135 yearsM. J Ridout1978201436 yearsD. J Cotterill1979201637 yearsJ. G Wilderspin1980201131 yearsR. J Micheal1980201232 yearsM. D Wilkinson1980201838 yearsJ. M Shorrocks1981201837 yearsJ. H Croasdell1982200725 yearsH. Groves1982201129 yearsE. J Howill1983200926 yearsJ. N Waller1983201330 yearsT. S Curtis1983201633 yearsM. D Ralfe1984201834 yearsS. J Richards1984201430 yearsS. D Howells1985201227 yearsM. H Vetch1986201630 yearsL. S Kettle1986202236 yearsL. F Taylor1987201225 yearsP. J O'Sullivan1988201628 yearsJ. E Marsh1989202132 yearsR. T Gibson1994202228 years