Davenant Foundation School is a Christian Ecumenical secondary school, founded in 1680, currently in

Loughton Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History

Foundation in Whitechapel

In February 1680 the Reverend Ralph Davenant, rector of St Mary's Whitechapel, drew up his will, leaving all of his household goods and plate to his wife with the provision that it should eventually be sold and that the monies raised should be used to build a school for 40 boys of

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

in the East End of London. In addition to this bequest, a number of properties were also given over to the school so that rents and capital could be raised. These consisted of a farm at Sandon near

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

, the site of

Tilbury Fort Tilbury Fort, also known historically as the Thermitage Bulwark and the West Tilbury Blockhouse, is an artillery fort on the north bank of the River Thames in England. The earliest version of the fort, comprising a small blockhouse with artil ...

and land on which the

London, Tilbury and Southend Railway The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR), was a British railway company, whose network connected Fenchurch Street station, in central London, with destinations in east London and Essex, including , , , Tilbury, Southend and . The company ...

was built. Funds raised thereby went towards the additional educating of 34 poor girls. Boys were to learn reading, writing and arithmetic, whilst the girls were to learn reading, writing and sewing. A site for the proposed school was found in the

Whitechapel Road Whitechapel Road is a major arterial road in Whitechapel, Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. It is named after a small chapel of ease dedicated to St Mary and connects Whitechapel High Street to the west with Mile End Road to the east. ...

on the Lower Burial Ground. The old school buildings still stand there. In 1813, Davenant earned itself the title of 'Cradle of the National Schools of England'.

Monitorial system

Dr Andrew Bell invented a system for educating hundreds of children with only one Master assisted by senior boys. This became known as the monitorial system. 1,000 children (600 boys and 400 girls) were educated by this system in a new building which was erected in Davenant Street. The

charity school Charity schools, sometimes called blue coat schools, or simply the Blue School, were significant in the history of education in England. They were built and maintained in various parishes by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants to ...

continued to function in the original buildings which were eventually enlarged in 1818 to accommodate 100 boys and 100 girls. The school by now maintained two institutions educating 1,200 children – extraordinarily large for 1818. The third strand of the school came into being in 1858 when a Commercial or Grammar School was built in Leman Street under the direction of the Reverend Welden Champneys, the then Rector of

. In 1888 the two charities of

and Davenant merged to become 'The Foundation School'.

New buildings

In 1896, the new Renaissance Building was erected behind the 1818 building providing additional classroom space and an assembly hall which remains. In 1939 the school was evacuated and the buildings were taken over by the Heavy Rescue Service. In 1944 the school became Davenant Foundation Grammar School for Boys, a title which it retained until 1980. By then it educated only some 200 boys.

Move to Loughton

In 1965, at the invitation of the

Essex County Council Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. It has 75 councillors, elected from 70 divisions, and is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The council meets at County Hall ...

, the school moved to the suburb of

Comprehensive and coeducational school

The school continued as a two-form entry boys' grammar school until 1980. In that year Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother made her second visit to the school, to celebrate 300 years since its founding. The school returned to

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

status and developed as a Christian Ecumenical School for 1,000 girls and boys. The school also gained specialist status as a Language College and a Sports College.

Academy

The school converted to academy status on 1 April 2011.

Television

Davenant students appeared on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's ''Teens'' programme in 2015.

House system

A new house system was introduced in 2005 with the school being divided up into six houses, one for each form in each year. The houses are named after places in the school's surrounding area. The houses were: * Debden - Mascot: Dragons - Colour: Red *

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

- Mascot: Angels - - Colour: Blue * Valley (after Roding Valley) - Mascot: Lions - Colour: Yellow *

Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...

- Mascot: Tigers - Colour: yellow *

Nazeing Nazeing is a village and parish in Essex, England. Within the parish are the separate settlements of Upper Nazeing, Middle Nazeing, and Lower Nazeing. The Prime Meridian passes to the west of Lower Nazeing. Location and topography Nazeing is ...

- Mascot: Shark - Colour: Purple * Theydon (after Theydon Bois) - Mascot: Phoenix - Colour: Green The initial letters of the house names were D, A, V, E, N, T; which are the letters that make up the school's name - Davenant (minus the repeated letters). Each house had a mascot, house colour, sixth form house prefects, and a member of staff as head of house. In 2019, the house system was changed. The houses stayed as individual form groups, while three new houses were introduced. The houses are: * Gillingham - With forms D and E in this house * Salisbury - With forms A and N in this house * Whitechapel - With forms V and T in this house These houses are named after significant places in Davenant's history.

Rugby

The school has been on four rugby tours so far; Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and South America. On the tour to South Africa the team won 3 matches out of 5; while on this tour Davenant played a team which came from the local townships. The Canada tour in 1994 was more successful as all 5 games were won.

Notable former pupils and staff

James Brokenshire James Peter Brokenshire (8 January 1968 – 7 October 2021) was a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, he served in Theresa May's cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2016 to 2018, ...

, Conservative MP for

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a l ...

since 2005. He was appointed the Northern Ireland Secretary in July 2016 in

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...

's cabinet. * Sir Samuel Goldman , civil servant and banker * Phil Piratin, Communist MP for

Mile End Mile End is a district of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London, England, east-northeast of Charing Cross. Situated on the London-to-Colchester road, it was one of the earliest suburbs of London. It became part of the m ...

from 1945 to 1950 * Sir Martin Roth, Professor of Psychiatry at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

from 1977 to 1985 and president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists from 1971 to 1975 * Leslie Solley, Labour MP for

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The ...

from 1945 to 1950 (expelled from the Labour Party in 1949 for opposing the

North Atlantic Treaty The North Atlantic Treaty, also referred to as the Washington Treaty, is the treaty that forms the legal basis of, and is implemented by, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 194 ...

) *

Carl Jenkinson Carl Daniel Jenkinson (born 8 February 1992) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a right-back for Newcastle Jets FC, Newcastle Jets in the Australian A-League Men, A-League. Jenkinson began his career with C ...

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

, Arsenal and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

footballer, 2003–10 *

Naomi Scott Naomi Scott (born 6 May 1993) is an English actress and singer. Born in Hounslow, she rose to prominence for her performances in the television film '' Lemonade Mouth'' (2011) and the science fiction series '' Terra Nova'' (2011). In 2015, Scree ...

, actress, singer and musician, star of ''Aladdin'' *

James Bransgrove James Arthur Bransgrove (born 12 May 1995) is a retired professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Enfield F.C. Bransgrove was signed by Brentford from Waltham Abbey in 2012, and a year later he was signed to Colchester United's Acad ...

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

footballer

Cycling event

The school was the start and end point for the 2017 London–Edinburgh–London cycle ride.

References

Ofsted reports on Davenant Foundation School

External links

Davenant Foundation School
Official School website

old boys' memories site {{authority control Educational institutions established in the 1680s 1680 establishments in England Academies in Essex Secondary schools in Essex Loughton Relocated schools