Bryanston School is a

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

(English

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

day A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two so ...

and

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

for pupils aged 13–18) located next to the village of

Bryanston Bryanston is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour west of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 925. The village is adjacent to the grounds of Bryanston School, an inde ...

, and near the town of

Blandford Forum Blandford Forum ( ), commonly Blandford, is a market town in Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour about northwest of Poole. It was the administrative headquarters of North Dorset District until April 2019, when this ...

, in Dorset in South West England. It was founded in 1928. It occupies a palatial

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

designed and built in 1889–94 by

Richard Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...

, the champion of a renewed academic tradition, for

Viscount Portman Viscount Portman, in the County of Somerset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 28 March 1873 for the former Lord Lieutenant of Somerset and Liberal Member of Parliament Edward Portman, 1st Baron Portman. He ha ...

, the owner of large tracts in the West End of London, in the early version of neo-Georgian style that

Sir Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memoria ...

called "

Wrenaissance Edwardian architecture is a Baroque Revival architecture, Neo-Baroque architectural style that was popular in the British Empire during the Edwardian era (1901–1910). Architecture up to the year 1914 may also be included in this style. Descripti ...

", to replace an earlier house, and is set in . Bryanston is a member of the

Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the United ...

and the

Eton Group The Eton Group is an association of 12 English public schools within the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The Eton Group schools often cooperate with each other, organising events and school matches. For example, the Heads of academic ...

. It has a reputation as a liberal and artistic school using some ideas of the

Dalton Plan The Dalton Plan is an educational concept created by Helen Parkhurst. It is inspired by the intellectual ferment at the turn of the 20th century. Educational thinkers such as Maria Montessori and John Dewey influenced Parkhurst while she created ...

History

Founding ethos

Bryanston was founded in 1928 by a young schoolmaster from Australia named J. G. Jeffreys. Armed only with his confidence and enthusiasm, he gained financial support for the school during a period of severe economic instability with financial backing from

Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 9th Earl of Shaftesbury (31 August 1869 – 25 March 1961), was the son of the 8th Earl of Shaftesbury and Lady Harriet Augusta Anna Seymourina Chichester (1836 – 14 April 1898), the daughter of the 3rd M ...

, he paid £35,000 for the Bryanston House and its of immediate grounds. The school occupies a palatial

designed and built in 1889–1894 by

and modelled on the chateau at Menars in the Loire valley. Shaw designed the house for

to replace an earlier one. The building and estate was the biggest in Dorset and the last of the grand stately homes to be built in England. The home had been occupied by the Portman family for 30 years at the time of its sale, but death duties made it impossible for the 4th Lord Portman to hold on to his family estate. There were just seven teachers and 23 boys of various ages in the first term. Jeffreys innovated whilst respecting good traditions, reflected in his choice of school motto, ''Et Nova Et Vetera.'' His was the first English school to adopt the

, its combination of the new and the old being of particular appeal. The system was flexible enough to offer a combination of lessons in the classroom and time for assignment work in subject rooms, which gave the students freedom to decide which pieces of academic work to focus their attention. Students are required to keep a daily record on a chart showing their use of working and leisure time, meeting with their tutors on a weekly basis to ensure effective monitoring of their progress.

Subsequent developments

The school opened on 24 January 1928 with 23 pupils and seven members of staff. In 2004, the school had around 650 pupils and 80 teachers. During the mid-1930s, Bryanston School was the location of Anglo-German youth camps where the

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...

and

Boy Scouts Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...

tried to develop links.

The Don Potter Art School Donald Steele Potter (21 April 1902 – 7 June 2004) was an English sculptor, wood carver, potter and teacher. Don Potter was born in Newington, near Sittingbourne, Kent, the son of a school teacher, and attended a private school. He joined t ...

opened in 1997. Bryanston is a member of the

and the

. It has a reputation as a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

and artistic school. The principles of the

are still in place today and remain central to the school's success. In 2005, the school was one of fifty of the country's leading independent schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel. Bryanston School Gate

Bryanston School the Main Hall 1742437 39de497b

In 2014, the school opened a new music building, the Tom Wheare Music School, designed by

Hopkins Architects Hopkins Architects (formerly Michael Hopkins and Partners) is a prominent British architectural firm established by architects Sir Michael and Patricia, Lady Hopkins. Background The practice was established in 1976 by Michael and Patty Hopkins ...

and named after a headteacher of Bryanston. The 300-seat concert hall was named after conductor Sir

Mark Elder Sir Mark Philip Elder (born 2 June 1947) is a British conductor. He is currently music director of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, England. Life and career Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, the son of a dentist. He played the ba ...

, who is a former pupil. The interior of the building won a 2015 Wood Award.

Houses

* Allan (Girls) * Beechwood (Junior Boys) * Cranborne (Junior Boys) * Connaught (Senior Boys) * Dorset (Senior Boys) * Greenleaves (Girls) * Harthan (Girls) * Hunter (Girls) * Portman (Senior Boys) * Purbeck (Girls) * Salisbury (Senior Boys) * Shaftesbury (Senior Boys)

Heads of Bryanston

* J. G. Jeffreys (1928–32) *

Thorold Coade Thorold Francis Coade (1896-1963) was a British school teacher and headmaster. Thorold Coade was headmaster at Bryanston School in Dorset for much of his career (1932–1959), succeeding J. G. Jeffreys. He believed in self-discipline and develope ...

(1932–59) *

Robson Fisher Francis George ''Robson'' Fisher (9 April 1921 – 26 January 2000) was a British educationalist and headmaster. Robson Fisher, as he was generally known, attended Liverpool College, where he became head boy. He won an exhibition in Classics ...

(1959–74) * Rev. David Jones (1974–82) * Bob Allan (acting head, 1982–83) *

Tom Wheare Thomas David Wheare FRSA (born 1944) is an English schoolmaster and headmaster.

(1983–2005) * Sarah Thomas (2005–2019) – first female head of Bryanston * Mark Mortimer (2019–2021) * Richard Jones (2021-present)

Other notable teachers

* David Briggs (1917–2020), classics (1946–1959) *

Don Potter Donald Steele Potter (21 April 1902 – 7 June 2004) was an English sculptor, wood carver, potter and teacher. Don Potter was born in Newington, near Sittingbourne, Kent, the son of a school teacher, and attended a private school. He joined t ...

(1902–2004), sculpture and pottery (1940–1984)

Old Bryanstonians

Alumni of the school are known as ''Old Bryanstonians''; there is an alumni organisation called the Bryanston Society. "The Society exists to further the cause of Bryanston in the broadest possible sense. It aims to bring together the whole Bryanston family through social and sporting events."

Other information

* The school estate has Europe's tallest

London Plane London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

tree (160 ft). * Each year, the JACT

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

Summer School is held at Bryanston; the school has played host to many of the United Kingdom's classicists, both as teachers and pupils. * The school hosts the annual Dorset Opera Festival, which combines amateur and professional performers. Operas are staged at the conclusion of a two-week summer school.

References

External links

Bryanston School website
* *
''Dorset Life'' article on the history of the school building

''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 2 June 2003 {{authority control Houses completed in 1894 Boarding schools in Dorset Educational institutions established in 1928 Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Independent schools in Dorset International Baccalaureate schools in England Grade I listed buildings in Dorset Richard Norman Shaw buildings 1928 establishments in England