Finborough School is a

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 ...

independent school. It is situated in and around Finborough Hall, in the village of

Great Finborough Great Finborough is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England; about south west of Stowmarket and near one of the sources of the River Gipping. It has two schools, a pub and an active church. In 2 ...

, near

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town in Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. on the busy A14 trunk road between Bury St Edm ...

, Suffolk, England.

History

The original school, named St. George's School, was founded in 1978 by John Sinclair and his family with Derek Slade as Headmaster in Wicklewood near

Wymondham Wymondham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England, south-west of Norwich off the A11 road to London. The River Tiffey runs through. The parish, one of Norfolk's largest, includes rural areas to ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

and was set up as a military boarding school for boys whose parents were in the armed forces. After failed efforts to purchase the facilities of the

shore establishment A stone frigate is a naval establishment on land. "Stone frigate" is an informal term that has its origin in Britain's Royal Navy after its use of Diamond Rock, an island off Martinique, as a 'sloop of war' to harass the French in 1803–04. ...

, the school was moved to the current site at Great Finborough in 1980. The former Wicklewood school was retained for several years and operated as the St George's School for Girls until this too moved to Finborough and the original site was redeveloped into private apartments and homes. John and Sue Sinclair, as owners, took over running of the school following Slade's departure, and it was renamed Finborough School. The school merged with Hillcroft Preparatory School in 2006. In 2003, John Sinclair was convicted of assaulting a walker after the man kicked his pet Labrador on the school grounds In 2008, James Sinclair took over as Principal after his father retired. On 15 May 2014 The High Court appointed Grant Thornton as Liquidators for one of the companies (Anglemoss limited) associated with the directors and owners of the school.

Finborough Hall

The school is based in Finborough Hall, a Grade II listed stucco-faced Tuscan-style country house, originally built in 1795 for Roger Pettiward on land previously owned by William Wollaston MP. Finborough Hall, once owned by the Pettiward family, subsequently gave its name to

Finborough Road Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, th ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, developed as part of the Pettiward Estate in north-west Chelsea, London SW10, still owned by the Pettiward family. This led to the name of

Finborough Theatre The Finborough Theatre is a fifty-seat theatre in the West Brompton area of London (part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) under artistic director Neil McPherson. The theatre presents new British writing, as well as UK and world pr ...

. The Hall's original c1700 staircase was moved to Rougham Hall in 1878.

Today

The school includes Nursery, Pre-Prep, Prep School, Senior School and Sixth Form. This means that the school has pupils ranging from ages 2 to 18. The Nursery, Pre-Prep are based in the brand new pre-prep building with brand new facilities to offer and Prep School are all based in the old Finborough Hall building. The Senior School uses some parts of that building, but mainly uses a classroom block located nearby. Assemblies and prizegiving ceremonies are often held in the nearby

church. The school offers a number leadership positions to older pupils, including Head of School, Deputy Head of School, School Council Chair, Prefects, House Captains and members of the school council. Four school houses form the basis of many events throughout the academic year. Annual events include

Sports Day Sports days (British English) or field days (American English) are events staged by many schools and offices in which people participate in competitive sporting activities, often with the aim of winning trophies or prizes. Though they are often h ...

and the Cross Country Run.

Sport

The whole school uses extensive sports fields, tennis and netball courts a half and full sized hockey pitch for both sport and other events. Girls play

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and

rounders Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a rounded end wooden, plastic, or metal bat. The players score by running arou ...

. Boys play football,

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

, athletics,

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

and

. Most age groups play matches against other local

independent schools An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

. House matches are played every year, house points are awarded to the winning house. Churchill house won in 2012. Finborough School has made a number of notable links with local sports clubs. It has successful partnerships with Stowmarket Tennis Club and the Stowmarket Golf Centre. The school also sponsor Bury Rugby Club. Rugby has long been an important and celebrated part of school sport since the 1980s.

Music and drama

The school has a

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

and various ensembles, with regular performance nights being held in the drama studio. The school choir perform regularly at festivals and community gatherings in St Andrew's Church,

. The school regularly participates in the Sudbury Festival and the Suffolk Festival of Music, Dance and Speech. Drama is available as a GCSE option. In February 2013, Finborough performing arts club performed their version of the popular musical ''Rent'' at the

Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds The Theatre Royal, formerly the New Theatre, is a restored Regency theatre in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The building is one of eight Grade I listed theatres in the United Kingdom, and is the only working theatre operated under the a ...

Houses

There are three school houses: Churchill, Marlborough and Nelson, named after

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reign ...

and Horatio Nelson respectively. The different houses compete in various different activities, relating to sport as well as performing arts, throughout the year in order to win house points. Originally, the school was primarily for boarders and a large percentage of pupils came from military families, hence the names of the houses. The original plan for the houses was to put children of army families into Marlborough house, children of air force families into Churchill house and children from naval families into Nelson house. However, so few children came from naval or air force backgrounds that many of the army children filled in the spaces in the other houses. This plan is no longer used today; pupils are assigned a random house as soon as they join the school.

Achievements

• After an inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate in 2005, the school was described as 'a Gem of a school'.

Controversies

Headmaster Derek Slade's use of corporal punishment came under close scrutiny after a BBC Radio 4 Checkpoint investigation in 1982 and, although he escaped charges at the time, Slade left the school in 1983. The case resurfaced in 2010 and Slade was convicted of over 50 offences relating to physical and sexual abuse, sexual assault and child pornography, and sentenced to 21 years in jail. Slade died in 2016. Teacher

Simon Warr Simon Roderick Warr (9 September 1953 – 22 February 2020) was a British radio broadcaster, television personality, author and teacher. Warr was acquitted of allegations of historical child abuse and wrote a book about his experiences. Early l ...

was charged with

indecent assault Indecent assault is an offence of aggravated assault in some common law-based jurisdictions. It is characterised as a sex crime and has significant overlap with offences referred to as sexual assault. England and Wales Indecent assault was a broa ...

on two former St George's School pupils, and one other child, historically, and appeared in court in 2014. Warr was found not guilty on all charges after the jury deliberated for less than 40 minutes. Warr subsequently wrote a book about his ordeal. Warr told the BBC he believed the allegations were made "on the shirt tail of Derek Slade".

References

External links

*http://www.finboroughschool.co.uk/ *http://www.isuffolk.co.uk/profile/388705/Stowmarket/Finborough-School/ {{authority control Independent schools in Suffolk Great Finborough 1978 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 1978