Millfield 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 in

Street, Somerset Street is a large village and civil parish in Somerset, England, with a population of 11,805 in 2011. On a dry spot in the Somerset Levels, at the end of the Polden Hills, it is south-west of Glastonbury. There is evidence of Roman occupation. ...

, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

and is the largest co-educational

in the UK with approximately 1,200 students, of whom over 900 are full boarders of over 70 nationalities. Millfield Development and the Millfield Foundation raise money to fund scholarships and bursaries. The school is a member of the

G20 Schools G30 Schools, formerly known as G20 Schools, is an informal association of secondary schools initiated by David Wylde of St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown, South Africa and Anthony Seldon of Wellington College, Berkshire, United Kingdom in 2006. A ...

Group and 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 ...

. The Millfield campus is based over 240 acres in Somerset, in and around

Street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, ...

, in the South West of England. Millfield has its own

pre-prep A preparatory school (or, shortened: prep school) in the United Kingdom is a fee-charging independent primary school that caters for children up to approximately the age of 13. The term "preparatory school" is used as it ''prepares'' the chil ...

and preparatory school,

Millfield Preparatory School Millfield is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a registered charity and is the largest co-educational boarding school ...

(also known as Edgarley) in nearby

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

, which takes children from 2 to 13 years old. The prep school shares some of Millfield's facilities. It acts as a

feeder school A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...

, with over 90% of its pupils typically moving up to Millfield each year.

History

Millfield was founded in 1935 by

Jack Meyer John Robert Meyer (March 23, 1932 – March 6, 1967) was an American professional baseball right-handed pitcher, who appeared in all or parts of seven Major League (MLB) seasons (1955–1961) with the Philadelphia Phillies. Born in Philadelph ...

(referred to at Millfield as "Boss"), following his return from India with seven Indian boys, six of whom were princes. The school started in the mansion built and originally owned by the Clark family, who owned and ran the shoe manufacturer Clarks. Meyer, educated at

Haileybury and Imperial Service College Haileybury is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) near Hertford in England. It is a member of the Rugby Group and, though originally a major boys' public school in the Victorian era, it is now co-educational, enro ...

, adhered to the philanthropic aim, known at the school as The Millfield Mix: "...to nurture talent by providing the very best facilities, teaching, coaching and opportunities in which young people can exercise and explore their abilities; and to give awards to those in financial need." In 1939, the school became one of the first independent schools to become co-educational. Over the years, the school acquired land and houses around the locale, and as a result there were many boarding houses within a 10-mile (16-kilometre) radius of the original site; this resulted in boarders living at houses or billets in the outlying villages – being bussed in and out for lessons and meals. The girls' boarding house was at

Ashcott Ashcott is a small village and civil parish located in the Sedgemoor area of Somerset in the south-west of England. The village has a population of 1,186. The parish includes the hamlets of Ashcott Corner, Berhill, Buscott, Nythe and Pedwell. T ...

House from 1967 until 1984. Over recent years, many of these houses have been sold and the proceeds invested in new on-campus boarding houses. There are currently three remaining country boarding houses occupied by male pupils. In the 1990s the school gained a reputation for drug and alcohol use among the pupils and a teacher was charged with assaulting a female pupil. In response, the school says that it takes a pragmatic approach to dealing with these problems; the school offers drugs counselling where appropriate, and for periodical visits to the school by police officers with sniffer dogs. Any pupils who are found with any illegal substances are immediately expelled. In 2005 the school was one of fifty independent schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', which had allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents. Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling £3 million into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared. In 2018, the school made national news when allegations of bullying arose after a student reported that Year 10 pupils were beaten with cricket bats and belts for an initiation ceremony. After the parent of the student reported these allegations to the headmaster, an investigation was conducted and two pupils were suspended. Headmaster Gavin Horgan said: “I believe passionately in pupils having a voice and their wellbeing continues to be our top priority. Our rigorous safeguarding procedures mean any concerns that arise at school are dealt with quickly, transparently and fairly.”

Houses

Millfield is predominantly a boarding school, having around 75% of its pupils as boarders. The school operates a house system, which is based on sex and status as a day pupil or boarder. With the introduction of 'Nine at Millfield' in 2014, Year 9 is now treated as a transitional year with the school having 'Year 9 only' day and boarding houses. All of the other houses are Years 10–13 boarders, and two are exclusively for

Sixth Form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

ers (i.e. Years 12 and 13). The boarding houses are supervised by house parents, assisted by assistant house parents, tutors, and matrons. Each house generally has around 40 to 50 pupils. There are fourteen boys' and nine girls' houses; the oldest house is Millfield House, which is the original building in which the school first began operating. The house opened when the school was established in 1935 and is now one of Year 9 boarding houses. The house used to be the mansion of the Clark family, whose shoe business, C. & J. Clark, is based in the town. ; Girls ; Boys

Sports

Millfield is known for its sporting prowess and has produced many international and Olympic athletes; its campus houses a wide range of sports facilities. 130 staff sports coaches oversee the 28 different sports on offer, including athletics, badminton, basketball, chess, clay shooting, cricket, cross country, dance, equestrian, fencing, football, golf, hockey, karate, modern pentathlon, netball, outdoor activities, rowing, rugby, ski racing, squash, swimming, tennis and trampolining.

Olympic Games

Millfield has been represented at every Olympic Games since 1956. At the London 2012 Games, Millfield was the most represented UK school. At the Rio Games in 2016, eight Millfieldians took part and won a total of four medals in rowing, swimming and rugby sevens. Millfield has an indoor riding arena and golf courses, as well as a 50 metre swimming pool, which appeared as a venue in the official London 2012 Pre-Games Training Camp Guide. The Russian swimming team used the school as its training base before the London Olympics, and the Great Britain modern pentathlon squad also used the school's facilities in preparation for the games.

Preparatory School

Millfield Preparatory School is a coeducational preparatory school in

and is the feeder for the senior school. Currently there are 442 pupils attending the school, 231 boys and 211 girls. 146 of the pupils are boarders and 296 are day pupils.

History

The school was founded in 1946, by Jack 'Boss' Meyer who also founded and ran Millfield and later became the headteacher. He bought Edgarley Hall and its grounds from the Thomas-Ferrands, following use by the army in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Meyer's philosophy was "...to nurture talent by providing the very best facilities, teaching, coaching and opportunities in which young people can exercise and explore their abilities; and to give awards to those in financial need." A pre-preparatory department was initially started at the 19th-century house, The Hollies, in the centre of Glastonbury in the mid-1980s, later moving to the main preparatory school site.

Academics

The curriculum includes English, mathematics, sciences, design and technology, information and communications technology, history, geography, religious studies, modern languages, arts, music, drama and media studies and chess. Extracurricular activities include sport, music and 80 clubs. The Learning Development Centre (LDC) is staffed by four full-time and two part-time members of staff to support pupils who have identified learning difficulties, including

dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

Boarding

Around 43% of pupils are boarders. Boarding has been an integral part of the school for most of its history. There are three boys' boarding houses and two girls' houses, each housing between 30 and 40 pupils. Flexi-boarding is also available.

Sport

There are 24 sports on offer and over 70 co-curricular activities. Sports facilities include: a 50m swimming pool, an equestrian centre, sports halls, cricket nets, putting green, squash courts,

Astro-turf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...

hockey pitch, outdoor tennis courts, netball courts and a 9-hole golf course.

Chapel

The

school chapel A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

was opened in 1897 as a mission church serving Edgarley.

Notable former masters

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

, author and secret service operative

Headmasters

# 1935–1971 Jack 'Boss' Meyer # 1971–1986

Colin Atkinson Colin Ronald Michael Atkinson (23 July 1931 – 25 June 1991) was an English first-class cricketer, schoolmaster and the headmaster of Millfield School. Education Born at Thornaby, Yorkshire, Atkinson was educated at St. Mary's Grammar Sc ...

# 1986–1990 Brian Gaskell # 1990–1998 Christopher Martin # 1998–2008 Peter Johnson # 2008–2018 Craig Considine # 2018– Gavin Horgan

Notable alumni

* Anthony Allen - England

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player *

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, singer *

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, radio DJ *

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, actor *

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, international fashion model * Wesley Durston, county cricketer *

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, singer-songwriter *

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, Chairman of England cricket selectors *

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, rugby union player for Gloucester and Scotland. *

James Hildreth James Charles Hildreth (born 9 September 1984) is a former English professional cricketer who played for Somerset County Cricket Club. He attended Millfield School, Somerset. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional right-arm medium pace bow ...

former Somerset cricketer *

Ben Hollioake Benjamin Caine Hollioake (11 November 1977 – 23 March 2002) was an English cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. Born in Australia, Hollioake moved to England where he made his first-class cricketin ...

, England cricket international * Huw Jones, Scottish rugby union player * Simon Jones, England and Glamorgan cricketer * Jonathan Joseph,

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and

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professional rugby union player *

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, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Minister for Women. MP for Bolton *

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, England and Somerset cricketer *

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, actress *

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, hockey international and member of

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driver *

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, England rugby international *

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and

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,Titular

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(born 1948), Israeli Olympic swimmer *

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and Conservative MP for

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Images

File: MillfieldHouse.JPG, Millfield House Image: MillfieldMathsBlock.JPG, The new maths block Image: Millfield main ground pavilion.jpg, The school cricket ground and pavilion Image: MillfieldPool.JPG, The 50m Olympic Pool at Millfield Image: MillfieldCampusMap.PNG, A map of the campus showing the facilities File: BossMeyer.JPG, Boss Meyer's bust outside Millfield House

Arms

References

External links

Millfield School website
*
Prep school website

Profile
on the

Independent Schools Council The Independent Schools Council (ISC) is a non-profit lobby group that represents over 1,300 schools in the United Kingdom's independent education sector. The organisation comprises seven independent school associations and promotes the busin ...

website
Prep school profile

at CricketArchive

at

Cricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

{{Authority control 1935 establishments in England Boarding schools in Somerset Cricket grounds in Somerset Educational institutions established in 1935 Independent schools in Somerset Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Street, Somerset