, motto_translation = Enter so that you may make progress , established =
(reformed 2015–2018) , type =

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 ...

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 Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: ** Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where ho ...

, religious_affiliation =

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

, president = , head_label = , head = , headmaster = Mr Robin Silk , chair_label = , chair = , founder = Archbishop Edmund Grindal , specialist = , address = Wood Lane , city =

St Bees St Bees is a coastal village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Copeland district of Cumbria, England, on the Irish Sea. Within the parish is St Bees Head which is the only Heritage Coast between Wales and Scotland and a Site of Special ...

, county =

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, country = England , postcode = CA27 0DS , local_authority = , dfeno = 909/6003 , urn = 145292 , ofsted = , staff = , enrollment = 101 , gender = Mixed , lower_age = 11 , upper_age = 18 , houses = Bega
Foundation
Elizabeth
Grindal , fees = £12,975 , years = 7 – 12 , colours = , publication = The Hive , free_label_1 = Former Pupils , free_1 = Old St. Beghians , free_label_2 = , free_2 = , free_label_3 = , free_3 = , website = St Bees 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 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 ...

in the English

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 ...

tradition, located in the West Cumbrian village of

, England. It was founded in 1583 by

Edmund Grindal Edmund Grindal ( 15196 July 1583) was Bishop of London, Archbishop of York, and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I. Though born far from the centres of political and religious power, he had risen rapidly in the church durin ...

, the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

, as a boys' free

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

. The school remained small, with fewer than 40 pupils, until the expansions of the Victorian era, paid for by mineral revenues, and helped by the arrival of the railway, until by the First World War there were 300 pupils. The 1930s saw a large decrease in numbers due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, but these rose again during World War II, and this was followed by an era of further expansion. In 1978, the school became

. On Friday 13 March 2015, it was announced by the school governors that due to falling pupil numbers, the school would temporarily close in summer 2015. On 6 September 2018 the school re-opened in a partnership with Full Circle Education Group. Numbers at the school have continued to increase; as of 2020 there are over 50 students.

Grounds and buildings

The school grounds occupy approximately , and the oldest buildings date from the late 16th century. The buildings around the main quadrangle in the Foundation block are

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. This includes the original schoolroom on the lower northern side of the quadrangle. The main campus is now concentrated around Wood Lane, adjacent to the Foundation block.

History

The school was founded in 1583 by

, who was born in

, at Cross Hill House. The oldest part of the school, now known as Foundation opposite the Priory Church, was built by 1587. Thanks to an agreement with Queen's College Oxford, and the purchase of local tithes, the school prospered both financially and academically. Although specifically incorporated for the education of boys from

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

and

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

, as early as 1604 pupils from outside those counties were being educated at St Bees, but the school only slowly expanded. The school enjoyed financial security for many years, but this was threatened from 1742 onwards when Sir James Lowther fraudulently obtained an 867-year lease for the extensive

mineral rights Mineral rights are property rights to exploit an area for the minerals it harbors. Mineral rights can be separate from property ownership (see Split estate). Mineral rights can refer to sedentary minerals that do not move below the Earth's surfac ...

for a paltry sum, on which much of the prosperity of the Lowthers was built. As a result of this fraud being exposed in 1812, the case eventually went to

Court of Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the Common law#History, common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over ...

and in 1842 enough compensation was paid by the Lowthers to build the present open quadrangle, incorporating the original schoolhouse. Further expansion followed, helped by more equitable mineral revenues, with the purchase of the Royal Hotel to become Grindal House, and the construction of School House and the headmaster's residence on Wood Lane. By 1900, the school's chapel, additional classrooms, the library, swimming baths, Gymnasium, science labs and lecture theatre had been built. By the outbreak of the First World War, the school had reached three hundred pupils. St Bees School VC memorial

During the First World War, old boys of the school were awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

. (See St. Bees V.C. winners for more details). Old boy

Alfred Critchley Air Commodore Alfred Cecil Critchley, (23 February 1890 – 9 February 1963) was a military commander, entrepreneur and politician in the United Kingdom. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) from 1934 to 1935. Early life and m ...

became one of the youngest Brigadier-Generals, at the age of 27. One hundred and eighty old boys and staff died during the war, and a memorial was built overlooking the sports fields where so many had previously played. After the war, in common with many other schools, the numbers decreased, especially in the 1930s. The situation became so critical that the governors attempted to have the school

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

. In the end, the old boys put together a rescue package and the school remained independent. StBeesSchoolMusicBlock

Help was at hand though, for during the Second World War,

Mill Hill School Mill Hill School is a 13–18 mixed independent, day and boarding school in Mill Hill, London, England that was established in 1807. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. History A committee of Nonconformist me ...

was evacuated to St Bees after their buildings were occupied by the government. Under-used facilities could now be put to good use, to the financial benefit of St Bees School. The two schools remained independently run, and sports teams from each school would frequently play each other. The cadet corps of the two schools combined with village volunteers to form the St Bees

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting wi ...

Post-war expansion

Seventy-two old boys died during the Second World War, and the Memorial Hall was erected in their memory. During the 1950s, a new science block was built, formally opened by

Barnes Wallis Sir Barnes Neville Wallis (26 September 1887 – 30 October 1979) was an English engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise (the "Dambusters" raid) to attack ...

in 1959, and in the 1970s the school became

. New boarding houses were purchased off-campus for both girls and boys, Bega House and Abbot's Court respectively. To celebrate the school's

quatercentenary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints. ...

in 1983, an appeal was launched which would give the school a new sports hall, opened in 1988. The 1990s saw the opening by

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

of the Whitelaw Building, a multi-function business centre and teaching area which was named after the then chairman of the board of Governors,

William Whitelaw William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, (28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999) was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions, most notably as Home Secretary from 1979 to 1983 and as ''de fac ...

. In 2000, Barony House was refurbished entirely and renamed the Fox Music Centre in memory of old St Beghian Bill Fox. To mark the

millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...

, a

time capsule A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics dates ba ...

was buried in the north-east corner of the Quadrangle. In September 2008, a Preparatory Department was launched, catering for pupils from the age of 8 until they joined the main school. At this time, a nearby independent school with a prep department, Harecroft Hall, had just closed. The school again expanded in September 2010 to include pupils from age four.

Closure and reopening

On Friday 13 March 2015, it was announced without prior warning by the school governors that due to falling pupil numbers, the school would temporarily close in summer 2015. In response, a four-point rescue plan was proposed on 23 March by a "rescue team" made up of interested parties."Rescue St Bees School" website – retrieved 23 March However, on 17 April 2015, it was confirmed by the governors that the school would close. A formal statement said that the governors were also trustees of the St Bees Foundation, and that they are committed to it having a future in education in west Cumbria and "to the use of the site as support both for the future activities of the foundation and the village of St Bees." On 20 March 2017, it was announced that the school would re-open in a partnership with Full Circle Education Group after refurbishment. The school re-opened on 6 September 2018.

Academic performance

The school's most recent

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

inspection was in 2018, six months after the school reopened with 10 pupils. Following this inspection, Ofsted inspectors rated the school 'good' on their quality scale. One of the aims of St Bees is to provide an opportunity for pupils to appreciate the arts as well as to experience the benefit of time on stage and behind the scenes. Music is also featured strongly in the curriculum.

Old St. Beghians

Former pupils of St Bees School are styled 'Old St. Beghians.' An Old St. Beghians' Club was founded in 1908 by master J. W. Aldous. Today, it is known as the 'Old St. Beghians' Society' and provides a link between old boys (and girls) and the school. Among other things, it organizes "Old St Beghians Day" once a year, publishes a magazine called the ''Old St. Beghian'' twice a year, and both holds and participates in many golfing tournaments. There are several regional branches of the society which traditionally hold annual meals and reunions. Notable Old St. Beghains include two Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge, a number of professors, and three

recipients. The comedian and actor

Rowan Atkinson Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles on the sitcoms '' Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and ''Mr. Bean'' (1990–1995), and the film series ''Johnny English'' (2003–201 ...

also attended the school as a pupil.

Citations

Reference list

* * *

External links

St Bees School Website
* ISI Inspectio
Reports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Bees School 1583 establishments in England 2015 disestablishments in England Boarding schools in Cumbria Educational institutions established in the 1580s Educational institutions disestablished in 2015 Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference St Bees Independent schools in Cumbria