Woodbridge School is an

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 ...

Woodbridge, Suffolk Woodbridge is a port and market town in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is up the River Deben from the sea. It lies north-east of Ipswich and forms part of the wider Ipswich built-up area. The town is c ...

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 ...

, founded in 1577, for the poor of Woodbridge. It was later supported by the Seckford Foundation. Woodbridge School has been

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 ...

since September 1974.

History

The school was founded in 1577; however, like so many others, it lapsed during the Civil War. In 1662 Robert Marryott, known as ‘the great eater’, hosted a feast for local worthies in Woodbridge which started at the Crown Hotel and finished at the King’s Head in Woodbridge. From this feast came the reincarnation of the school which today enjoys the curious claim of being the only independent school in the country to have been founded in two public houses. The Free School, Woodbridge, was an expression of the new confidence in England following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Local citizens contributed to the founding of the school in 1662, appointing a schoolmaster on an annual salary of £25 to teach, without charge, ten ‘sons of the meaner sort of the inhabitants of the town’. Additional pupils paid an annual fee of £1. After a difficult start, including the ravages of the plague in 1666, the School flourished and enjoyed a glorious era in the eighteenth century when the East Anglian gentry enrolled their sons in great numbers. By the mid-nineteenth century, the cramped School building was proving inadequate and in 1861 the school integrated with the

Seckford Trust The Seckford Trust (or Seckford Foundation) is a charitable trust founded in the 16th century by Thomas SeckfordJ. H. Baker, 'Seckford, Thomas (1515/16–1587)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200accessed 29 Apr ...

, an almshouse charity, becoming a part beneficiary of an endowment left to the town of Woodbridge in 1587 by

Thomas Seckford Thomas Seckford Esquire (1515 – 1587) was a senior lawyer, a "man of business" at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, a landowner of the armigerous Suffolk gentry, Member of Parliament,M.K. Dale, 'Seckford (Sakford), Thomas (1515/16-87), of Gray ...

, Master of the Court of Requests to

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

. In 1864 the school moved from the centre of town on the site of the former

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

house of

Woodbridge Priory Woodbridge Priory was a small Augustinian priory of canons regular in Woodbridge in the English county of Suffolk. The priory was founded in around 1193 by Ernald Rufus and was dissolved about 1537 during the dissolution of the monasteries.Page. ...

to its present site with of wooded grounds overlooking

Woodbridge Woodbridge may refer to: Places Australia *Woodbridge, Western Australia formerly called ''West Midland'' *Woodbridge, Tasmania Canada *Woodbridge, Ontario England *Woodbridge, Suffolk, the location of ** Woodbridge (UK Parliament constituency ...

.The Abbey (now Woodbridge School Prep), Woodbridge
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2011-05-01. In 1974 the school became fully co-educational and today has 725 pupils.

The school

The school is a co-educational day school with a boarding component. It offers GCSE, IGCSE and AS/A Level examinations. The day pupil body is divided into four houses, Annott, Burwell, Seckford and Willard. There is a boarding house known as School House for pupils in Year 7 to 13. The school is next to the local state school Farlingaye High School. The school's music activities include. a symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra and choral society as well as smaller ensembles. Student musicians have been members of regional and national ensembles including the

National Youth Choir of Great Britain The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain (NYCGB) is the family of choirs for outstanding young singers, and those with outstanding potential, in the United Kingdom. It comprises a total of five choirs for around 750 young people between the ages ...

. There is a professional theatre, the Seckford Theatre.

Sport

The school has playing fields including cricket squares, a heated sports dome with gym facilities, Astro turf for either tennis or hockey, an athletics track, rugby and hockey pitches. Other sports include

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

(which takes place at Alton Water), riding,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

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 ...

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

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 ...

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

, and

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

Friday afternoons

From Year 9 onwards, on a Friday afternoon, students have a choice of joining the Combined Cadet Force (CCF), (Army, Royal Navy or Royal Air Force sections), the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme (or both) or honing their skills in the many different sports, arts, music, and other activities available at Woodbridge. Notably, Woodbridge is the leading school in the East of England for chess, being officially recognised as an

English Chess Federation The English Chess Federation (ECF) is the governing chess organisation in England. It is affiliated to FIDE. The ECF was formed in 2004 as one of the more localised successors to the British Chess Federation (BCF), an organisation founded in 1904. ...

(ECF) centre of excellence and employs an

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

, Adam Hunt, as a full-time chess teacher.

Notable Old Woodbridgians

Malcolm Bowie Malcolm McNaughtan Bowie FBA (; 5 May 1943 – 28 January 2007) was a British academic, and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge from 2002 to 2006. An acclaimed scholar of French literature, Bowie wrote several books on Marcel Proust, as well ...

– academic and

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

Adam Buddle Adam Buddle (1662–1715) was an English cleric and botanist. Born at Deeping St James, a small village near Peterborough, Buddle was educated at Woodbridge School and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he gained a BA in 1681, and an M ...

– botanist * David Canzini – political agent and advisor *

Sophie Cookson Sophie Cookson (born 1989 or 1990) is an English actress best known for portraying secret agent Roxanne "Roxy" Morton / Lancelot in the 2014 spy film '' Kingsman: The Secret Service'' and its 2017 sequel '' The Golden Circle'', and for playing ...

– actress *

Simon Dring Simon John Dring (11 January 1945 – 16 July 2021) was a British foreign correspondent, television producer, and presenter. He worked for Reuters, ''The Daily Telegraph'' of London, and BBC Television, Radio News, and Current Affairs, covering, o ...

– British foreign correspondent *

Edward du Cann Sir Edward Dillon Lott du Cann (28 May 1924 – 31 August 2017) was a British politician and businessman. He was a member of Parliament (MP) from 1956 to 1987 and served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1967 and as chairman ...

– former

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

and

1922 Committee The 1922 Committee, formally known as the Conservative Private Members' Committee, is the parliamentary group of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The committee, consisting of all Conservative backbench member ...

Blackerby Fairfax Blackerby Fairfax (fl. 1728) was an English physician. Life Blackerby Fairfax was the son of Nathaniel Fairfax. He was educated at Woodbridge School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he took the two degrees in arts, B.A. 1689, M.A. 1 ...

– physician *

Roderick Flower Roderick John Flower , also known as Rod, is a British pharmacologist, and professor at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. Dr. Flower is a member of the board of directors of Antibe Therapeutics and on the scientific advisory ...

– pharmacologist * Robert Franklin –

nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...

minister *

Wayne Garvie Wayne may refer to: People with the given name and surname * Wayne (given name) * Wayne (surname) Geographical Places with name ''Wayne'' may take their name from a person with that surname; the most famous such person was Gen. "Mad" Anthon ...

– director of content and production,

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

Nick Griffin Nicholas John Griffin (born 1 March 1959) is a British politician and white supremacist who represented North West England as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2014. He served as chairman and then president of the far-righ ...

– former MEP and leader of

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...

Jack Laskey Jack Laskey is an English actor best known for his theatre work and his role as DS Jakes in the ITV drama series '' Endeavour''. He is the third son of Michael Laskey, a poet. Laskey trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Telev ...

– actor *

Francis Light Captain Francis Light ( – 21 October 1794) was a British explorer and the founder of the British colony of Penang (in modern-day Malaysia) and its capital city of George Town in 1786. Light and his lifelong partner, Martina Rozells, were th ...

– founder of the British colony of

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

Desmond Longe Major Desmond Evelyn Longe, MC, DL, (born. 8 September 1914 – died. 19 February 1990) was a British Army Major, S.O.E agent and Commander of the Inter-Allied mission, Eucalyptus. Early life and family Longe was born the son of the Rev. ...

– S.O.E agent and inspiration for James Bond, 007 *

Nick Lowe Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in power pop and new wave,Campbell MacKenzie-Richards Campbell Mackenzie-Richards (1900–1927) was a pioneer English aviator, Royal Air Force test pilot, and air race contestant, who was killed testing experimental equipment in November 1927. Early life Campbell MacKenzie-Richards was born on 6 J ...

– early aviator and test pilot * Jeremy Marchant Forde – biologist * David Miller – philosopher * Messenger Monsey – physician and humourist *

Frank Morley Frank Morley (September 9, 1860 – October 17, 1937) was a leading mathematician, known mostly for his teaching and research in the fields of algebra and geometry. Among his mathematical accomplishments was the discovery and proof of the celebr ...

– mathematician *

Jessica Oyelowo Jessica Oyelowo (née Watson; born 1978) is a British actress and singer. Early life She was born Jessica Watson in Ipswich and spent her childhood in Suffolk, England. She attended Woodbridge School as a child and was a member of the National ...

– actress *

Luke Roberts Luke Justin Roberts (born 25 January 1977) is a sports director and former Australian racing cyclist specialising in both track cycling and road bicycle racing. Born in Adelaide, South Australia, he resides both in Adelaide and in Cologne, ...

– actor *

Camilla Rutherford Camilla Rutherford (born 20 September 1976) is an English actress and fashion model. Early life Camilla Rutherford was born to (Gordon) Malcolm Rutherford (1939-1999), a financial journalist for the ''Financial Times'' and sometime advisor to ...

– actress and model * Frank Ormond Soden – First World War pilot * Colin Stannard –

archdeacon of Carlisle The Archdeacon of Carlisle is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Carlisle. The archdeacon is responsible for some pastoral care and discipline of the clergy in the ancient archdeaconry of Carlisle. Sources would seem to indicate ...

John Stuck John Peter Stuck (born 19 November 1943) is an English cricketer who is reported to have scored over 100,000 runs, including more than 200 centuries. He played minor counties cricket for Suffolk, and later in life he represented England at vete ...

– cricketer *

Isabella Summers Isabella Janet Florentina Summers (born October 31, 1980) is an English musician, songwriter, producer, remixer and composer. She is a founding member of English indie rock band Florence and the Machine. Biography Summers lived her first nin ...

– keyboardist of

Florence and the Machine Florence and the Machine (stylised as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of lead vocalist Florence Welch, keyboardist Isabella Summers, guitarist Rob Ackroyd, harpist Tom Monger, and ...

Justin Tan Justin Tan (born 19 March 1997) is an Australian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2018, becoming the 8th Australian to achieve the title. He was formerly British Blitz Champion and was British Under-21 Champion ...

– chess grandmaster * Andrew Taylor – crime novelist * Sir John Vigers Worthington – politician *

Simon Wigg Simon Antony Wigg (15 October 1960 – 15 November 2000) was an English speedway, grasstrack and longtrack rider who won five World Long Track Championships and finished runner-up in the Speedway World Championship in 1989.Rogers, G.(200 ...

– speedway rider and five times world 'longtack' champion *

William Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley William Page Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley, PC (29 November 1801 – 10 July 1881) was a British lawyer and statesman who served as a Liberal Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain between 1868 and 1872 in William Ewart Gladstone's first ministry. ...

–

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 ...

lord chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

Andrew Wolff Andrew James Penaflorida Wolff (born 13 July 1985) is a Rugby Sevens Player. Born in England, he currently plays for the Alabang Eagles Rugby Club and the Philippines' National Rugby Sevens Team, the Philippine Volcanoes. Early life Born in S ...

– rugby sevens player

Notable staff

* Vincent Burrough Redstone, 2nd Master and Suffolk Historian, who suggested to

Edith Pretty Edith May Pretty (née Dempster; 1 August 1883 – 17 December 1942) was an English landowner on whose land the Sutton Hoo ship burial was discovered after she hired Basil Brown, a local excavator and amateur archeologist, to find out if anyth ...

that the

Sutton Hoo Sutton Hoo is the site of two early medieval cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near the English town of Woodbridge. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when a previously undisturbed ship burial containing a ...

Ship-burial should be excavated.Weaver Michael (1999 ''The Newsletter of the Sutton Hoo Society'' vol30 pp1–2, url=http://suttonhoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Saxon30.pdf *

William Henry Balgarnie William Henry Balgarnie (12 May 1869 – c. July 1951) was a schoolmaster at Elmfield College, Woodbridge School and The Leys School, and was the inspiration for the character Mr Chips, Mr. Chips in the book ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'', written by one ...

– inspiration for the character

Mr Chips ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' is a novella about the life of a school teacher, Mr. Chipping, written by English writer James Hilton and first published by Hodder & Stoughton in October 1934. It has been adapted into two feature films and two televi ...

Louise Rickard Louise Rickard (born 31 December 1970) is a Welsh rugby union player. She has played at lock, wing and centre positions. She is one of the most capped players in the history of women's rugby at 112 caps for Wales. Rickard played her first inte ...

– rugby player *

Michael Troughton Michael Troughton (born 2 March 1955) is an English actor, teacher and writer. He is best known for his television roles including Melish in ''Minder'' and Sir Piers Fletcher-Dervish in ''The New Statesman''. He is the son of actor Patrick Tro ...

– actor

Heads

References

https://www.gov.uk/government/people/victoria-busby

Literature

*Weaver M & C (1987) ''The Seckford Foundation : Four Hundred Years of a Tudor Foundation'' The Seckford Foundation, Woodbridge.

External links

Woodbridge School website

BBC News League Tables Entry
* Profiles on the

ISC #REDIRECT ISC {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...

website �
The Abbey prep

Main School
* {{authority control 1577 establishments in England Boarding schools in Suffolk Educational institutions established in the 1570s Independent schools in Suffolk Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Sports venues in Suffolk Woodbridge, Suffolk Church of England independent schools in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich