Yarlet School, formerly Yarlet Hall, is a coeducational
preparatory school located in the district of Yarlet, north of the county town
Stafford
Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...
in
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
,
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 ...
.
History
The school was founded by Reverend Walter Earle, former Second Master at
Uppingham School
Uppingham School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils 13-18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson (rector), Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oa ...
, as a small prep school for boys in Yarlet Hall, a
Victorian private house situated in the countryside on the outskirts of
Stafford
Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...
. Hence, Yarlet had close ties with
Uppingham
Uppingham is a market town in Rutland, England, off the A47 between Leicester and Peterborough, south of the county town, Oakham. It had a population of 4,745 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 4,853 in 2019. It is known for its ep ...
early in its history and indeed, many of the boys continued their schooling at Uppingham. Earle founded
Bilton Grange
Bilton Grange is a preparatory school located in Dunchurch, near Rugby, Warwickshire. The present headmaster is Gareth Jones.
The mansion which forms the main school was built in 1846 attached to an existing farmhouse and was a private family ...
in
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
and later moved there in 1887, taking some of the boys with him, but the original school in Yarlet continued to function under a new headmaster. Ties were also established with
Rugby School
Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England.
Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...
, which remain to this day.
It became a charitable trust in 1970. The pre-prep department was opened in 1993. Girls were admitted in 1994 and the school is now fully coeducational.
Curriculum
Subjects taught in Year 3 and above include English, Mathematics, Science, ICT, French, History, Geography, Religious Studies, Latin and Music. Pupils are prepared for the
Common Entrance Exam which is taken at the end of Year 8.
Sport
Yarlet has beautiful grounds and a wide range of facilities such as an
astro turf
Astro may refer to:
Entertainment and media
* Astro (South Korean band), a South Korean boy band
* Astro (UB40) (1957–2021), member of the British reggae band UB40
* Astro (Chilean band), a Chilean indie rock band
* Astro (Japanese band), ...
pitch, three tennis courts, two football/rugby/rounders pitches, and three tennis courts, two of which can be used for netball. This gives a large availability of sport at Yarlet. Boys play
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 ...
in the autumn term,
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 ...
in the spring, and
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 striki ...
in the summer. Girls play
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 ...
in the autumn,
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 ...
in the spring, 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 aroun ...
in the summer.
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 ...
,
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 ...
and
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 ...
are also available.
Boarding
There is no full-time boarding. A flexi-boarding option is also available which allows children to board on Wednesday and Thursday nights. It is closer to a sleep over than full-time boarding and fun activities are arranged for boarding evenings. Since 2009 Yarlet has run a "combined scholarship" programme with several reputable
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 ...
senior schools to allow deserving children from financially disadvantaged backgrounds to board at Yarlet and then transfer to the senior schools as full boarders after completing their studies at Yarlet.
Headmasters
There have only been eight headmasters (including the incumbent) in the school's history.
:
*Walter Earle (1873-1887)
*Clement W L Bode (1887-1902)
*Andrew F Fernie (1903-1929)
*Guy C N Mackarness (1929-1937)
*Keith E Tarling (1937-1970)
*David N Carr (1970-1989)
*Richard S Plant (1989-2009)
*Ian M Raybould (2009–present)
Former Pupils
*
John Buxton, academic
*
Norman Douglas
George Norman Douglas (8 December 1868 – 7 February 1952) was a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel '' South Wind''. His travel books, such as ''Old Calabria'' (1915), were also appreciated for the quality of their writing.
...
, author
*
Giles Foden
Giles Foden (born 11 January 1967)George Stade and Karen Karbiener (eds), ''Encyclopaedia of British Writers, 1800 to the Present'', 2nd edn, Infobase Publishing, 2010, p. 176. is an English author, best known for his novel ''The Last King of S ...
, author
*
Nick Hancock
Nicholas John Hancock (born 25 October 1962) is an English actor and television presenter. He hosted the sports quiz ''They Think It's All Over'' for 10 years. He also formerly presented ''Room 101'' (1994–1999) on TV, as well as its earlier ...
, comedian and host
*
Andy Richards
Andrew John Richards (born 26 October 1952) is a British-Australian pianist, composer, music producer and keyboardist.
The artists he has played with include Frankie Goes to Hollywood, George Michael, Propaganda, Grace Jones, Rush, Annie Lenno ...
, musician, composer and organist
See also
Yarlet Hall School (1986)on
Domesday Reloaded
*
The Historian of Yarlet
/ref>
References
External links
School Website
Profile
on the ISC #REDIRECT ISC
{{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
website
Profile
on the ''Good Schools Guide
''The Good Schools Guide'' is a guide to British schools, both state and independent.
Overview
The guide is compiled by a team of editors which, according to the official website, "''comprises some 50 editors, writers, researchers and contri ...
''
{{authority control
Preparatory schools in Staffordshire
Boarding schools in Staffordshire
Educational institutions established in 1873
1873 establishments in England