Bablake School is a co-educational

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 * Independe ...

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children and adolescents are given instructions during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compa ...

located in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

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 ...

and founded in 1344 by

Isabella of France Isabella of France ( – 22 August 1358), sometimes described as the She-Wolf of France (), was Queen of England as the wife of King Edward II, and regent of England from 1327 until 1330. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving ...

, widow of

Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to ...

, making it one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom. It is a part of the Coventry School Foundation, 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 ...

, along with King Henry VIII School,

King Henry VIII Preparatory School King Henry VIII Preparatory School (KHPS) is a private school in Coventry, England with 210 pupils (approx) aged from 5 to 11 years old. It also has a Nursery, Bright Futures Playclub, for an additional 40 children (approx) aged from three to f ...

and Cheshunt School. As of January 2021, Bablake is a selective, fee-charging independent school and a member of the HMC.

History

Started by

's widow Queen Isabella in 1344, Bablake (or Babbelak in Middle English) was a public school first sited at Hill Street in Coventry. Isabella endowed the Guild of St John with the Babbelak land on which was founded the St John's chapel and the Bablake school linked to it. Bablake church, now known as St John's, still stands adjacent to the school's original buildings. The school still holds concerts in the church, and has even sung

Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of vespers. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which became ...

there once. Many of the pupils were originally choristers of the church. The relationship continued through the figure of Edward Jackson, who from 1734 was both vicar of the church and headmaster of the school. The expansion of the Bablake site continued via land grants. In the 1890s, Bablake began to move to its current site in Coundon Road, where it continued as a public school with six all-boys boarding houses. In the 1930s fifty acres of land on Hollyfast Road were purchased to expand the playing fields of the school. During the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, the school was evacuated to Lincoln. In 1975 the first female pupil was admitted. The school had long ceased taking boarders; what had been the bedrooms became the Mathematics department, and the headmaster's house became the Geography department. In the late 1980s the school built its Modern Languages block; a few years later Bablake Junior School opened and in 2000 the English, Drama and Music block was completed, sited on what was originally the headmaster's garden. In October 2020, it was announced that Bablake would merge with King Henry VIII School. The proposed new school was initially named ''Coventry School'', before backlash from parents and staff led to ''Bablake and King Henry VIII School'' being chosen. The combined school was set to open in September 2021. In June 2022, Governors agreed to return to the original name, Bablake School.

List of headmasters

*Rev. Edward Jackson (1734–1758) *Sir William Moore (1822–1824) *Dr. Henry Mander (1824–1870) *F.W. Humberstone MA (1870–1890) *Rev. Dr. Franklyn (?–?) *E.A. Seaborne MA (1937–1962) *E.H. Burrough MA (1962–1977) *Martin W. Barker MA (1977–1991) *Dr. Stuart Nuttall (1991–2006) *John W. Watson MA (2006–2019) *Andrew M. Wright BSc (2019–2021) *Chris R. Seeley MPhil (2021) *Dr. Deneal Smith (2021–2022) *Andrew M. Wright BSc (2022 - Present)

Coat of arms

The arms of Bablake School are those of its benefactor, Thomas Wheatley: Sanguine a Lion Rampant Argent, on a Chief Or, Three Mullets of the second.

Layout

The Bablake site houses two schools: a junior school that takes children between year 3 and year 6, and a senior school that takes children between year 7 and sixth form. Although the junior school is formally independent, its intake generally move up as a group to the senior school. In the main school, there are blocks allocated to specific subjects, such as science, music, drama and English combined, and a languages block. The main school building contains rooms for history, geography, computer science, art, design & technology and maths. The school has a swimming pool and indoor sporting facilities on site including an indoor artificial climbing wall and fully equipped gym. It also has four tennis courts, which are used as netball courts at other times in the year. Off site there are six rugby pitches, hockey astroturf (with floodlights) and three cricket squares. The cricket pavilion, which housed the changing rooms, was hit by lightning on 28 June 2005, and was out of use until spring 2006. In the EDM – English/Drama/Music block – there is a large theatre and a rehearsal room which are both used for plays and music recitals.

Houses

Notable former pupils

Former students, known as "Old Wheatleyans", include: *

Kare Adenegan Karé Adenegan (born 29 December 2000) is a British wheelchair athlete specialising in sprint distances in the T34 classification. She was classified as a disability athlete in 2013. Competing for Great Britain at the 2016 Summer Paraly ...

(born 2000), won 2018

BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award is presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year award ceremony. It is awarded to the sportsperson aged 17 or under as of 1 January of that year, who has made the most outstanding con ...

* Mark Best (born 1994), cricketer for Loughborough MCCU * Paul Best (born 1991), cricketer for Warwickshire * Olivia Broadfield (born 1981), singer-songwriter *

Robert Clift Robert John Clift (born 1 August 1962) is a former field hockey player. He was a member of the Great Britain squad in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul where they won a gold medal. His preferred position was inside left. He also won silver ...

(born 1962), hockey player, Olympic gold medallist * Norman Coke-Jephcott (1893–1962), composer and organist * Martine Croxall (born 1969), BBC News presenter * Fred Daniels (1892–1959), stills photographer *Sir John Egan, (born 1939), Executive, Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Warwickshire * Geoff Evans (rugby union, born 1950) England and British Lions Rugby Player * Tony Fairbrother (1926–2004), aeronautical engineer, flight test engineering on the maiden flight of the

de Havilland Comet The de Havilland DH.106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It featured an aerodynamically clean design with four d ...

, the first jet airliner *

Shane Geraghty Shane Geraghty (born 12 August 1986 in Coventry, West Midlands) is an English rugby union player who plays for Stade Francais in the French Top 14 Geraghty normally plays at Centre or at Fly-half. Early life He attended Bablake School unt ...

(born 1986), rugby union player *

Courtenay Griffiths Courtenay Delsdue McVay Griffiths KC (born 10 October 1955) is a Jamaican-born British barrister, who has defended in some high-profile cases. He is a member of the London-based chambers 25 Bedford Row. Early life Born in Kingston, Jamaica, th ...

QC, criminal barrister * Kenneth Hegan OBE (1901–1989), England international footballer *

Melissa Kite Melissa Louise Kite (born 1972) is a British journalist, and current columnist for ''The Spectator''. She has also written articles for several other newspapers, and was deputy political editor of '' The Sunday Telegraph'' until March 2011. She ap ...

(born 1972), journalist * Leonard Lord, 1st Baron Lambury KBE (1896–1967), industrialist *

Tony Mottram Anthony John Mottram (8 June 1920 – 6 October 2016) was a British tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s. Mottram reached the quarterfinal of the 1948 Wimbledon Championships in which he lost to Gardnar Mulloy. In the doubles event he reac ...

(born 1920), tennis player, former British number 1 * Brian Matthew (1928–2017), broadcaster *

Simon Over Simon Over attended King Henry VIII School in Coventry, UK. He subsequently studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, the Royal Academy of Music and the University of Oxford (at Keble College). From 1992 to 2002, Over was a member of the m ...

(born 1964), pianist and conductor *

Jack Parsons John Whiteside Parsons (born Marvel Whiteside Parsons; October 2, 1914 – June 17, 1952) was an American Aerospace engineering, rocket engineer, chemist, and Thelema, Thelemite occultist. Associated with the California Institute of Technology ...

(1890–1981), cricketer * Angus Russell (born 1956), businessman, former CEO of

Shire plc Shire plc was a UK-founded Jersey-registered specialty biopharmaceutical company. Originating in the United Kingdom with an operational base in the United States, its brands and products included Vyvanse, Lialda, and Adderall XR. Shire was ...

* Sir James Shelley (1884–1961), educationalist, critic and broadcaster *

Nick Skelton Nicholas David Skelton (born 30 December 1957, Bedworth, Warwickshire) is a British former equestrian who competed in show jumping. He retired at the age of 59 years old, on 5 April 2017. He began riding at age 18 months and in 1975 took two t ...

(born 1957), showjumper, Olympic gold medallist *

Donald Trelford Donald Trelford (born 9 November 1937) is a British journalist and academic, who was editor of ''The Observer'' newspaper from 1975 to 1993. He was also a director of ''The Observer'' from 1975 to 1993 and chief executive from 1992 to 1993. Ea ...

(born 1937), former editor of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' *

Melissa Walton Melissa Wells (formerly Walton;) is a British actress best known for playing Loretta Jones in Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. Early life Walton studied at Bablake School in Coundon, Coventry, then took a BTEC National Diploma in Performing ...

(born 1990), Hollyoaks actress, as Loretta Jones

Appearances in the media

Part of the 2009 Christmas film ''

Nativity! ''Nativity!'' is a 2009 British Christmas musical comedy film directed by Debbie Isitt and released on 27 November 2009 and the first instalment in the ''Nativity'' film series. The film stars Martin Freeman and Ashley Jensen. In the film te ...

'' was filmed at the school. The first three episodes of the 2019

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

series '' Back in Time for School'', covering the period from 1895 to 1959, were filmed at the school.

References

External links

Official Homepage

Coventry School Foundation
{{authority control Independent schools in Coventry Educational institutions established in the 14th century 1344 establishments in England Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Grade I listed buildings in the West Midlands (county)