private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...
co educational day, weekly, flexi and full boarding school situated near the market town of Loddon in
South Norfolk
South Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. The largest town is Wymondham, and the district also includes the towns of Costessey, Diss, Harleston, Hingham, Loddon and Long Stratton. The council was based in Long S ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. The current headmaster is Simon Cooke, who has been in post since 2024, and the school is a member of the
Society of Heads
The Society of Heads, formerly the Society of Headmasters & Headmistresses of Independent Schools (SHHIS), or "S of H", is an association of circa 130 Headmasters and Headmistresses of various types of private schools in the United Kingdom, and was ...
. Termly fees are currently £6,750 for day pupils, £11,395 for weekly boarders and £13,365 for full boarders.
History
Langley Hall is a red-brick, Palladianstyle house, built in 1737 for Richard Berney on land originally belonging to Langley Abbey. In 1744 the estate was inherited by Sir William Beauchamp and remained in his family until the 20th century. The hall is set in grounds laid out by
Capability Brown
Lancelot "Capability" Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783) was an English gardener and landscape architect, a notable figure in the history of the English landscape garden style.
Unlike other architects ...
, with an extensive spread of daffodils which are opened to the public on "Daffodil Day" each spring.
In 1910, the Education Committee of
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
made the decision to amalgamate the middle schools in the city with the Municipal and Presbyterian schools, with all boys to attend a new
City of Norwich School
The City of Norwich School, more commonly known as CNS, is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status in Norwich, England.
History
In 1910, the Education Committee decided to merge the King Edward VI Middle School in ...
, which was to be built at Eaton. Jeremiah George Chapman was offered a post at the new school, but determined instead to found a school of his own, with boarding provision for those boys could not travel to Norwich each day.
Having established his school as the Norwich High School for Boys at St. Giles, Chapman died in September 1936 and was replaced by John Jevons. Under Jevons, the school moved to Langley Hall at Langley Park, near Loddon, and changed its name. Jevons retired in 1965 and was replaced by C.D. Young. Young oversaw the introduction of
co-education
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 ...
at Langley with the arrival of three girls in the sixth form in 1978.
Young's successor, James McArthur, saw the number of girls jump from 3 to 40; the school was fully co-educational by 1990. In his turn, McArthur's successor, James Malcolm, doubled the size of the school in his ten-year term of office. James Malcolm would be succeeded as headmaster by Dominic Findlay who joined the school in 2007 from Wymondham College. The current headmaster is John Perriss, announced to be leaving Langley at the close of the 2023-24 academic year after five years in the role in which he will be replaced by Simon Cooke.
Curriculum
The school offers a broad and balanced curriculum; in addition to the core subjects of English (language and literature), mathematics and the sciences, subjects taught include humanities,
media studies
Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but it mos ...
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
and
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
), social sciences and technology. There is also provision for RS, PSE, and PE and
games
A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...
throughout the school.
Pupils in the senior school study for
GCSEs
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...
in years 10 and 11, and for
'A' levels
The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...
in the lower and upper sixth forms.
Almost all senior pupils move to higher educational institutions after 'A' level.
Sport
The principal sports are
Rugby football
Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union or rugby league.
Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, where the rules were first codified in 1845. Forms of football in which the ball ...
and
cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
for boys and
hockey
''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...
and
netball
Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...
for girls. Minor sports include
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
,
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), competitio ...
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 (appro ...
,
equestrianism
Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding ( Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...
,
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
,
polo
Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...
and
skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...
.
The school has several cricket, football and rugby pitches, and there is an
AstroTurf
AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for pitch (sports field), playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a pile (textile), short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Si ...
hockey pitch. Langley operates a ''polo academy''.
Extra-curricular activities
Academic lessons end at 3.45pm each day, allowing students a short break before engaging in their chosen
extra-curricular
An extracurricular activity (ECA) or extra academic activity (EAA) or cultural activity is an activity, performed by students, that falls outside the realm of the normal curriculum of school, college or university education. Although approved a ...
activities. The school offers a range of activities, including CCF,
debating
Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
,
kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...
,
rock climbing
Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in c ...
,
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, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...
,
yoga
Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...
and Young Enterprise. Many activities involve expert visiting staff.
The activities programme changes at the end of each term and, at the end of each year, students complete questionnaires with their opinions on current activities and offer suggestions for the future.
Music tuition is available on a variety of instruments, and pupils regularly play in concerts and cabarets. Drama is offered both as an academic subject and an extra curricular activity, with pupils mounting several productions during the year. The BBC newsreader and children's author,
Zeb Soanes
Zebedee Soanes (born 24 June 1976) is a British radio presenter who hosts the weekday evening music show ''Relaxing Evenings with Zeb Soanes'' on Classic FM.
He was previously a newsreader and continuity announcer on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio ...
taught speech and drama at the school before joining the BBC.
Boarding
The school accepts students aged 10 to 18 (Year 6 to Year 13). There are some weekly boarders who live relatively nearby, but the majority are full boarders, including a large number from overseas.
Accommodation
There is separate accommodation for boys and girls, with communal social facilities. The boys live in the main hall in rooms for up to six students, divided into individual units. Senior students have single and double study bedrooms.
The girls live in Salisbury House (the former stable block) which has mostly single and double rooms. Salisbury has its own common room and limited kitchen and laundry facilities.
The prep school accepts children aged 2 to 13 (Nursery to Year 8). In 2009, it merged with adjacent Thorpe House School, which had provided girls-only education for 100 years.
In early May 2016, the governors of Langley School announced that the prep school would merge with Taverham Hall Preparatory School. The announcement was initially greeted with anger in some quarters and the
Charity Commission
The Charity Commission for England and Wales is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's Government that regulates registered charities in England and Wales and maintains the Central Register of Charities. Its counterparts in Scotland and ...
sent inspectors to the school in July that year, citing "regulatory concerns". Langley's prep-school site, Thorpe House, was sold to developers and the merger was completed for the beginning of the Autumn term, 2016.
More about the school
The new school's home is in Taverham Hall, a
neo-Jacobean
The Jacobethan ( ) architectural style, also known as Jacobean Revival, is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the Engli ...
mansion built in 1858 and purchased from the Mickelthwait family by Rev'd Frank Glass in 1921. The estate extends to over , and includes a forest school and a swimming pool.
The curriculum in the prep school is broadly based on the
National Curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or othe ...
, but includes
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
/ Classical civilisation for all pupils, and French for some. All pupils study ICT and music. Almost all pupils progress from the prep school to the senior school.
Notable alumni
Former pupils of the school are known as Icenians, and include:
* Sir John Mills (1926); actor
* Allen Clarke (1928): educationalist; first headmaster of
Holland Park School
Holland Park School is a coeducational Comprehensive school, comprehensive secondary school and sixth form located in Holland Park, London, England. Opened in 1958, the school was considered a flagship for comprehensive education, nicknamed 'th ...
Deakin University
Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974 with antecedent history since 1887, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia and a founding father of Australian Fede ...
Ben Pienaar
Ben Pienaar (born 10 September 1986) is a rugby union player for London Welsh in the Aviva Premiership, having formerly played for Leicester Tigers in the Aviva Premiership.Langley Preparatory School at Taverham Hall