Robert May's School
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Robert May's School is a
coeducational 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 ...
secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
with academy status, located in the village of
Odiham Odiham () is a large historic village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It is twinned with Sourdeval in the Manche Department of France. The 2011 population was 4,406. The parish in 1851 had an area of 7,354 acres ...
,
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
, England. All children in year 6 whose families live in the catchment area, and who attend named feeder schools in the area are eligible for a place at the school in year 7. The school was founded in 1694 with donations from the will of Robert May, a local man, and other benefactors who contributed to what is now the Odiham Consolidated Charities.


History

The original school was founded in 1694 from donations made in the will of Robert May, a local
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, and the first school premises were purchased ten years later. This donation was supplemented by a gift from James Zouch, a trustee appointed in the will of Robert May, enabling twenty-five boys to be taught at the school. In addition to the main school, the headmaster was allowed to take boarding pupils of wealthy parents and give them a classical education. This resulted in the headmaster giving little attention to the needs of the main school and the school Trustees passed a resolution in 1858 requiring the headmaster to spend more time with the main school. The school was reorganised in the 1870s, following the
Endowed Schools Act 1869 The Endowed Schools Act 1869 ( 32 & 33 Vict. c. 56) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was one of the Endowed Schools Acts 1869 to 1948. It was passed during William Ewart Gladstone’s first ministry, to restructure endowed ...
. The group of Trustees that had run the school since its foundation was replaced by a board of governors. Pupils were now required to pay fees to attend the school and a new building was constructed, opening in 1876. This building is still in use as part of a local junior school. In 1920, the local education authority decreed that teachers' salaries should be increased and the director of education wrote to the governors saying that he could not afford the ever-increasing financial support to the school. Following a report by an inspector later in the year that the school could soon face difficulties, the decision was taken to transfer complete control of the school to the county. The start of the Second World War in September 1939 resulted in air raid shelters being dug, delaying the start of term. During the war, the school day had to end earlier, due to the
blackout Blackout(s), black out, or The Blackout may refer to: Loss of lighting or communication * Power outage, a loss of electric power * Blackout (broadcasting), a regulatory or contractual ban on the broadcasting of an event * Blackout (fabric), a t ...
, and a total of 151 air raid warnings were sounded in the first year alone. An enemy bomb landed close to the school in 1940 but no-one was hurt. The grammar school was closed down in 1950, despite vigorous local protests and a petition to the government carrying 1,000 signatures. Funding for building work on the school site was approved in 1952 and was completed in 1957, when the school was reopened as a secondary modern school with 265 pupils. A formal opening ceremony took place in 1958. The school was reorganised again in the 1970s into a comprehensive school, with new school buildings constructed by 1975. The new site was designed for 690 pupils and had a central courtyard, concert hall, office, dining area and kitchen, with separate blocks for craft workshops and music. In the first year the new school took in five hundred and three pupils. More buildings were constructed in 1978, linked to the rest of the building by walkways. More business studies and computer facilities, as well as a new library, were added in 1987. The music block was rebuilt in 1993/94. A new English block followed soon after, as did a new maths block in 2002, in order to allow the school to cope with its high intake. Following a successful application, the school then became a Specialist School in Science with mathematics and computing. In 2019, the school finished construction on the new "Invictus" block. The school converted to academy status on 1 May 2012.


Demographics

Pupils come from the surrounding area, including the villages of
Upton Grey Upton Grey is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. History Roman times The village is on the line of an ancient Roman road, the Chichester to Silchester Way. Norman times The Grey derives from the years when the village was owned ...
,
Greywell Greywell is a small village and civil parish in Hampshire, England – a past winner of the Best Kept Village in Hampshire competition and a recent winner of Best Small Village in Hampshire. It lies on the west bank of the River Whitewater, 6 m ...
,
Hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...
,
Hartley Wintney Hartley Wintney is a large village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It lies about northwest of Fleet and east of Basingstoke. The parish includes the smaller contiguous village of Phoenix Green as well as the ...
and
Odiham Odiham () is a large historic village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It is twinned with Sourdeval in the Manche Department of France. The 2011 population was 4,406. The parish in 1851 had an area of 7,354 acres ...
. The vast majority of pupils are of
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ethnicity and British backgrounds and there are a few pupils who speak English as a second language. The number of pupils eligible for
free school meals A school meal (whether it is a breakfast, lunch, or evening meal) is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world offer various kinds of schoo ...
or who have disabilities is below average.


Extra-curricular activities

A wide range of free extracurricular activities are run after school hours on five days of the week, with special buses for pupils involved to return home afterwards. The choice available has been described as "exceptional" by a school inspection. From year 7 onwards, students can take part in exchange trips with partner schools in France and Germany, as well as other trips to ski resorts and residential trips such as recent trips to Iceland and Tanzania. Robert May's School has competed in the
F1 in Schools STEM Racing (formerly F1 in Schools) is an international STEM competition endorsed by Formula One, Formula 1 for students aged 9–19. Groups of 3–6 students have to design and manufacture a miniature F1 car using Computer-aided design, CAD/C ...
competition annually for over a decade - Colossus F1 were crowned World Champions in 2014, with Britannia Red being crowned World Champions for the 2020(21) competition. Other successful teams include Rush, Evolution, Enigma, and Origin who have all represented the United Kingdom at the World Finals. The school has run stage productions since 1921 and almost annually since 1977. The most recent productions were "Beauty and the Beast" (2018), "School of Rock" (2019), and "Annie" (2021).


Notable former pupils

* George Isaac Huntingford,
Bishop of Gloucester The Bishop of Gloucester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester, England, Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the Gloucestershire, County of Gloucestershire and part ...
(1802–1815),
Bishop of Hereford The Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury. Until 1534, the Diocese of Hereford was in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church and two of its bishop ...
(1815–1832). * Thomas Burgess, Bishop of Saint David's (1803–1825),
Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The Episcopal see, see is in the Salisbur ...
(1825–1837). * William Addison, awarded the
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...
in the First World War. *Brigadier Manley Angell James, awarded the
Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...
in the First World War. *
Justin Rose Justin Peter Rose (born 30 July 1980) is an English professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and PGA Tour. He is a former world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, first reaching that position in 2018. Rose came to prominen ...
, major Golf champion and Olympic gold medallist at Rio 2016 in the Men's Golf . Though his attendance was erratic, he gained eight good GCSEs and the staff encouraged him in his sporting ambitions. *
Robert Tobin Robert "Rob" John Tobin (born 20 December 1983 in Lincoln, England) is an English sprinter. He currently has a PB in the 400 m of 45.01 seconds. Personal life Tobin was born Robert John Tobin the youngest of two children born to Jacquel ...
, Olympic bronze medal runner for Team GB. * Ranil Jayawardena, Member of Parliament for
North East Hampshire North East Hampshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Alex Brewer, a Liberal Democrat. History The constituency was created in 1997 from parts of the seats of Aldershot and East Hampshire. It was r ...
. *
Olly Lancashire Oliver James Lancashire (born 13 December 1988) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He is currently Head of Player Strategy at club Southampton. Lancashire began his career as a youth player for Crystal P ...
, a professional footballer.


References

*


External links


Robert Mays Website
{{authority control Secondary schools in Hampshire Educational institutions established in the 1690s 1694 establishments in England Academies in Hampshire Odiham