The Minster School is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

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

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

in Southwell,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

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 ...

, for children aged 7 to 18. There are just under 1700 students on roll. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a
Open Government Licence v3.0
© Crown copyright. It has a selective junior section (7 years- 11 years) for boy and girl

chorister A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

s from

Southwell Minster Southwell Minster_(church), Minster, strictly since 1884 Southwell Cathedral, and formally the Cathedral and Parish Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Church of England cathedral in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England. The cathedral is the s ...

and other pupils chosen for their musical ability. It has a smaller than average proportion of pupils on

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 of ethnic minority origin or with Statement of Special Educational Needs. In December 2011 the School was graded Outstanding by Ofsted, in 30 out of 31 areas.

Admissions

The Minster School is a Church of England school with its roots in the 10th century.The total number of pupils on the school roll is around 1700. There are roughly 1240 pupils in the secondary school (key stage 3 - years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11) and 400 pupils in the Sixth Form. The attached Minster Junior School provides free education for 40 pupils spanning key stage 2 - years 3, 4, 5 and 6. These children are choristers of

and also other musically gifted pupils. Pupils from the junior school are automatically allocated a year 7 place in the secondary school. Canon Blinston was the executive headteacher of the Minster School for 20 years. He served as the Head of Magnus School in Newark, the school with which the Minster School has joined. Mrs White was the head teacher up until December 2013. Mr C. Stevens was the acting head teacher until Matthew Parris joined the school in September 2014. The school is on ''Nottingham Road'' next to Southwell Leisure Centre.

History

The school was founded in 956 and is one of the oldest schools in England, and the 19th oldest school in the world. From a gift of land by King Edwy to Oscytel,

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

thence was created a Chapter, a Church and a school to teach the singing boys Latin. The earliest named master, in 1313, was Henry de Hykeling. In 1547 the churchwardens petitioned

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

"that our Grammar School may also stand with such stipend as appertains the like, wherein our poor youth may be instructed" – his Commissioners replied "that the school is very meet and necessary to continue". In 1580 Hugh Baskafield, the Master, was discharged by the Chapter as "he had notoriously slacked and neglected his duties" while William Neep in 1716 ordered the school's rules to be written in English after abolishing the Latin version. The

Education Act 1944 The Education Act 1944 ( 7 & 8 Geo. 6. c. 31) made major changes in the provision and governance of secondary schools in England and Wales. It is also known as the Butler Act after the President of the Board of Education, R. A. Butler. Histori ...

determined the governors to seek "Aided Status". The fund-raising at that time suggested that this school's life would run from 956 A.D. to 2956 A.D. Once a

selective school A selective school is a school that admits students on the basis of some sort of selection criteria, usually academic. The term may have different connotations in different systems and is the opposite of a comprehensive school, which accepts all s ...

, known as Southwell Minster Collegiate Grammar School, and more recently until amalgamation with the local comprehensive known simply as Southwell Minster Grammar School. When comparatively small (intake was only about 35 per year during the 1960s), the school was in Minster Chambers, but those premises were vacated in 1964 for a site further down Church Street on the south-eastern side of the Minster. Upon amalgamation, this site, some considerable distance from the Nottingham Road site, became difficult to integrate into the life of the much bigger school. With the decision to concentrate redevelopment at Nottingham Road the Church Street site was sold. As the 1964 premises had been built upon the site of a Roman Villa an opportunity has arisen to restore this location. Amalgamation continued the school's traditional strengths and the school obtained

specialist A specialist is someone who is an expert in, or devoted to, some specific branch of study or research. Specialist may also refer to: Occupations * Specialist (rank), military rank ** Specialist (Singapore) * Specialist officer, military rank in ...

status in

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

and

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

. Previously a privately instituted school, in December 2018 the school converted to academy status.

Buildings

In April 2006, work began on a new £34m school building. On 16 July 2008,

Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh (Edward Antony Richard Louis; born 10 March 1964) is a member of the British royal family. He is the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the youngest sibling of K ...

officially opened the new school building, in operation since September 2007. The Minster School won the 2009 RIBA Sorrell Foundation Schools Award due to the highly functional design of the school. It no longer has boarding facilities.

Notable alumni

* Andrew Cooney, previously the youngest man to walk to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

. * Paul Franks, cricketer * Charles Harrison, organist *

Mathew Horne Mathew Frazer Horne (born 6 September 1978) is an English actor, comedian, singer, television presenter, and narrator. He is best known for appearing on several BBC Sketch comedy, sketch shows and sitcoms, most notably ''Gavin & Stacey'' (as L ...

, actor and comedian *

William Ivory William (Billy) Ivory (born 1964) is a British screenwriter, playwright and actor. He is a three-time BAFTA nominee. Early life and career Ivory was born in Southwell, Nottinghamshire and has set many of his works in Nottingham. He was a pupil ...

, screenwriter, playwright and actor. * Tom Ryder, rugby player *

Marie Toms Marie Louise Toms (born 8 December 1979) is a British waterskier. She was a member of the British Waterski Team from 1991 to 2004, after which she took a break from the sport, returning in 2007 to win the British National Slalom Championship in ...

, former British Waterski champion *

Hayley Turner Hayley Turner (born 3 January 1983) is a retired England, English jockey who competed in flat racing. Originally from Nottingham, she was based in Newmarket, Suffolk, Newmarket for much of her career. In 2008 Turner became the first woman to ...

, British jockey * Sian Welby, TV presenter and columnist

Southwell Minster Collegiate Grammar School

* Frederick Hutton, scientist *

Henry Fynes Clinton Henry Fynes Clinton (14 January 1781 – 24 October 1852) was a 19th-century English classical scholar and chronologist, who sat as a Tory Member of Parliament. Family background He was born at Gamston, Nottinghamshire, the eldest son of ...

Alvin Stardust Bernard William Jewry (27 September 1942 – 23 October 2014), known professionally as Shane Fenton and later as Alvin Stardust, was an English rock singer and stage actor. Performing first as Shane Fenton in the 1960s, Jewry had a moderately ...

* William Hodgson Barrow, Member of Parliament (MP) for

South Nottinghamshire South Nottinghamshire, formally the "Southern Division of Nottinghamshire" was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected two Members of Parliament (MPs) by the bloc vote syste ...

1851–1874. * The Rev. William Williams. * Vaughan Grylls, artist and educationalist

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

External links

*
Old Southwellians' Society

Architects of new buildings

EduBase

Most Recent Ofsted Report, Dec. 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minster School, Southwell Choir schools in England Secondary schools in Nottinghamshire Church of England secondary schools in the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham Primary schools in Nottinghamshire Academies in Nottinghamshire Southwell, Nottinghamshire