Bloxham School

A view over Main Field, with the cricket pavilion to the left and the school chapel in the background.

The 'Pig Sty' playing fields beneath Hobb Hill, Bloxham.

Bloxham School has grounds which cover approximately 60 acres (240,000 m²) in the village of Bloxham. The Neo-Gothic complex of buildings designed by George Edmund Street, called Main School, dominates the school and the north end of the village.[3] It contains two boarding houses, Crake and Wilson, the dining hall, the Masters' Dining Room, the Headmaster's office, the chapel, the 1894 Egerton Library and a number of classrooms. Palmer House, built in 1874 in the Neo-Gothic style, is the school hospital. Egerton House, on the edge of the school campus, was built in 1876 as the Headmaster's House, and was enlarged in 1886. The school's Great Hall was completed in 1937 and was built in the traditional Cotswold style.[3] The Victorian-era Wesley Theatre, a former Methodist chapel, is the school theatre. The Science Block was built between 1959 and 1966. Wilberforce House was built in the late 1960s and Raymond House was opened in 1971 by Margaret Thatcher. Recent building developments include the Raymond Technology Centre, the expansion of the Lower School building and the Vallance Library which was opened by Colin Dexter in April 2006. New squash courts have also been built next to the Dewey Sports Centre, and the art school has been increased in size. The extension to the 1901 music school was completed in the summer of 2007, and officially opened by Aled Jones in November 2008.[9] The Lower School is located in a modernised building called The White Lion, a former public house on the edge of the school campus.

Bloxham has a Church of England chapel which can accommodate approximately two hundred people. It was built at first-floor level with classrooms beneath, giving it an elevated position.[3] At its west end is a balcony and organ loft, with an octagonal turret containing the bell tower rising above Main School. At the east end of the chapel is a large Te Deum window made by Clayton and Bell in memory of Wilberforce. The chapel also contains a rood screen, windows in memory of Egerton and the Boer Wars, and monuments to the school's war dead. The reredos was designed by Bucknall in 1912. The smaller Liddon Chapel, adjacent to the main chapel, is used as a classroom.

Bloxham School has four large playing fields, three of which are used for cricket in the summer term. It has two AstroTurf all-weather pitches, which are used for hockey and tennis, as well as additional hard tennis courts. The Dewey Sports Centre, opened by Anne, Princess Royal in 1986, has an indoor sports hall, a well-equipped gym and a climbing wall. Along with the swimming pool, which was extensively refurbished in 2014, it is available for public use. Bloxham also has Fives courts.

Deer Park is where the bursary is situated, as well as some of the buildings used by the CCF, including the armoury and shooting range. Woollen Hale, the house of Bloxham headmasters since 1986, is located on the top of Hobb Hill, overlooking playing fields and the Main School.

Wilson House and the Dining Hall, completed in 1869, as viewed from Bloxham High Street.

Like most traditional public schools, houses form the basis of school organisation and are incorporated into the boarding system. There are six boarding houses within the senior school. These are Crake, Egerton, Raymond, Seymour, Wilberforce and Wilson, with Raymond and Wilberforce being the girls' houses. There is also a junior boarding house, Park Close, for the first form (Year 7) and second form (Year 8) weekly boarders, but all junior pupils are members of Exham House. The school operates a house based tutor system, in which pupils of several year groups share a tutor within one house. All houses are made up of both boarders and day pupils, who are called 'dayboarders'. House captains are appointed each year and make up part of the school's prefect body. The two oldest houses are Crake and Wilson, previously called School House, with all the other houses constituted later. The newest boarding house to be built was Seymour, which was finished in 1982. Houses provide a focal point for social and sporting activity, with keen rivalries existing between different houses.

Bloxham's 1st XI cricket team plays Marylebone Cricket Club in 2010.

Sport plays a significant role in Bloxham life, with afternoons on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays being allocated to games' practices and matches for pupils in years 9–13. Every pupil in the school is involved in sport, with the aim being that each pupil will represent the school in at least one team during their time at Bloxham. The major sports are rugby, hockey and cricket for boys, and hockey, netball and tennis for girls. Other sports played at Bloxham include squash, athletics, swimming, golf, riding, polo, target shooting, clay pigeon shooting, fives, sailing, cross-country and badminton.[13]

The school's main sporting rivals include Stowe School, St Edward's School, Oxford, Warwick School, Rugby School and Magdalen College School, Oxford. Bloxham participates annually in the NatWest Schools Cup for rugby union. Bloxham has recently won national titles in shooting, polo and riding, and regional titles in rugby, hockey and sailing.

The school CCF parade in Bloxham village on Armistice Day, 1965.

Bloxham has several societies, some of which are pupil-run. Notable school societies include the Scholars Society, the Debating Society and the Common Room Society. The Choral Society, or Chapel Choir, sing twice a week during the school's chapel services. Clubs include a Photography Club, a Wildlife Club and a Model Railway Club. Bloxham School was host of the British Youth Go Tournament in 2011. Pupils are given the opportunity to take part in many other activities, such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award, drama, community service, dance, adventure training, horse riding and management and horticulture.[13] Many of these run on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday afternoon in time set aside for school activities.

Bloxham runs a Combined Cadet Force (CCF) for pupils in third form (Year 9) and above. This was founded in 1910 as the school's Officers' Training Corps,[14] and under Armitage it became one of the most respected contingents in the country. Bloxham is one of the few schools in the country to have been granted its own cap badge and many former members have served with distinction in the British armed forces. Most terms there is a CCF over-night expedition and a range day. The CCF was formerly affiliated with the Royal Green Jackets and is now affiliated with its successor regiment, The Rifles.

The school has a large music department which offers professional tuition in brass, guitar, keyboard, organ, percussion, singing, strings and woodwind.

The school magazine is called The Bloxhamist and is now published at the beginning of every Michaelmas term.

The school’s prefect system was introduced in its current form by Armitage in the late 1920s.[15] Prefects were solemnly initiated in chapel, and once in office they were responsible for much of the daily administration of the school. Prefects were in charge of most discipline and a prefectural code was introduced; school prefects could give up to six strokes with a cane, and house prefects three.[15]

Today the school has various grades of prefect, all drawn from the Upper Sixth, each with different responsibilities and privileges:

• School captains: One boy and, since coeducation, one girl. They lead the body of school prefects and meet daily with the headmaster. They are called the Head Boy and the Head Girl.
• School prefects: Their duties include keeping order, supervising the wellbeing of pupils and representing the school at events. They have numerous privileges. They wear gold trim on their jackets and a black tie with the school crest.
• House captains: The senior pupil in each of the boarding houses. They lead the house prefects in their house and represent the house at events. They usually have a larger study in the boarding house, and are usually also school prefects.
• School Sacristan: Two prefects, who aid the school’s chaplain in day-to-day running of the chapel and promotion of the Christian ethos in the school. Leads the pastoral prefects and wears a blue tie with the school crest and cross, and a gold cross badge. May also be a school prefect.
• House prefects: A group of six to eight senior pupils in each of the boarding houses. Have duties within the house, including supervising prep, the dormitories and helping to keep order. They wear a black tie with multiple school crests on it, each in the house colour.
• Pastoral Prefects: A group of twelve prefects who help to keep order in chapel and promote the Christian ethos in the school. They wear a gold cross badge.

The motto of Bloxham School is taken from Hewitt's 1853 school. A quotation from the Book of Proverbs, it is Justorum Semita Lux Splendens (Latin), which translates as "The path of the just is a shining light". Until 2009, the school arms was that of the Egerton family, although this usage was never registered with the College of Arms. It is now a stylised version of the original coat-of-arms.

Bloxham operates a three-term year:

• The Michaelmas Term, from early September to mid-December
• The Lent Term, from early January to late March
• The Summer Term, from late April to late June or early July

The yearly fees for a senior full boarding pupil are £30,585 per year, and £23,670 per year for day pupils.[16] This makes Bloxham the third most expensive school in Oxfordshire.

Current members of the school are known as 'Bloxhamists' with alumni referred to as 'Old Bloxhamists', or OBs for short. Notable OBs include:

Military

• Colonel Sir Thomas Boswall Beach CMG CBE
• Brigadier-General Sir William Henry Beach CB CMG DSO
• Air Vice-Marshal Thomas Bowler CB CBE[17][18]
• General Sir Adrian Bradshaw KCB OBE,[19] Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe
• General Sir Edward Burgess, NATO Deputy Supreme Allied Commander
• Garrison Sergeant Major Vivian Davenport MBE MC DCM & Bar
• Major General Richard Roderick Davis CB CBE
• Lieutenant David Eastwood CBE MC
• Brigadier-General Wilfred Ellershaw, Aide-de-Camp to Lord Kitchener
• Squadron Leader Dave Glaser DFC AE
• Colonel L. A. Grimston CIE OBE VD
• Major-General Reginald Hewer CB CBE MC
• Air Marshal Sir Francis John Linnell KBE CB
• Captain Harry Godfrey Massy-Miles MC
• Colonel Sir Henry Allan Roughton May CB
• Air Commodore Sir Dennis Mitchell KBE CVO DFC AFC
• Squadron Leader C. T. N. Moore MBE
• Admiral of the Fleet Sir Gerard Noel GCB KCMG, Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet
• Lieutenant-General Dudley Sheridan Skelton CB DSO MC, Honorary Surgeon to HM King George V
• Major-General Bruce M. Skinner CMG CBE MVO, Surgeon-General to the British Armed Forces
• Major Derrick le Poer Trench DSO MC
• Lieutenant St John Graham Young GC
• Brigadier Dimitry Dimitrievitch Zvegintzov CBE OStJ

Government and politics

• Peter J P Barwell MBE, Lord Mayor of Birmingham 1992-3
• Sir Peter H. Clutterbuck CIE CBE VD,[20] colonial civil servant in British India
• Alexander Granville CMG CBE, colonial administrator in Egypt
• Sir Gerald Howarth, Conservative politician and Member of Parliament
• Eustace Maude, 7th Viscount Hawarden, peer and colonial provincial governor in Sudan
• E. H. D. Nicolls CMG OBE, British colonial official
• Denis Norman, former Government Minister in Zimbabwe
• Frederic Urquhart, colonial administrator in Australia

Religion

• Fr Sergei Hackel, senior priest in Britain of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sourozh.[21]
• George Hand, Anglican bishop
• Victor White, theologian and psychotherapist

The arts

• George S Elgood, painter
• Ross Nichols, academic, poet, artist and historian[22]
• Stephen Reynolds, writer
• Tom Sharpe, novelist
• Peter Snow, painter, theatre designer and teacher.[23]
• Albert Chevallier Tayler, painter
• Henry Tonks FRCS, artist
• Pip Torrens, actor
• Joseph Vernon Whitaker, Editor, The Bookseller

Other

• Will Bratt, Formula Three racing driver[24]
• Sheraz Daya, British Ophthalmologist
• Saskia Jones, victim of the November 2019 London Bridge terrorist attack
• G. Kenneth Jenkins, Keeper of the Coins at the British Museum
• Thomas Sanderson-Wells MBE
• John Sergeant, journalist
• Ward Thomas CBE DFC CdeG, Television Executive[25]

The Founder, Philip Egerton.

The first five headmasters at Bloxham were ordained Anglican priests, with the first lay headmaster being appointed in 1925. The portraits of former headmasters hang in the school dining hall.

• Philip Egerton (1860–1886)
• F. S. Boissier (1886–1898)
• G. H. Ward (1899–1914)
• Alexander Grier (1914–1919)
• F. H. George (1919–1925)
• Valentine Armitage (1925–1940)
• K. T. Dewey (1940–1952)
• R. S. Thompson (1952–1965)
• D. R. G. Seymour (1965–1982)
• M. W. Vallance (1982–1991)
• D. K. Exham (1991–2002)
• Mark Allbrook (2002–2013)
• P. Sanderson (2013–present)

• Mark Allbrook, former Headmaster
• Frederick Scobell Boissier, former Headmaster, father of Arthur Boissier
• Cedric Boyns, Housemaster
• Philip Reginald Egerton, founder
• Felix Francis, Author of the Dick Francis Novels, Bloxham Head of Science 1984-1991
• Cyril Frost, artist and silversmith[27]
• David Hatch, student teacher
• Kenneth Spring OBE, former Commander of the CCF, housemaster and art masterAu

• Official website
• Profile at the Independent Schools Council website