Wycliffe College, Gloucestershire

Wycliffe College

Motto	Bold and Loyal
Established	1882
Type	Private School Independent school Co-educational Boarding
Religion	Church of England
Headmaster	Nick Gregory (Senior), Adrian Palmer (Preparatory)
Chairman of Governors	Brigadier (Rtd) Robin Bacon
Founder	G. W. Sibly
Location	Bath Road Stonehouse Gloucestershire GL10 2JQ England, United Kingdom
Students	ca. 800
Gender	Mixed
Ages	2–18+
Houses	Senior School- Collingwood Haywardsend Ivy Grove Haywardsfield Ward's Robinson Loosley Halls Lampeter Preparatory School- Grenfell Lincon Shaftesbury Scott
Colours	Red, Black (Traditional)           Purple, Grey (Contemporary)
Publication	Wycliffe Times The Wycliffian
Former pupils	Old Wycliffians (OWs)
Affiliations	Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
Website	www.wycliffe.co.uk

Wycliffe College is a co-educational, independent, private day and boarding school located in the town of Stonehouse in Gloucestershire, England. The school was founded in 1882 by G. W. Sibly,^[1] and comprises a Nursery School for ages 2–4, a Preparatory School for ages 4–13, and a Senior School catering for ages 13–18. In total, there are approximately 800 pupils enrolled at the school. The college is set in 52 acres of land^[2] distributed among three separate campuses and offsite facilities. In 2018, The Duchess of Gloucester officially opened a new £6 million boarding house named Ward's-Ivy Grove, an award-winning facility^[3].

Wycliffe is a member school of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC).^[4] The Good Schools Guide stated that Wycliffe is "A school which offers a way of life as much as an education...A real gem of a school."^[5] The Independent Schools Inspectorate rated Wycliffe as either Excellent or Good in all areas in its most recent inspection (March 2016).^[6]

For the academic year 2018/2019, Wycliffe charges up to £36,570 pa for boarders and £20,985 pa for day pupils in the senior school. Fees in the prep school are up to £28,260 pa for boarders and £15,795 pa for day pupils.^[7]

Nursery School

The Nursery, which first opened in 1983 at the Grove, and was originally located within the same grounds as the Preparatory School boarding houses and sports fields. The Grove, a house built of Cotswold stone, was destroyed by fire in 1994. In 2012 the nursery school split into the nursery and pre-prep departments, the latter being moved to join with the Preparatory school.

Wycliffe Preparatory School

The Prep School has extensive sports grounds separated by a main road from the main campus. The pupils use a specially built bridge to cross over the road safely. The Prep School has two boarding houses: Pennwood housing the male boarders and Windrush housing the female boarders. The school amenities include an indoor swimming pool, performing arts centre, tennis courts and extensive sports fields.

The Senior School

The main school house building on the senior school campus at Wycliffe College.

Haywardsend, a girls’ boarding house at the Wycliffe Senior School.

The Wycliffe Chapel.

The Senior School is located a short walk away from the Preparatory School. With over 400 students, the Senior School is the largest campus of the three. The main reception is located in School House – the principal building in the College. The school fields teams in the following sports: equestrian, rugby, rowing, cricket, fencing, shooting, squash, tennis, football, netball, hockey and swimming.

Students are separated into eight different houses; this is where both their prep rooms and common rooms are located. With the exceptions of Collingwood House, a mixed house for day pupils, and Loosley, a mixed sixth form boarding house, the houses are single gender boarding houses. All of the houses have common rooms for the juniors and seniors; some houses are equipped with saunas and pool tables and table tennis tables. The school holds inter-house competitions, the most significant of which is the annual House Music Competition. Other inter-house activities include drama, debating, public speaking, football, netball, hockey, and rugby.

Accreditation

The school is the first independent school in the country to have achieved recognition with National Academy for Able Children in Education (NACE). The school has also achieved 'CReSTeD' accreditation for teaching dyslexic pupils. A 2010 Ofsted inspection report on the School's capability to help children to achieve well and enjoy what they do rated the provision as outstanding, noting the "extensive support networks for all boarders within the school".^[8]

Sport

Wycliffe is a major squash-playing school, due to their continuous success in the squash court. The school currently holds many national squash titles, and it is also the first school to hold both the U15 and U19 National titles at the same time. Old Wycliffians have also gone on to represent their home nations in international events such as the Commonwealth Games.^[9] Among other options, pupils may choose squash as either a games option or an extra-curricular activity.^[10] Other sports played at Wycliffe include riding, fencing, shooting, rugby, polo, rowing, tennis, hockey, cricket, rowing, football, volleyball, gym, cross country, badminton, hockey, netball, tennis, rounders, and athletics.

Since 1935, Wycliffe's Boat Club has had a boathouse of its own, located on the Gloucester-Sharpness Canal with around 30 km of still training water.^[11]

Within the college grounds are some of town's oldest trees.

Curriculum

The academic structure targets exams of both standard English curriculum GCSE and the International GCSE, and A level subjects at the standard English curriculum. Other activities include a Combined Cadet Force and a Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. Extracurricular activities include: Horse riding club, Fencing club, Cryptology club, Science club, Beekeeping, Shooting, Model United Nations among many others.^[12]

Head Teachers (Senior)

• G. W. Sibly (1882–1912)
• W. A. Sibly (1912–1947)
• S. G. H. Loosley (1947–1967)
• R. D. H. Roberts (1967–1980)
• Richard Poulton (1980–6)
• Tony Millard (1987–1993)
• David Prichard (1994–1998)
• Tony Collins (1998–2005)
• Margie E Burnet Ward (2005-2015)
• Nick Gregory (2015–Present)

Notable alumni

Former pupils of the school are known as Old Wycliffians or OWs. Alumni become life members of the Society when they leave the school. The principle aim of the Society is to keep members of the worldwide Wycliffian family in touch with each other.

Notable Old Wycliffians include:

• Charlie Barnett (cricketer), (1910–1993), Gloucestershire and England cricketer.^[13]
• Mark Blundell, Formula One racing driver.
• Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877–1947), philosopher and art historian ^[14]
• William Wasbrough Foster DSO CMG, Canadian businessman, Police and Army officer.
• Brian Fothergill (1921–1990), biographer ^[15]
• Alex Gidman Gloucestershire and England A cricket captain
• Sir Michael Graydon, Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Air Force (1992–1997)
• Jeffrey Harborne, phytochemist
• Somerville Hastings (1878–1967), surgeon and politician ^[16]
• Denis Malone, Chief Justice of Belize and later the Cayman Islands^[17]
• John May, Vice-Chairman of the World Scout Committee, Secretary General of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award
• William Moseley, actor.
• Mike Osborne, jazz musician.
• Gilbert Parkhouse, Glamorgan and England cricketer.^[18]
• Ben Parkin, Member of Parliament for Stroud (1945–50) Paddington North (1953–69)
• Tim Payne, England rugby player
• Mark Porter, medical doctor and media person.
• Charlie Sharples, Gloucester rugby winger.
• Sir Franklin Sibly (1883–1948), geologist and university administrator.^[19]
• Jon Silkin, poet
• William Stanier, railway engineer
• Charlie Stayt, presenter of BBC Breakfast on BBC One
• Al Stewart, singer-songwriter
• Jun Tanaka, chef and author^[20]
• Geoffrey Tovey, serologist and founder of UK Transplant service

References

External links

• Wycliffe College
• Prep & College profiles at the Independent Schools Council website

Coordinates: 51°44′37″N 2°16′47″W / 51.74361°N 2.27972°W / 51.74361; -2.27972