Bishop's Stortford College

Since 2009, the College has hosted and organised an annual literary festival, which attracts writers, politicians and public figures as speakers and participants, including David Starkey, a historian, Michael Portillo, a broadcaster and former Conservative MP, James Mayhew, an author and illustrator, and the bestselling novelist Rachel Joyce.

In 2006, a Science Action Centre was opened, housing over 40 interactive displays. The centre was a learning resource for pupils. It has since closed.

The Ferguson Building (opened 2007) was added to the school campus providing a lecture theatre, IT suite and Sixth Form Centre. The Ferguson Lectures were launched at the same time. These focus on contemporary issues and are open to the public. Ferguson lecturers have included Dr Rowan Williams, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge and a former Archbishop of Canterbury, Brendan Simms, Professor in the History of International Relations at Peterhouse, Cambridge, Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, and Tom Holland, a writer, broadcaster and historian.

The latest major development project, which opened in autumn 2013, saw the rebuilding and expansion of approximately one-third of the Prep School to provide enhanced and extended accommodation, including a new library. The Dawson building was officially named and opened on 20 September 2014 after John and Joy Dawson by David Defoe who was The Master of the Junior School (now known as the Prep School) from 1982-1999. Having joined the school in 1948, John Dawson was Headmaster of the Junior School (1971-1982). Joy joined the school as a nurse in 1949 and later married John. They were houseparents of Grimwade 1966—1971 until John became Headmaster.

On 29 September 2015, a fire broke out in Robert Pearce House and destroyed the 92-year-old building. All pupils were evacuated safely. Robert Pearce House reopened in January 2018.

In January 2016 the college donated second hand textbooks to Edlumino, an organisation working to educate children in the refugee camps at Grande-Synthe and Calais.[3]

New boarding houses for sixth-former students were built and opened in 2018.

There are 1180 pupils at Bishop's Stortford College, including 600 in the Senior School (aged 14–18), 460 in the Prep School (aged 8–13) and 120 in the Pre-Prep (aged 4–7). The Senior School has 175 boarders, including full, weekly and part-time; the Prep School has 50 full, weekly or flexi-boarders. Most UK boarders come from Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex and London; the majority of international boarders are Senior School students, although international Prep School boarders can join at the age of ten.

There are ten houses in the Senior School:

• Five houses for girls – Alliot (day girls), Benson (day girls), Tee (day girls), Trotman (girls' boarding), Young (girls' boarding).
• Five houses for boys – Collett (day boys), Hayward (day boys), Sutton (day boys), Robert Pearce (boys' boarding), Rowe (boys' boarding).

The Prep School has four houses, all co-educational:

• Day pupils: Monk-Jones, Newbury and Westfield.
• Boarding and day pupils: Grimwade.

In 2019, the College produced its best-ever GCSE results, with 75% of all grades at 9-7.[4] At A Level, students achieved a 100% pass rate, with 74 of the 120-strong year group attaining grades of ABB or higher. Nearly 50% of results were graded A and above, far outperforming the national average of 25.5%.[5]

The latest ISI Education Quality Inspection report, published in March 2017, found that "the quality of the pupils' academic and other achievements is excellent", with pupils displaying "excellent attitudes towards their learning and highly developed study skills". The report also stated that "the school is highly successful in creating an ethic of hard work and enthusiastic participation".[6]

Recent Old Stortfordian Charlotte Aitchison, aka singer-songwriter Charli XCX

Former pupils are known as Old Stortfordians. For a more complete list, see People educated at Bishop's Stortford College.

• Horace Mann Livens(1862–1936), artist, painted earliest recorded portrait of Van Gogh
• Sir Leonard Pearce (1873–1947), electrical engineer, designer of Battersea Power Station
• Grantly Dick-Read (1890–1959), obstetrician, pioneer of natural childbirth
• Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Brett Cloutman (1891–1971) VC, MC, KC, awarded the last Victoria Cross of the First World War
• Wilfred Bion (1897–1979), psychoanalyst, president of the British Psychoanalytical Society, 1962–65
• Malcolm Nokes (1897–1986) MC, Olympic medalist, teacher, soldier, chemist, nuclear scientist
• H Leo Price (1899–1943), hockey and rugby international, Bishop's Stortford College headmaster, 1932–1943
• Clifford Dupont (1905–1978), first President of Rhodesia
• Leader Stirling (1906–2003), missionary surgeon, Health Minister of Tanzania,1975–1980
• Sir Dick White (1906–1993), KCMG, KBE, Director-General of MI5, 1953–1956, Chief of MI6, 1956–1968
• Alec Clifton-Taylor (1907–1985), architectural historian
• Edward Crankshaw (1909–1984), expert and author on the Soviet Union and the Gestapo
• John Glyn-Jones (1909–1997), actor
• Roger Hilton (1911–1975), painter, pioneer of abstract art
• Denis Greenhill, Baron Greenhill of Harrow (1913–2000), GCMG, Permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service, 1969–1973
• Peter Wright (1916–1995), Assistant Director-General of MI5 and author of Spycatcher
• Sir Arthur Bonsall (born 1917), KCMG, Director of GCHQ, 1973–1978
• Leslie McLean (1918–1987), cricketer
• General Sir Peter Whiteley (1920–2016), GCB, OBE, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in Northern Europe (1977-1979)
• Drummond Allison (1921–1943), Second World War poet
• Professor John Ferguson (1921–1989), Christian pacifist, first Dean of Arts at the Open University
• John Rae (1931–2006), author, headmaster of Westminster School, 1970–1986
• CIM Jones (1934–2016), Olympic hockey player (1960, 1964) and coach, Hertfordshire cricketer, College head of geography 1960–1970, Headmaster of Bedford School
• Dick Clement (born 1937), OBE, television and screen writer
• John Heddle (1943–1989), politician
• John Richard Patterson (1945–1997), founder of the Dateline computer dating service
• Sir Stephen Lander (born 1947), KCB, Director-General of MI5, 1996–2002, and Chair of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, 2004–2009
• Robert Kirby (1948–2009), arranger, best known for his work with Nick Drake
• Andy Peebles (born 1948), broadcaster
• Alan Lyddiard (born Michael Kent, 1949), theatre and film director
• Bill Sharpe (born 1952), keyboardist and founding member of jazz-funk band Shakatak
• James Duthie (born 1957), hockey player and Great Britain team coach
• James Baxter (born 1967), British animator
• Guy Wilkinson FRS (born 1968), professor of physics at the University of Oxford
• Ben Clarke (born 1968), England rugby union player (1992–1999)
• Alastair Lukies (born 1973), entrepreneur and co-founder of Monitise
• Iain Mackay (born 1985), hockey international, Olympian
• Charli XCX (Charlotte Aitchison; born 1992), multi-award-winning singer-songwriter[7]
• Olivia Swann(born 1995), R&B/soul singer-songwriter
• Elinah Phillip (born 2000), Olympic swimmer

Notable teachers have included:

• Percy Horton (1897–1970), painter, College art master 1925–1930
• Herbert Sumsion (1899–1995), Organist of Gloucester Cathedral, College director of music 1924–1926
• Viscount Bracken (1901–1958), publisher, politician, First Lord of the Admiralty, College master c.1920–1922
• Walter Strachan (1903–1994), poet, calligrapher and leading authority on French Art, College master 1924–1968
• Bernie Cotton MBE (born 1948), England and Great Britain hockey player and coach, College geography master 1960s, 1970s, 1990s

• Bishop's Stortford College Prospectus: History
• Profile in the Good Schools Guide
• Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) reports
• The Cricketer Schools Guide 2020

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