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'Downside School' is a Roman Catholic Public School in Stratton-on-the-Fosse near Bath, situated next to Downside Abbey. It is one of the major Catholic schools in the UK.

Contents

The school

History

Sports

Music

Downside's mission statement

Press coverage

Southern Railway School's Class

Old Gregorians

References

External links

The school

The School is attached to the Benedictine Abbey and Monastery of Downside, some of whose monks work in the school as staff or chaplains. The current headmaster is Dom Leo Maidlow Davis.
The School is divided into four houses: Roberts, Barlow and Smythe for boys and Caverel for girls (it was originally a boys' house). Barlow and Roberts are named after the Community's Saints (Saint Ambrose Barlow and Saint John Roberts) and the other two are named after the Community's benefactors. There were previously two more houses, Ullathorne and Ramsay, which were closed in the mid 90s as a result of falling pupil numbers.

History

Monks from the monastery of St Gregory’s, Douai, in Flanders, came to Downside in 1814. In 1607 St Gregory’s was the first house after the Reformation to begin conventual life with a handful of exiled Englishmen. For nearly 200 years St Gregory’s trained monks for the English mission and six of these men were beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929. Two of these monks, SS John Roberts and Ambrose Barlow, were among the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970.
Driven from France at the Revolution, the community settled for twenty years at Acton Burnell, Shropshire, before finally arriving at Downside in 1814. The Monastery was completed in 1876 and the Abbey Church in 1925, being raised to the rank of a minor basilica in 1935 by Pius XI.
The School attached to the Monastery is for Catholic boys and girls (Although up until 2004 it was an all-boys school) from the age of 10 to 18 years and one of Britain's more distinguished Catholic schools. During the nineteenth century Downside remained a small monastic school. It was Dom Leander Ramsay who was the founder of modern Downside. He planned the new buildings that opened in 1912 and now form two sides of the Quad.
The 20th century brought about huge changes for Downside in the expansion of the school buildings and school numbers - at one point there were about 600 boys at the school. Academic standards were second to none. In the middle of the century, Downside is said to have sent the highest proportion of pupils to Oxbridge of any school in the country, and to have won the highest proportion of entrance awards. Over the decades and through the changing times, Downside came to the decision to accept girls, as the number of pupils had been gradually falling.
However with the arrival of girls the number of boys began to rise again as well as an increasing number of girls every year. The present administration believes that the number of girls would never equal that of the boys, owing to the school's nature as a previous boys' school. However, a second girls house has been planned and is already under construction.

Sports

Downside has cultivated a strong tradition of excellence on the sports field. This is no more apparent than in rugby at Downside, which has had large success recently with two unbeaten 1st XV teams, reestablishing the school as a power on the pitch. Downside has had a long standing rivalry with Sherborne School, which often sees the whole school, countless Old Gregorians as well as a sizeable contingent from Sherborne crowding the sidelines. The rivalry has been so intense at some stages that the fixture has sometimes been cancelled or played mid week, so as to make the game less accessible.
In addition to rugby, pupils also participate in other sports, hockey and cricket being the most prominent in the latter two terms. However in recent years football has challenged hockey as the main sport in the Lent term.

Music

Downside is also renowned for its music. The Schola Cantorum (Choir) plays a huge role in Downside's music. Not only singing for high mass, the Schola Cantorum also holds public performances on a termly basis. It has recently performed a concert of twentieth century choral music, including music by Britten, Lauridsen and the Chichester Psalms by Bernstein. The summer term is always ended with an excellent musical. Stunning productions in recent years have included Oliver!, Grease, Guys and Dolls, High Society, Anything Goes and most recently the opera of Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell. Jazz in Downside is hugely popular The jazz band Slaughterhouse Seven not only has a great reputation within the school, but all around the world. The high standard has been recognised after performances in Australia, Fiji, Canada, the United States, Malta, Gibraltar, Hong Kong and many other places.

Downside's mission statement

"In partnership with families, guided by the Gospel and inspired by the Rule of St Benedict, the monks and staff aim to educate the young people entrusted to their care to achieve the highest academic standards according to their ability and to develop all their gifts for the good of themselves and of others, so that they may become more fruitfully committed to Christ and his Church, and to the service of all his people."

Press coverage

Downside has appeared frequently in the press in recent years. This has been due to a number of causes, including an educational experiment whereby a teenager from London, Ryan Bell, who had been expelled from a number of state schools was moved to Downside to see how a difficult student would change in a school like Downside. After excelling in his Latin set and on the rugby field Ryan Bell was expelled after a 'drinking episode'^[1]. Father Antony Sutch OSB, Downside's former Head Master, also made the front page of The Daily Telegraph when he attacked the 'geek culture' that is overwhelming schools and teachers due to government imposed bureaucracy.^[2]

Southern Railway School's Class

The School lent its name to the thirteenth steam locomotive (Engine 912) in the Southern Railway's Class V of which there were 40.This Class was also known as the Schools Class because all 40 of the class were named after prominent English public schools. 'Downside', as it was called, was built in 1933.Although withdrawn in the early 1960s, the nameplate has been preserved by the School.

Old Gregorians

Alumni, known as , include:

★ Adam Zamoyski - historian

★ Alexander McDonnell, 9th Earl of Antrim

★ Archbishop Maurice Noël Léon Couve de Murville - former Archbishop of Birmingham

★ Auberon Waugh - journalist

★ Barry England

★ Brian Cotter - former Liberal Democrat M.P.

★ Brion Gysin - author and artist

★ Christopher Butler

★ Gervas Douglas

★ Hugh Vyvyan - Captain of Saracens Rugby

★ James Miller

★ Jared Harris

★ John Varley - CEO of Barclays

★ Luis Gordon

★ Peter Rawlinson - law lord

★ Richard Stokes - former Lord Privy Seal

★ Robert Conner - journalist

★ Robert Walker, Baron Walker of Gestingthorpe

★ Rocco Forte - British Entrepreneur

★ Rupert Allason - author (under the pen-name Nigel West) and former Conservative M.P.

★ Simon Tolkien- author

★ Tom Bethell - editor of the ''American Spectator''

★ Tremayne Rodd, 3rd Baron Rennell

★ William Nicholson - playwright

★ James Underwood - pathologist

★ Rev. Timothy Radcliffe, OP - former Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992-2001.

References

1. Young, gifted, but black Mary Riddell
2. Prince condemns disinheritance of pupils Damian Thompson and John Clare

External links

★ Official website

★ Music Department

★ Old Gregorians