Oundle has 835 boarders and 235 day pupils. It is the third largest public school in England, after Eton and Millfield. The various school buildings are scattered around the market town, with the Cloisters acting as the nucleus of the school community.
The Good Schools Guide described the schools as a "Popular, well oiled, well heeled co-educational boarding school which is riding high."[1] Oundle features prominently in the school league tables, with pupils obtaining excellent results at GCSE and A Level. In 2007 91.1% of grades awarded to students at A Level were A or B grade and 83.9% of grades awarded to students at GCSE were A* or A grade.
Oundle School currently has the largest Combined Cadet Force of any school in the country and currently excels in public school Rugby, Rowing and Cricket. A large proportion of the school gather to support the 1st XV rugby team on the Two Acre during the Michaelmas and Christmas quarters. The school's greatest sporting rivalry is with Uppingham School, other rivalries include Harrow School, Radley College, Rugby School and Stamford School.
The school has a strong tradition of community service with many pupils opting to provide help in the local area as an alternative to CCF. Every summer since 1982, sixth formers and former pupils have run the Oundle School Mencap holiday ? a residential holiday for children with a range of learning disabilities, now a charity in its own right.[2]
The school has close ties with the Laxton Junior School, for primary school pupils, many of whom continue their secondary education at the senior school. A modern building for Laxton Junior was completed in 2003, to cater for increased demand and to grow out of the labyrinthine building used beforehand, now the Oundle School English department.
In November 2005 the school was found to have taken part in a cartel of price fixing amongst public schools.[3]
Facilities
Oundle School's facilities are numerous and include the following:
There are a number of different teaching buildings located throughout the town. Many lessons take place in the Cloisters which are located in the heart of the town, other main teaching buildings include the Scott Block, the Gascoigne, the Needham, Old Dryden and Scitec.
The School Chapel, consecrated in 1923, was built as a memorial to the fallen of the First World War. It contains some of the most important and influential stained glass in the country. The Chapel is where the school community meets. It links past and present, and bears witness, both in itself and in its art and worship, to the abiding values of the Christian Faith. The chapel houses two organs, a classical instrument built in 1984 by Frobenius of Denmark has three manuals and pedals, thirty-five speaking stops and mechanical action. It is situated in the Gallery at the West end. A romantic instrument installed by Copeman Hart in 2000 and situated at the East end of the Chapel provides accompaniment for the Chapel Choir, and leads the whole school singing. It has three manuals and pedals with a West end solo division.
The Yarrow Gallery is the school's private art gallery, which puts on approximately half a dozen exhibitions every year. It is one of the most attractive galleries in East Anglia. The space is adaptable and suitable for activities such as poetry readings, plays and small concerts as well as exhibitions. The purpose of the museum is that it should house a collection of pictures, specimens and models to illustrate "the history, development and beauty of the various branches of knowledge". The genealogical tree of the aeroplane and the Durham miner were charted and exhibits such as the skeleton of the white horse which used to draw the School ambulance to the Sanatorium were featured. The statue by Kathleen Scott entitled "Here Am I, Send Me" is erroneously held to be modelled on her son Peter Scott.http://www.westdowns.com/scott1.htm
The Stahl Theatre, opened in 1980. The Stahl Theatre is owned and managed by Oundle School, run by the Drama Department staff, many of whom have a professional theatre background. It houses both the School productions and visiting professional theatre companies. It acts as the local community theatre used by the local junior and middle schools for their annual productions, by the Oundle Literature and Organ Festivals and by groups such as the Gilbert and Sullivan Society.
Various CCF buildings including two shooting ranges. There are a number of CCF buildings including the Armoury (the main administrative building and rifle store), and various other smaller buildings used primarily for rifle and first aid training. Situated approximately two miles from Oundle, outside the hamlet of Elmington on the Ashton estate, is Oundle School?s full bore outdoor range. At 500 yards long, the range is one of the few of its size in the country to be owned by a school. Rifles can be fired from firing points at either 100, 200, 300 or 500 yards. There is another, smaller .22 shooting range situated next to the school armoury which is used for day to day use.
The school has two sand-filled astroturf pitches used primarily for hockey throughout the school year but also for tennis during the summer. There is also a specially designated "warm-up" area where players congregate prior to home fixtures.
A new six-lane synthetic athletics track was completed in the summer of 2006, the centre-field area of which will also provide an all-weather surface for CCF parades and other gatherings.
The school houses its own radio station. OSCAR Radio broadcasts from newly converted studios in Old Dryden which are advanced by any school and university standards. Now established as the leading school radio station in the country, over 800 pupils have taken part in OSCAR broadcasts since 1998.
The first phase of a new state of the art science and technology centre was completed in summer 2007, the Duke of Gloucester officially opened it in September 2007. It is set to be completed in three phases costing around £20 million in total. 'SciTec' is the School's millennium project which upon completion will create a distinctive, new centre to combine the Sciences, Art and Design and Technology. SciTec will be a living, working resource which aims to put Oundle at the cutting edge of Science and Technology education. The first stage houses the Chemistry and Biology departments.
Houses
The school has 14 boarding houses in total. There are eight boys' boarding houses (Bramston, Crosby, Fisher (formerly Laxton House), Grafton, Laundimer, School, Sidney and St Anthony), five girls' boarding houses (Dryden, Kirkeby, New, Sanderson and Wyatt) and a junior house (The Berrystead). Laxton House (formerly Laxton School) caters solely for day pupils.
Boys' Houses
Town Houses
House
Housemaster
Boys
Founded
Bramston
Mr D. Robb
c. 60
1916
Laundimer
Dr B. McDowell
c. 60
1916
School House
Dr J. Hunt
c. 60
1887
St. Anthony
Mr I. Clark
c. 65
1928
The town houses, as their name implies, front onto Oundle's town streets, but most have grounds at the rear. St. Anthony is strictly neither a town nor a field house but rather a combination of the two, however it is classified as a town house for administrative purposes.
F. W. Sanderson (Headmaster b.1857 d.1922) was described by H. G. Wells, who wrote a biography of him, as "the greatest man I have ever known with any degree of intimacy." Sanderson played a crucial role in establishing Oundle as a major public school. He believed in teaching students what they wanted to learn, and as a result introduced subjects such as science, modern languages, and engineering to the English public school system.
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