Winchester College
Winchester College is an English public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 as a feeder school for New College, Oxford, and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the nine schools considered by the Clarendon Commission. The school has begun a transition to become co-educational, and has accepted male and female day pupils from September 2022, having previously been a boys' boarding school for over 600 years.
Winchester College
Manners makyth man
1382
c. 350
Male (Female at 16-18)
13 to 18
c. 740
11 (10 Commoner or Old Tutor Houses plus College):
- College
- A. Chernocke House (Furley's)
- B. Moberly's (Toye's)
- C. Du Boulay's (Cook's)
- D. Fearon's (Kenny's)
- E. Morshead's (Freddie's)
- F. Hawkins' (Chawker's)
- G. Sergeant's (Phil's)
- H. Bramston's (Trant's)
- I. Turner's (Hopper's)
- K. Kingsgate House (Beloe's)
Blue, brown & red
The Wykehamist, Quelle, The Spirit Lamp, The Trusty Servant
Domum
The school was founded to provide an education for 70 scholars. Gradually numbers rose, a choir of 16 "quiristers" being added alongside paying pupils known as "commoners". Numbers expanded greatly in the 1860s with the addition of ten boarding houses. The scholars continue to live in the school's medieval buildings, which consist of two courtyards, a chapel, and a cloisters. A Wren-style classroom building named "School" was added in the 17th century. An art school ("museum"), science school, and music school were added at the turn of the 20th century. A war cloister was built as a memorial in 1924.
The school has maintained traditions including its mascot, the Trusty Servant; a set of "notions" forming a sort of private language; and a school song, Domum. Its headmasters have included the bishops William Waynflete in the 15th century and George Ridding in the 19th century. Former pupils are known as Old Wykehamists.
Medieval architecture: Chamber Court, 1394, looking through Middle Gate to Outer Court and Outer Gate
Hall and Chapel, 1394
![Sergeant's House by G. E. Street, 1869[24]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Sergeant%27s_House_on_Romans_Road.jpg/199px-Sergeant%27s_House_on_Romans_Road.jpg)
Science School by Henry Hill, 1904
The college consists of an assemblage of buildings from medieval times to the present day. There are 94 listed buildings, set in grounds of some 250 acres, of which 100 acres are water meadows, 52 acres are playing fields, and 11 acres are formal gardens; the area includes St Catherine's Hill.[16] The medieval buildings, representing most of the original foundation from the school's opening in 1394, include Outer Gate and Outer Court, Chamber Court, the chapel, and the Cloisters. These are built in flint with limestone facings and slate roofs.[17][16] The chapel retains its original wooden fan-vaulted ceiling, designed by Hugh Herland, carpenter to Richard II. Little of the original medieval glass, designed by Thomas Glazier, survives, as it was scattered in the 1820s, but some is now housed in Thurburn's Chantry, at the back of the chapel, and in Fromond's Chantry, inside the Cloisters.[18] The "School" building was constructed in 1683–1687 in Wren style,[16] with a statue of the founder above the door by C. G. Cibber.[19] The school was greatly extended in the 19th century with the addition of boarding houses for "commoners", paying pupils, as opposed to the scholars who continued to live in the medieval College.[20] At the turn of the 20th century, a Music School, "Museum" (art school), and Science School, all architect-designed, were added.[19][16] A hall big enough for the enlarged school, New Hall, was opened in 1961, accommodating the oak panelling removed from the Chapel in the 1874 refurbishment.[21] In 1924, a War Cloister was constructed; it now serves as a memorial of the Wykehamists killed in the two World Wars.[22] Visitors may tour areas such as Chamber Court, the Chapel, College Hall, the Cloisters, School and Museum, for a fee.[23]
Accommodation[edit]
College[edit]
The seventy scholars live in the original buildings, known as "College". The scholars are known as "Collegemen", and the schoolmaster in charge of them is called the Master in College. Collegemen wear black gowns, following the founding traditions of the school. Collegemen enjoy certain privileges compared to the Commoners, such as having open fires and being allowed to walk across Meads, the walled sports field outside School.[25]
Boarding houses[edit]
Every pupil at Winchester, apart from the Scholars, lives in a boarding house, chosen or allocated when applying to Winchester. It is here that he studies, eats and sleeps. Each house is presided over by a housemaster (who takes on the role in addition to teaching duties), assisted by house tutors. Houses compete against each other in school sports. Each house has an official name, usually based on the family name of the first housemaster, which is used mainly as a postal address. Each house also has an informal name, usually based on the name or nickname of an early housemaster. Each house also has a letter, in the order of their founding, to act as an abbreviation, especially on laundry tags. A member of a house is described by the informal name of the house with "-ite" suffixed, as "a Furleyite", "a Toyeite", "a Cookite" and so on. College does not have an informal name, although the abbreviation Coll is sometimes used; "X" (meaning, not one of the boarding houses) was originally used only on laundry tags.[26]
Academic[edit]
Admission[edit]
Winchester is considered one of the most prestigious schools in the world.[27] It has its own entrance examination, and does not use Common Entrance like other major public schools. Those wishing to enter a Commoner House make their arrangements with the relevant housemaster some two years before sitting the exam, usually sitting a test set by the housemaster and an interview. Those applying to College do not take the normal entrance examination but instead sit a separate, harder, exam called "Election": successful candidates may obtain, according to their performance, a scholarship, an exhibition or a Headmaster's nomination to join a Commoner House.[28] Admission to College was historically coupled to remission of fees, but this has ceased;[29] instead, means-tested bursaries ranging from 5% to 100% of the school fee are provided, according to need.[30] From 2022, Winchester admitted girls into the 6th form (year 12) as day pupils, with girls boarding from 2024.[31] For 2023/24, the fee is £49,152 per annum (£16,384 per term) for boarding pupils and £36,369 per annum (£12,123 per term) for day pupils.[32]
Structure[edit]
In addition to normal lessons, all boys throughout the school are required to attend a class called Division (known as "Div") which explores parts of history, literature, and politics that do not lead to external examinations; its purpose is to ensure a broad education.[33]
From year 9, pupils study for at least nine GCSE and IGCSEs. Every pupil studies English, mathematics, Latin, French or German, and at least two sciences at this level, as well as "Div". Pupils then study three A-levels, "Div", and an Extended Project Qualification.[34]
Results[edit]
Winchester College is particularly known for its academic rigour.[35] At A-Level, 41.7% of grades achieved were graded A*, and 76.3% of grades achieved were graded A* or A in 2022.[36] 80.3% of GCSEs were graded 8 or 9 (A* equivalent), and 91.2% of grades achieved were graded 7, 8 or 9 (A*/A equivalent).[37] Between 2010 and 2018, an average of 33% of leavers obtained places at Oxford or Cambridge.[38]
The headmasters of Winchester College from the 14th century onwards are:[64]
Controversy[edit]
In 1872, under the headmaster George Ridding, "tunding", beatings given by a prefect (a senior pupil), using a ground-ash across the shoulders, were still permitted. The matter became a national scandal, known as "the Tunding Row", when "an overzealous Senior Commoner Prefect"[74] beat a pupil for refusing to attend a notions test.[75] Ridding made matters worse by trying to defend the action. He eventually limited the prefects' power to beat, and forbade notions tests as a "disgraceful innovation".[75]
In the 1970s and 80s, the college allowed a Christian Forum to operate on college grounds which was later described as "cult-like", and which gave access to pupils to a man who reportedly carried out sadomasochistic abuse on several of them.[76][77] The alleged perpetrator, John Smyth, was a leader of the evangelical Christian Iwerne camps (known as "Bash camps" after the nickname of their founder, E. J. H. Nash) where abuse was also reported to have taken place. The college and the Iwerne Trust became aware of these allegations in 1982, but neither reported them to the police.[78] Smyth was warned off and moved to Zimbabwe and then South Africa where abuse continued.[79] An independent review into the abuse, commissioned by the college, was published in January 2022,[77] alongside reviews by the Church of England and the Titus Trust (which succeeded the Iwerne Trust).[76]
In 2005, Winchester College was one of fifty of the country's leading independent schools found guilty of running an unlawful price-fixing cartel by the Office of Fair Trading.[80] As a penalty, the schools paid for a trust fund to benefit the affected pupils.[81] Winchester College, like Eton, received a fifty per cent reduction in its penalty in return for its full cooperation.[82][83]
In 2017 Winchester College suspended its Head of Art History for providing students with information about questions on an upcoming public exam.[84] The headmaster of Winchester confirmed that the school had treated the matter "very seriously" and that no boy was responsible for the "exam irregularity". The information was widely distributed, resulting in their papers being disallowed.[85][86]