Brentwood School, Essex


Brentwood School is a selective, independent day and boarding school in Brentwood, Essex, England in the public school tradition. The school comprises a preparatory school, senior school and sixth form, as well as boarding provision for both boys and girls. The school is coeducational, and employs the "Diamond Model". The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, the IAPS, and the AGBIS.
Founded in 1557 and opened in 1558, the school has a Tudor schoolroom, a Victorian chapel and several Grade II listed buildings. Situated on Ingrave Road, astride Middleton Hall Lane and Shenfield Road, the school is set in over of land in the centre of Brentwood. The current headmaster is Michael Bond.
WWW brentwoodschool.co.uk

History

16th–18th century

The licence to found the school as The Grammar School of Antony Browne, Serjeant at the Law, in Brentwood was granted by Queen Mary I to Sir Antony (or Anthony) Browne on 5 July 1558. The first schoolmaster, George Otway, was appointed on 28 July 1558.
In 1568, a year after Browne's death, the school moved to a purpose-built schoolroom, which is extant. The commemoration stone was laid by Browne's stepdaughter, Dorothy Huddleston, and her husband Edward, Browne's marriage having been childless.
The school room is beside the site of the execution of nineteen-year-old William Hunter, who was burned at the stake for denying the doctrine of transubstantiation. The Martyr's Elm grew, allegedly, on the spot of his immolation. It was Browne who, as a Justice of the Peace under Queen Mary, had sentenced Hunter. Some believe the school was founded as Browne's penance for Hunter's martyrdom when Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne; however, the school was already in operation under Mary's licence when Elizabeth succeeded.
Although Browne had drawn up statutes for the school, they were never legally adopted and so were re-drawn in 1622 by his descendants and John Donne, Dean of St Paul's.

19th century

Brentwood School Combined Cadet Force was founded in 1861 and so is one of the earliest CCFs in the country.

20th century

Sixty Old Brentwoods were killed on active service during the First World War and 173 during the Second World War. Their names are listed in the school chapel, and commemorated by the Memorial Hall for the first war and the pavilion for the second. The school was a direct grant grammar school from the 1960s until the abolition of the scheme in 1977.
Brentwood was originally a boys' school, but the Governors made the decision to allow a small number of girls to enter the sixth form in 1974. By the early 1980s there were 23 girls in the sixth form. Initially based in Newnum House, the girls' school opened in 1988, admitting girls from ages 11 to 18.

21st century

In 2007, Brentwood School celebrated its 450th anniversary with a commemorative service in St Paul's Cathedral.
The school's Combined Cadet Force celebrated its 150th anniversary on 8 October 2011 by holding a special afternoon of events featuring a Guard of Honour by Lt General Brown CBE. The Royal British Legion Youth Band of Brentwood played at the start and end of the afternoon.
In 2012, The Earl of Wessex visited the school to open the new sixth form centre, featuring a 400-seat auditorium, named The Wessex Auditorium in his honour.

School arms

The arms of Brentwood School are derived from those of the founder, Sir Antony Browne, and his wife.
As part of the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the school's founding, a special variant of Sir Antony Browne's Coat of Arms was granted by the Honourable Sir George Rothe Bellew, Garter Principal King of Arms and Sir John Dunamace Heaton-Armstrong, Clarenceux King of Arms on 19 July 1957. A red border was added to the arms to distinguish them as the school's, as opposed to those of Browne.

The school today

Academic

The school is separated into three sections: the preparatory school, the senior school and the sixth form. Brentwood operates in a diamond school format, in which the preparatory school and sixth form are co-educational while the senior school teaches boys and girls separately.
Brentwood Preparatory School teaches children aged 3–11, from Nursery through to Year 6. Classes were usually small prior to 2014, with an average size of 20 per class.
The senior school teaches pupils from the age of 11 until the end of GCSE courses at 16+. Many pupils move into the senior school from the preparatory school, but others are drawn from other local primary and preparatory schools; around 1/3 of pupils join the school from the maintained sector. Admission to the senior school is by entrance examination.
The sixth form is for pupils aged 1618 who are studying for 'A' levels, the International Baccalaureate and BTec Extended Diploma in Sport or Business. There are currently c.300 pupils in the sixth form.

Sport

Sports offered include Association football, cricket, fencing, gymnastics, hockey, netball, rifle shooting, Rugby football, squash, swimming and tennis. School teams have met with some success over the years, for example winning the Essex Schools FA Cup three times in four seasons.
In 2008 the school U13 cricket team won the National Schools Cup, to be crowned National Champions, having finished as runners up in 2007.
The school is set in of grounds and has two playing-fields; one is situated directly on the school site and another, The Heseltines, adjacent to the school. These contain football, rugby, cricket and hockey pitches, an all-weather AstroTurf pitch, tennis and netball courts, an athletics track and field, and woods used for cross-country runs.
Ex-England test cricketer Geraint Jones is the school's cricket coach.

Sir Antony Browne Society (SABS)

SABS is a society that focuses on furthering the education of sixth formers through a series of guest speakers and debates. Junior SABS is available for the younger pupils. Regular meetings are held in Old Big School, at which students are able to experience lectures on societal issues or topics to concerning science, the arts and sport, or a members' debate. Old Brentwoods such as Jack Straw and Griff Rhys Jones are regular speakers. Other speakers have been political figures, such as George Galloway, Vicky Pryce, Lord Lilley and the philosopher A. C. Grayling.

Royal visits and connections

The licence to found the school was granted by Queen Mary to Sir Antony Browne on 5 July 1558. Queen Elizabeth II visited the school in 1957 to open the new science department, now named The Queens Building, the foundation stone of which had been laid by the Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Col. Sir Francis Whitmore. The Earl of Wessex visited the school in 2011 for the opening ceremony of the new sixth form centre and the naming of the Wessex Auditorium, and later to inspect a Combined Cadet Force Guard of Honour. Princess Anne visited the School in November 2012.

RIBA Award

In 2012, Brentwood School's sixth form centre was winner of the Royal Institute of British Architects East of England Award. The institute described the development as having drawn "inspiration from the existing Victorian vicarage" and that "the new design is expressed in a language that is both contextual and contemporary. The sculpting of the roofs creates non-standard, domestic-scaled classrooms filled with natural light, reminiscent of the gabled roofs of the Victorian vicarage, but with an added measure of playfulness."

Notable alumni

Old Brentwoods are those who have attended the school for any length of time. The logo used to represent Old Brentwoods and the Society of Old Brentwoods is the wing and claw, derived from the arms of Sir Antony Browne. A crown was added to the logo in 1957 to celebrate The Queen's visit to the school.
The colours of Old Brentwoods are dark blue, light blue and gold. Light blue and dark blue were traditionally featured as stripes on the blazers of Old Brentwoods and are still used today to represent the alumni community. The colours were carried across to the alumni logo, with the addition of gold on the inclusion of the crown in 1957.

Old Brentwoods

Also see the school's own list of Old Brentwoods.