Ardingly College

History

Ardingly College was originally founded as "St Saviour’s College", Shoreham in 1858 by Canon Nathaniel Woodard whose aim was to provide education firmly grounded in the Christian faith. St Savior’s College opened on 12 April 1858, occupying the New Shoreham buildings in the lee of the churchyard of St Mary de Haura which had been vacated by another Woodard School, Lancing College, when it moved to its permanent home in April 1858. The site at Shoreham however was never intended to be permanent and it was left to Woodard to scour the South of England for a suitable permanent location for St Saviour’s School.

In 1861 Woodard came across the 196 acre (0.79 km²) Saucelands estate at the southern edge of Ardingly village, which was acquired in 1862 for £6,000. Woodard employed Richard Carpenter as the school's architect, and the foundation stone at Ardingly was laid on 12 July 1864 by Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville. St Saviour’s College moved to the partially completed site at Ardingly on 14 June 1870 when the new school was officially opened by the Bishop of Chichester, with the inaugural sermon delivered by Samuel Wilberforce.

Today Ardingly occupies a 420 acre (1.7 km²) site situated in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Ardingly is divided into three autonomous schools, comprising a Pre-Preparatory School catering for pupils aged 2½ -7, Junior School catering for pupils aged 7–13 and Senior School for pupils aged 13–18. Both Junior and Senior Schools accommodate boarders who make up the majority of the Senior School student population. All Junior and Senior School students are assigned to a boarding house in which boarders live and study and where day-pupils have study areas. In all, the college has approximately 750 pupils. According to the Good Schools Guide 2008, Ardingly College has admitted more pupils this year than at any point in its history and places are at a premium.

The college's Combined Cadet Force was established in 1902 in the wake of the Second Boer War. Around 1,200 Old Ardinians went on to fight in the First World War, 146 of whom were killed, along with two former members of staff; their names are recorded on the war memorial in the college chapel. In addition, 88 Old Ardinians died in the Second World War; their names are recorded in a book of remembrance in the crypt and on the memorial board in the Under.

In 1958 the school celebrated its centenary. On 9 June 1958, as part of the celebrations, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Ardingly. A stone plaque on the terrace parapet commemorates the visit, where she "beheld the view". Later that week, on 14 June 1958, the then Prime Minister, Harold MacMillan, visited the school to open the Centenary Building, which comprises the college cricket pavilion and upstairs Centenary Room. On 8 May 2008, the Duke of Kent visited Ardingly as part of its sesquicentenary celebrations and officially opened a new teaching block at the pre-preparatory school.

The Chapel of St Saviour

The Grade II Listed Chapel bears the historical name of the school, being laid the foundation stone the 12th of July 1864. The architects were R.H. Carpenter and William Slater. The structures are in Gothic Revival style in red brick and tiled rooftops. The Chapel possesses the east end of the mid block, having 4 bays each containing a glass-stained window of Decorated sort. It stretches out into a further 2 narrows east of the west wing. Over the rooftop there is a bell tower.

Academic

In 2014, 65% of GCSE entries were awarded A* or A grades. Since 2001 Ardingly has offered the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme to sixth-formers in addition to traditional A-Levels. In 2008 Ardingly was ranked 7th in the UK in The Independent's league table of schools offering both an A-Level and IB curriculum. In 2012 44% of A-Level entries were awarded A* or A grades, while IB students averaged 38 points, equivalent to A*AAA at A-Level. 18% of IB students achieved 40 or more points putting them in the top 5% worldwide. In 2016, Ardingly's IB students averaged 39 points, placing it 9th on the table of schools in the United Kingdom.

Sport

Ardingly has several sports available to both prep students and college students. Athletics and cross country, cricket, football, hockey, netball, rounders, swimming, tennis, squash, and fencing are all open to prep students. The same set is offered for college students with the addition of badminton, rugby, basketball, scuba diving, and sailing, and the exception of rounders, cross country, and swimming. Ardingly have won the Independent Schools Football Association Cup three times, in 1997-98, 2014–15 and 2015-16, only behind Millfield who has been proclaimed champion four times.

Southern Railway V Schools class

The school lent its name to the eighteenth steam locomotive (Engine 917) 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. Ardingly, as it was called, was built in 1934 and withdrawn in 1962.

School terms

There are three academic terms in the year:

Similarly, there are five academic years:

Ardingly College Lodge

The school has its own Masonic lodge, Ardingly College Lodge, which is a member of the Public School Lodges council. The lodge, which is open to male Old Ardinians as well as those with an affiliation to the college, was founded in 1922 by the then headmaster, Thomas Erskine Wilson, together with masters, the Provost of the school and the Bishop of Lewes.

Combined Cadet Force

The Ardingly College Combined Cadet Force, or CCF, has existed in its various forms since 1902, with the outbreak of the Second Boer War. The Ardingly College CCF is split into six categories. These are Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Marines, Drum Corps and Marching Band. The Army section is affiliated to the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, allowing cadets to take part in military and adventure training not readily available to non-cadets.

Ardingly Solar Car

Ardingly is the only European competitor and one of the very few schools that takes part in the World Solar Challenge, a biennial solar-powered car race in Australia. The school's students worked in the project for three years, achieving to complete the race the 23rd of October 2015.

Fees

As of the academic year 2016/17, Shell-5th boarding fees are £30,480 per annum while Shell-5th day fees are £22,380 per annum. Sixth form boarding fees are £32,130 per annum, while Sixth form day fees are £23,610 per annum.

Media coverage

The school was featured in the second episode of the BBC series Stiff Upper Lip: An emotional History of Britain, where the protagonist Ian Hislop returns to Ardingly, his former school, to describe his experiences there as well as the impact of the British public school system in shaping men in Victorian era.

Dinosaur findings

In February 2014, the BBC confirmed that several fossils had been discovered at the school grounds. The remains were found by staff and pupils during the construction of a new boarding house for girls. According to the Natural History Museum and Imperial College in London, some of these bones were around 140 million years old.

Notable alumni

Notable former pupils include four former Conservative MPs, Private Eye editor Ian Hislop, actor Terry-Thomas, author Neil Gaiman, band leader Victor Silvester, Formula One World Champion Mike Hawthorn, and Crufts dog show founder Charles Cruft.