Sir Roger Manwood's School

History

The school was founded in 1563 by Sir Roger Manwood, an eminent barrister, jurist and supporter of the reformation of the Church in England. Manwood's intention was to create a free Grammar School to make education more accessible to the local townspeople. The original location of the School was at Ash Road in Sandwich but was moved to its current location at Manwood Road in 1895. There are four foundations which appoint Governors: Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Lincoln College, Oxford, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and the Archdiocese of Canterbury.

In 1960 there were 100 boarders. The school today mainly consists of day pupils, although there are approximately 50 boarders residing in the school grounds. The boarders are separated into two houses; ‘The Grange’ accommodating the boys and ‘The Lodge’ the girls. After a long-running tradition of being an all-boys school, girls were first admitted in 1982. The school has language college and computing status, specialising in teaching modern foreign languages and ICT. The school has a sporting rivalry with Dover Grammar School for Boys and Dover Grammar School for Girls.

Admissions

In order to gain entry the prospective student must first pass the 11+ examination, informally known as the "Kent Test". Once enrolled the new pupils are assigned a House, which will determine their form group from Years 7 to 10. The houses are Trappes, Tudor, Dorman and Knolles, and each can be identified by a specific colour. Trappes are dark blue, Tudor light blue, Dorman red and Knolles green.

Headteachers

Facilities

The school sports department has a large range of facilities at its disposal. The school possesses a swimming pool, tennis courts, and three sports fields with a pavilion on the main field. A Sports Centre was built in 1999, which contains two sports halls, and an upstairs gym. The sports halls internal space is flexible and can be utilised to support a variety of sports including gymnastics, badminton, indoor football, basketball and trampolining. Additionally there is an astro-turf and a tarmac netball area. The astro turf is used to play tennis and hockey and was opened by Mel Clewlow, an England women's international hockey player and Old Manwoodian.

Combined Cadet Force

The school has a Combined Cadet Force (CCF) group which operates after school on a Wednesday. The CCF at Manwood's is Army- orientated, with CCF members taking part in a variety of activities including the assault course, rifle training, shooting, safety training, and drill practice among many others. There are a number of annual events on the CCF calendar such as the Founder's Day parade, which celebrates the founding of the school and pays homage to Sir Roger Manwood’s. The annual summer camp is a large event, and, possibly the biggest date in the year for the CCF, Inspection day. The CCF is open to any pupil from second year onward and is an optional after-school activity. In the past it was compulsory for boys to partake in the Manwood’s cadet force.

Notable former pupils

The Old Manwoodians Association is an alumni association for ex pupils of the school. They are reasonably active and play a part in the school on a day-to-day basis. The OMs help out the school sports by playing regular fixtures in many of the sports. Three of the most notable OM fixtures on the calendar are the OM v 1st team girls' hockey, OM U21s v 1st XI Cricket and OM v 1st XI Cricket which are all popular fixtures. The two cricket fixtures usually take place in "Cricket Week" which is usually after the busy A Level exam period. Old Manwoodians include: