Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Taunton School

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Established
  
1847

Headmaster
  
Lee Glaser

Phone
  
+44 1823 703703

Gender
  
Mixed-sex education

Religion
  
Christian

Ages
  
0–18

Founded
  
1847

Taunton School

Type
  
Independent school Day and boarding school

Location
  
Staplegrove Road Taunton Somerset TA2 6AD England

Address
  
Staplegrove Rd, Taunton TA2 6AD, UK

Motto
  
Ora et labora - Worship and Work (senior school); Carpe diem - Seize the Day (preparatory school)

Profiles

Boarding at taunton school 2015


Taunton School is a co-educational independent school in the county town of Taunton in Somerset in South West England. It serves boarding and day-school pupils from the ages of 13 to 18.

Contents

The current headmaster is Lee Glaser, appointed in the autumn of 2014.

The school campus also includes Taunton School International for overseas students; Taunton Preparatory School, serving boarding and day-school pupils aged 7 to 13; Taunton Pre-Prep School, serving day-school pupils aged 4 to 7, and Taunton Nursery, serving pupils aged 2 to 4.

Sixth form at taunton school 2015 16


History

Taunton School was founded in 1847 as a boys-only school for dissenters - those who were not members of the Church of England. Right from its founding, it was in direct competition with the other schools in Taunton: King's College and Taunton Grammar School (both Church of England) and Queen's College (Methodist).

In the 1870s, the school's governors purchased a site at the northern end of Taunton, on Staplegrove Road. They had built, by Joseph James, a gothic-influenced building, in the prevailing style of the period. The school is constructed in a C-plan, with a 50-foot (15 m) high tower. Grey stone came from Somerset's Mendip Hills. This large building still dominates the school's 90-acre (36 ha) campus today. It is a Grade II listed building.

The school was a founding member of the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships and has hosted the tournament numerous times.

A chapel was built in 1907 in contrasting style to the rest of the school. Its sponsor was the wealthy William Wills, 1st Baron Winterstoke. Wills was a director of Bristol-based tobacco firm, W.D. & H.O. Wills. Two features in the chapel were especially of note: the organ and the mosaics. In 2007 on the centenary of the founding of the Chapel the original pipe organ was broken up, it being replaced by a new digital organ which was funded in part, by donations from Old Tauntonians.

In September 1971 Taunton School began the merger with Weirfield School, an independent boarding and day school for girls, which was also situated on Staplegrove Road, by admitting girls into the Sixth Form. Then in 1976 Taunton School completed this merger with the rest of the senior section of Weirfield School. This became one of the earliest fully co-educational independent schools in England. Additional buildings were erected on the original Taunton School campus, and Weirfield continued as a girls-only junior school.

In 1990, in order to create closer links between the two junior schools and Taunton School, Taunton Junior School (originally known as Thone) and Weirfield were renamed Taunton Junior Boys School and Taunton Junior Girls School, respectively. As both Junior Schools needed modernisation, building began in 1993 on the boys' site (Thone) to create a new joint boys and girls school, which was partly financed by the sale of the Weirfield site. In 1994 both schools were located at the Thone site and they were renamed Taunton Preparatory School. A classroom block in the Preparatory School is called Weirfield, as is the main senior girls' Boarding house.

Notable Old Tauntonians

Former pupils of Taunton School are known as Old Tauntonians.

  • John Cameron, cricketer
  • Jonathan Miller, comedian, theatre and opera director
  • Alexandra Felstead, star of Made in Chelsea
  • Mark Getty, founder of Getty Images
  • Alan Gibson, cricket writer and broadcaster
  • Major-General Charles George Gordon, British army officer and administrator
  • Aftab Habib, cricketer
  • Geoffrey Cox (British politician), Tory MP
  • John Jameson, cricketer, brother of the below
  • Thomas Jameson, cricketer, brother of the above
  • Ian McNeice, actor
  • Sir Robert Malpas (born 1927), engineer and industrialist
  • Jeremy Wright, Conservative politician & Attorney General
  • Peter Redgrove, poet
  • J. M. Roberts, author and historian
  • John Mensah Sarbah, lawyer and political leader in the Gold Coast
  • Alexander Waugh, writer
  • Daisy Waugh, writer, journalist
  • Peter Westmacott, diplomat
  • Jack White, cricketer
  • Tim Willcox, BBC news presenter
  • John Rae (Headmaster, 1966-70), educator and novelist who went on to become headmaster of Westminster School.
  • J.M. Gullick British Orientalist
  • Academic results

    A-Level: Percentage of A level students achieving at least 3 A levels at A*-E: 2015 - 84%

    International Baccalaureate: The first cohort of students sat the IB Diploma in 2009. Their result ranked the school as the highest IB newcomer in the UK by the Financial Times. In 2010, one student achieved the highest possible mark of 45 points.

    GCSE: Percentage of pupils who gained at 5 grades A* - C 2015 - 83%

    University progression: Over the past years, some students have gone on to universities including Oxford and Cambridge. Approximately 96% of all Sixth Form leavers take up University or College places.

    References

    Taunton School Wikipedia