Monkton Combe School

Monkton Combe School
"Verbum Tuum Veritas (Thy Word is Truth)"
Location
Monkton Combe, Near Bath United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°21′25″N 2°19′37″W / 51.3569°N 2.3270°W / 51.3569; -2.3270Coordinates: 51°21′25″N 2°19′37″W / 51.3569°N 2.3270°W / 51.3569; -2.3270
Information
Type	Independent
Established	1868
Headmaster	Richard Backhouse (Senior School), Chris Stafford (Prep School) Kathryn Morrell (Pre-prep)
Enrolment	700 (all three schools)
Website	http://www.monktoncombeschool.com

Monkton Combe School is an independent Christian mixed boarding and day school near Bath, England. The Senior School is located in the village of Monkton Combe, while the Prep School, Pre-Prep and Nursery are in Combe Down on the southern outskirts of Bath.

The Senior School was founded in 1868^[1] by the then Vicar of Monkton Combe, the Reverend Francis Pocock. The Junior School was established with four pupils by a Mrs Howard (the daughter of the Senior School Principal) in a private house in Church Road, Combe Down in 1888^[1] and moved into its current purpose-built premises in June 1907. The Pre-prep was added in 1929.^[1] In 1992, the School became fully co-educational, merging with Clarendon School for Girls, Bedford. In 2006 the Junior School was renamed Monkton Prep School.

The official history of the school's first century is A Goodly Heritage: A History of Monkton Combe School 1868-1967 by A.F. Lace, published in Bath by Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1968.^[2]

The Senior School (current pupil numbers are around 350) admits children from age 11 through to 18; the Prep School admits children from age 7 to 13 and the Pre-Prep has classes in Kindergarten (3–4), Reception (4–5) and Years 1 and 2 (5–7). The Nursery provides pre-school care (ages 2-3). The Senior School and Prep School both have a strong boarding tradition; however, day pupils comprise one third of the intake of the Senior School and are in the majority in the Prep School.

In 2008 the Senior School completed re-building, extending and re-furbishing its Mathematics and Science departments.

Several of the buildings are listed, including the main or old block known as The Old Farm,^[3] and the part of the Terrace Block known as The Old - Vicarage.^[4]

Notable pupils

See also Category:Old Monktonians.

• Steve Williams MBE, 1976- , 2004 and 2008 Olympic rowing Gold Medallist (Great Britain Coxless Four) and four-times World Champion at Coxless and Coxed Fours
• Alex Partridge, 1981- , 2005 and 2006 Rowing World Champion (Great Britain Coxless Four) and 2008 Olympic Silver Medallist (Great Britain Eight)
• Rowley Douglas MBE, 1977- , 2000 Olympic rowing Gold Medallist (cox to Great Britain Eight)
• Dr William George Ranald Mundell "Ran" Laurie, 1915-1998, 1948 Olympic rowing Gold Medallist (Great Britain Coxless Pairs)and father of actor, Hugh Laurie.
• Michael Lapage, 1923- , 1948 Olympic rowing Silver Medallist (Great Britain Eight)
• Alfred Mellows, 1922-1997, 1948 Olympic rowing Silver Medallist (Great Britain Eight)
• Paul Barber, 1955- , field hockey player, 1988 Olympic Gold Medallist and 1984 Olympic Bronze Medallist
• The Very Rev Dr Iain Torrance TD, 1949- , President of Princeton Theological Seminary, Queen's Chaplain and former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
• Sir Richard Peirse, 1892-1970, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Air Force and of RAF Bomber Command
• Richard Stilgoe, 1943- , songwriter and lyricist
• Bernard Cornwell, 1944- , author of the Sharpe novels
• Sir Timothy Lankester KCB MA, 1942- , former Deputy Secretary of H.M. Treasury and Permanent Secretary, Department for Education, since 2001 President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford)
• Air Chief Marshall Sir Michael J D Stear KCB CBE QCVSA, DL MA FRAeS, 1938- , former Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces Central Europe and former President of the Royal Air Forces Association
• Sir Richard Dearlove KCMG OBE, 1945- , Head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1999 until 2004 and Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge
• Stefan Booth, 1979- , actor (Hollyoaks, The Bill, Dancing on Ice)
• Right Reverend Ian Cundy, 1945-2009[1], Bishop of Peterborough 1996-2009
• Right Reverend Maurice Arthur Ponsonby Wood DSC, 1916-2007, Bishop of Norwich who took the first church service on liberated French soil in June 1944
• John Desmond Clark OBE, 1916-2002, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University of Berkeley, USA and pre-eminent African archaeologist
• George Herbert Jose, 1868-1956, Dean of Adelaide (Australia)
• Michael Head, 1900-1976, composer, musician and broadcaster
• Dr. Wilfred Edward Shewell-Cooper MBE, 1900-1982, British organic gardener and pioneer of no-dig gardening.
• Alfred Young, 1873-1940, outstanding mathematician and inventor of Young tableau for use in theory of groups and quantum mechanics
• David Howard Adeney, 1911-1994, Protestant Christian missionary in China and East Asia
• Major General John Dutton Frost CB, DSO & Bar, MC, DL, 1912-1993, British airborne officer best known for being the leader of the small group of airborne forces at Arnhem bridge during the Battle of Arnhem
• Adrian Mitchell, 1932-2008, author and Shadow Poet Laureate [2]
• John Frank Ewan Bone, 1930- , former Bishop of Reading from 1989 until 1996
• Josh Ovens, 1989- , professional rugby union player for Bath Rugby
• Kevin Walton GC, 1918-2009, awarded the George Cross in 1946
• John Bush, 1937- , Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire

References

External links

• Monkton Combe School website
• Bluefriars Boatclub website
• Senior School Good Schools Guide Report
• Monkton Combe Village Website