Bromsgrove School

The school was first recorded in 1476 as a chantry school and was re-established as a Tudor grammar school between 1548 and 1553. The financial endowment of Sir Thomas Cookes in 1693 produced the first buildings on the present site and the historic link with Worcester College, Oxford which shares the same coat of arms and motto, based on those of Thomas Cookes of Norgrove. John Day Collis became head-master in December 1842. The tercentenary of the grammar school was celebrated on 31 March 1853. In 1856 Collis had the chapel and new school rooms built, and existing buildings enlarged and improved.

In 1869 Bromsgrove was one of the fourteen founding schools of the Headmasters’ Conference. During the Second World War the school was moved temporarily to Llanwrtyd Wells in Wales, and its buildings used by British government departments. In 2002 the school established Bromsgrove International School Thailand (BIST) in Thailand.

In 2005 the school was one of fifty of the country’s leading private schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel, exposed by The Times, which had allowed them to drive up fees for thousands of parents. Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared.

In 2007, the school was granted the Freedom of Llanwrtyd Wells. At the end of each summer term, a commemoration day takes place (known colloquially as Commem), in which a wreath is laid beneath Sir Thomas Cooke’s portrait, followed by a service at St. John the Baptist church in Bromsgrove, with the day ending in pupils shaking hands with the headmaster and heads of school.

Bromsgrove School has boarding and day students and consists of three schools, Pre-Prep Nursery School (ages 2–7), Preparatory School (ages 7–13) and the Senior School (13–18). The School has a total of 1,620 pupils, including 200 in the Pre-preparatory School, 500 in the Preparatory School and 920 in the Senior School, of whom 60% are male and 40% female, 60% boarding and 40% day. As well as British students, there are more than three hundred from 40 different countries, especially Russia, Germany, China and Hong Kong.

The school website states that the pass rate at grades A* to C (exams at age 16) is 96% Bromsgrove also started teaching the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB) in 2009, with 6th form students having the choice between them and A-Levels. A Rugby match against King Edward’s School, Birmingham, that has been played annually since 1875,is thought to be the oldest continuous Rugby fixture between two schools in England.

 Houses

The preparatory school houses of Boulton (Matthew Boulton), Darby (Abraham Darby), Telford (Thomas Telford), Watt (James Watt), are named after famous British industrialists. The senior school is divided into eleven houses; 6 for boys, 4 for girls and one mixed. Thomas Cookes and Hazeldene are two girls day houses that are situated in the original and oldest building on the school’s site. Mary Windsor, named after the daughter of Thomas Windsor Windsor, 1st Earl of Plymouth and his wife Anne Savile is for girl boarders. In 2012, Mary Windsor was moved into a new building as part of the new developments around the south gate. Oakley House is for both boarding and day girls, and is currently undergoing refurbishment. Housman Hall for Sixth Form girls and boys was opened in 2005, after the school bought the Ramada Perry Hall Hotel for 3 million pounds. The building was formerly the home of A.E. Housman, an old Bromsgrovian, and was expanded in 2009 into the neighbouring building, subsequently renamed Haywood. Lupton, named after Lupton House, Sedbergh School, and Lyttelton, named after the school’s links with Baron Lyttelton, a local Lord are houses for day boys located in the centre of the campus. Walters, named after the school’s wartime headmaster, and School House are also day boys houses. School House leads the final call over during the end of year Commemoration Day ceremony as it is the senior house of the school. Wendron Gordon with over 100 pupils in 2009-2010 due to merging with School House, (Formerly the original Gordon House combined with the “out house”, Wendron), is for boy boarders. Elmshurst is also for boy boarders and was named after the original house that was located at 17 New Road. Elmshurst was sold in the mid-1970s and the students relocated within the school campus to the current building which was refurbished in 2009.

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