Abbotsholme School#Abbotsholme Arts Society

{{Infobox school

| name = Abbotsholme School

| image =

| image_size =

| logo = File:Fair use logo Abbotsholme School.png

| coordinates = {{coord|52.944374|-1.82542|type:edu_region:GB_dim:100|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| motto = Glad Day Love and Duty

| established = 1889

| closed =

| type = Private day and boarding school

| religious_affiliation = Christian

| president =

| head_label = Principal

| head = Helen Wilkinson {{cite web |title=Abbotsholme School - GOV.UK |url=https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/113003 |website=get-information-schools.service.gov.uk |access-date=6 May 2020 |language=en}}

| r_head_label =

| r_head =

| chair_label =

| chair =

| founder = Cecil Reddie

| specialist =

| address =

| city = Rocester

| county = Derbyshire

| country = England

| postcode = ST14 5BS

| local_authority =

| ofsted =

| dfeno = 830/6005

| urn = 113003

| staff =

| enrolment = 290~

| gender = Coeducational

| lower_age = 2

| upper_age = 18

| houses =

| colours = Green, Gold

| publication =

| alumni = Old Abbotsholmians

| free_label_2 =

| free_2 =

| free_label_3 =

| free_3 =

| website = http://www.abbotsholme.co.uk/

}}

Abbotsholme School is a co-educational private boarding and day school. The school is situated on a 140-acre campus on the banks of the River Dove in Derbyshire, England near the county border and the village of Rocester in Staffordshire. It is a member of the Society of Heads (formerly Society of Headmasters & Headmistresses of Independent Schools) and is a founding member of the Round Square conference of schools.

History

File:Adityajit Singh Kang (second from left in red Scholar Blazer & blue Scarf) with Classmates at Abbotsholme School, Rocester, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England, UK.jpg

Abbotsholme was founded by the Scottish academic and educationalist Cecil Reddie{{cite web

|url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/494634/Cecil-Reddie

|title = Encyclopædia Britannica

|access-date = 10 October 2013

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150610225138/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/494634/Cecil-Reddie

|archive-date = 2015-06-10

|url-status = live

}} as an experiment in his progressive educational philosophies and theories.{{cite web |url=http://www.abbotsholme.com/pdfs/inspection_report.pdf |title=Inspection Report |access-date=2008-09-01 |publisher=INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS INSPECTORATE |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090320060819/http://www.abbotsholme.com/pdfs/inspection_report.pdf |archive-date=2009-03-20 |url-status=dead }}{{cite book|last=Burns|first=R.W.|title=The Life and Times of Alan Dower Blumlein|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B2z2ONO7nBQC|publisher=IET|year=2000|pages=19|isbn=9780852967737}} The school, then known "The New School", opened in 1889 to boys aged 10 to 19. From the very beginning, it departed from the structure of the traditional public school in favour of a less rigid environment and more liberal education. "Eton collars" were discarded in favour of a more comfortable and practical uniform, and English, French and German were taught in place of Classics (Latin and Greek). The fine arts were introduced as core subjects, considered unusual at that time, since music was mostly taught at cathedral schools and art at specialist art institutes. Practical skills such as animal husbandry and carpentry were integrated into the curriculum.{{cite web|url=http://www.abbotsholme.co.uk/Abbotsholmes-History|title=Our History|access-date=2012-11-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120826045726/http://www.abbotsholme.co.uk/Abbotsholmes-History|archive-date=2012-08-26|url-status=dead}}

The school has been coeducational since 1969; girls now make up over one third of overall pupil numbers. {{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

In 2017 the school was bought by the Chinese company Achieve Education Ltd, owned by Mrs Tong Zhou, who sits on the Achieve Advisory Board. The directors of the school are now those of Achieve Education and are chaired by Mike Farmer, a former head of Kilgraston School.{{Cite web|url=https://www.abbotsholme.co.uk/about-abbotsholme/achieve-education-limited|title = Achieve Education Limited - Abbotsholme School}}

Abbotsholme Arts Society

Gordon Clark, director of music at the school from the 1950s, founded the Abbotsholme Arts Society in 1968. The first concert, on 24 September, featured oboist Léon Goossens and the organisers have continued to book front-rank professionals and promising newcomers in classical music and jazz - including Alfred Brendel, Paul Tortelier, Yehudi Menuhin, John Dankworth and Cleo Laine, Evelyn Glennie and Vladimir Ashkenazy.Christopher Morley. 'Forty years of luring some of the best artists around', in The Birmingham Post, 27 September 2007 Along with concerts there are also films, lectures and visual arts events.{{Cite web|url=https://www.abbotsholmeartssociety.co.uk/pastprogrammes/|title=Past Programmes|website=Abbotsholme Arts Society}}

Performances are mostly held in the school's chapel, though some are held at outside venues. Clark pioneered the idea of subscription concerts.Vivien Ardley. Neil Ardley: Kaleidoscopes and Rainbows (2023), p. 184 Since 1968 there have been over 1,000 concerts: 2022-23 was the 55th season. Clark also founded the Lichfield Festival in 1981. He retired from teaching in 1984, and died suddenly in New York in August 1989, after which the Gordon Clark Memorial Trust Fund was established.{{Cite web|url=https://www.i-m-s.org.uk/support-us/gordon-clark-memorial-scholarship-trust/|title=Gordon Clark Trust|website=International Musicians Seminar}} Subsequent artistic directors of the Arts Society were Paul Spicer, Meurig Bowen (from 2001), Richard Hawley (previously orchestral manager of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra) and Neil Millensted.{{Cite web|url=https://www.abbotsholme.co.uk/school-community/abbotsholme-arts-society|title=Abbotsholme Arts Society - Abbotsholme School|website=www.abbotsholme.co.uk}}

Notable alumni

Roger Altounyan – physician and pharmacologist who pioneered the use of sodium cromoglycate as a preventative for asthma{{cite web|url=http://blog.wellcomelibrary.org/2012/06/if-not-duffers-wont-drown/|title='If not duffers won't drown'|access-date=2016-11-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121171323/http://blog.wellcomelibrary.org/2012/06/if-not-duffers-wont-drown/|archive-date=2016-11-21|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://archives.wellcome.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=((AltRefNo='pp/rca')AND(Level='collection'))|title=Wellcome Library Western Manuscripts and Archives catalogue|website=archives.wellcome.ac.uk}}
Sir Samuel Phillips Bedson, FRS Professor of Bacteriology, University of London
Alan Dower Blumlein, Electronics engineer and inventor
Peter Crossley-Holland, Ethnomusicologist and composer
Robin Gandy, Mathematician
Edward James Martin Koppel, British-born American broadcast journalist
Mervyn Jones, novelist, journalist and biographer
Alfred Angas Scott (1875-1923), motorcycle designer, inventor and founder of The Scott Motorcycle Company {{cite web |url=http://www.scotttechnicalities.com.au/technicalities/Scott%20eNewsletter/Scott%20eNewsletter%2018.pdf |title=Scott e Newsletter |access-date=5 October 2008}}
Ian Shapiro, political scientist
Olaf Stapledon (1886-1950),Crossley, Robert, Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future, Liverpool University Press, 1994 novelist and philosopher; author of Last and First Men, Star Maker, and other works of speculative fiction.
Lytton Strachey,{{cite magazine |id={{ProQuest|3102481}} |last1=Johnson |first1=W Branch |title=REDDIE OF ABBOTSHOLME |magazine=The Bookman |location=London |date=May 1934 |page=129 }} British writer and critic
Sir Alan Muir Wood, FRS FREng FICE, Civil Engineer
Peter Gautrey, British soldier and diplomat
Mark Vallance, British engineer and climbing visionary who developed 'The Cam'

References

External links

[http://www.abbotsholme.co.uk/ School Website]
[https://archive.today/20130205094736/http://www.ukboardingschools.com/school/abbotsholme-school.html UK Boarding Schools Guide Profile]
[http://www.isc.co.uk/schools/england/derbyshire/uttoxeter/abbotsholme-school Profile] on the ISC website

Category:Round Square schools

Category:Educational institutions established in 1889

Category:Boarding schools in Derbyshire

Category:Private schools in Derbyshire

Category:1889 establishments in England