The Oratory School
The Oratory School is an all-boys, Catholic, public school of approximately 400 pupils located in Woodcote, Oxfordshire near Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom.
History
It was founded in 1859, the first boys arrived before work began on the first day of May in that year, "Sunday 1 May New School began." (Newman’s Letters and Diaries, Volume XIX, p.120). The School began under the supervision of John Henry, later Cardinal Newman. The idea of founding a school had been in his mind for some time before that. Education of the young was an abiding interest of his. In the early 1850s he had been invited by the Irish Catholic bishops to establish a Catholic university in Dublin. When that project came to an end, he was approached by a group of Catholic laymen, principally converts to Roman Catholicism from the Oxford Movement, to set up a Catholic boarding school for boys run on English public school lines.
From Edgbaston it moved to Caversham Park, Caversham and, in 1942 (when Caversham Park was requisitioned to become a BBC listening station now BBC Monitoring), to its present location at Woodcote Estate, Oxfordshire.
The school today
The school has been described in the past as the "Catholic Eton" (' A Catholic Eton? Newman's Oratory School ' by Paul Shrimpton, ISBN 0852446616 ). Its current headmaster is Clive Dytor, (like Newman a convert and former Church of England clergyman), a veteran of The Falklands War who was awarded the MC for his actions during the conflict, and an MA of both Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
The Oratory is one of only two schools in the United Kingdom (the other being Canford) to have a real tennis court (built in 1990) and enjoys considerable success in this minor sport, hosting numerous championships and international tournaments, and will, in April 2006, host the World Championships. The court is home to the Oratory Tennis Club.
The school of 400 pupils (both boarding and day) has four senior (13-18) houses and one junior (11-13) house. The senior houses are: Faber, (house colours are purple and orange), FitzAlan (red and yellow), Norris (green and blue) and St.John (red and maroon). The junior house is known as St. Philip (sky and navy blue). A major programme of rebuilding and upgrading the boarding accommodation is currently in progress as at December 2005.
The school day runs from morning roll call and prayers at 08:25 to the end of prep classes at 19:00 and includes daily sessions of games after luncheon (CCF on Thursdays). Set in extensive grounds high in the SouthChilterns AONB, sport is a particular strength, with students able to compete in a broad range of activities, from Rugby and Association Football to Swimming, Yachting and Polo. Fixtures are played in a wide range of sports against schools and colleges such as Radley College, Eton College, Harrow School and Millfield. The school has its own golf course.
The art department is, according to the Good Schools Guide 2005, the best art department in the UK and the GCSE and GCE results support this statement. The School Shooting team stands first in the current UK rankings and has recently produced a representative for the GB U25 team.
It was the first school in the United Kingdom to construct a Real Tennis court for 80 years, finishing the building in 1990. The Real Tennis club is primarily made up of paying members of the public, but also of Oratorians (boys from the school). Over recent years the UK Professional Singles Tournament has been held at the court and in April 2006, the World Championships are scheduled to take place there. Jonathan Howell, the President of the International Real Tennis Professionals Association is the Sports Executive of the school and the club and Mark Eadle is the Senior Professional. The court itself is modern, fast and possesses a 'bouncy' feel to it. The school has one of the most successful school real tennis teams ever, with regular appearances in the finals of national competitions, and in recent years has produced such players as Richard Greenland and Paul Knox.
Former pupils and masters
Former Masters:
- Gerard Manley Hopkins (poet)
- J. R. R. Tolkien's second son Michael was a housemaster at The Oratory School, J.R.R. briefly lived at the school and wrote parts of Lord of the Rings in the school's Black Room and Chapel Cottage.
Former Pupils (Oratorians):
- Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk Premier Duke and Earl Marshall of England
- Sir Edmund Paston-Bedingfield, 9th Bt (Freeman City London, Liveryman Bowyers’ Co, U-Sec Ag Div RICS, md Handley Walker (Europe) 1969–80)
- Hilaire Belloc (poet and writer)
- Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart (1st World War General awarded the Victoria Cross (VC) )
- Major-General Sir Cecil Edward Pereira (commander 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards) (1914-15)
- Edmund Fitzalan-Howard, 1st Viscount Fitzalan of Derwent (British Conservative politician and the last Lord Lieutenant of Ireland)
- Sir Igor Judge (Present President of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court)
- Edward Leigh Conservative M.P.
- Sir Michael Levey (Director of the National Gallery 1974-86)
- Michael Berkeley (composer)
- Ayoola Erinle (Rugby footballer)
- Andy Vilk (Rugby footballer, England 7s)
Preparatory School
The Oratory Preparatory School is located a few miles away providing mixed education from 3 to 13.