WINCHESTER COLLEGE PROSPECTUS CONTENTS Headmaster’s introduction 2 Scholarship and Access 6 College and Boarding houses 8 Teaching and Learning 12 Division 16 Tradition 18 Music 20 Sport 21 Drama 22 Art and Design Technology 23 Beyond the classroom 24 After Winchester 26 The Wykehamist journey 28 TIM HANDS Winchester is the oldest of the but preparation for examinations ancient schools of England in does not dominate a boy’s time. that it has an unbroken history of We offer a distinctive and rigorous HEADMASTER teaching boys in buildings created curriculum with a strong non- for educational purposes since examined element, as well as a 1382. The School has, of course, very wide range of sport, music, added buildings over the centuries art, drama and other cultural and so that what you find today is physical opportunities. a strikingly beautiful blend of ancient and modern. Our mission is to prepare a boy for life, not just for examination The School is full boarding, success and university entrance. operating seven days a week To that end, we give every boy during term time, providing in our care a broad, liberal teaching activities throughout formation which will lead to the every day and evening. We think habit of a lifelong interest in and of ourselves as a family enjoyment of intellectual and enthusiastically engaged in a cultural matters; and we try to way of life based on the love of treat every boy with kindness learning. Every member of the and sympathy and with as staff lives in the School. Our much tolerance as is consistent examination results are excellent, with good order. 2 3 4 The Chapel, a grade I listed building consecrated in 1395 and in continuous use ever since, is the living expression of our understanding of the nature of the human person. The young men entrusted to our care must be carefully and wisely formed in mind, body and spirit. We strive to cultivate in our pupils habits of disciplined organisation and clarity of thought, together with a deep respect for the best that has been thought and said in the Western European tradition. In so doing we nurture their spirits in the qualities of tolerance, patience, truthfulness, joy and reverence for beauty. 5 SCHOLARSHIP AND ACCESS 6 The School offers generous bursaries to those who need them. Admission is based on the combined criteria of academic strength and the ability to contribute in other ways to the cultural, sporting and social life of the School. It remains our ambition, consistent with our Founder’s intention and charitable purpose, to admit any boy, whatever his background or means, who can participate with profit in our community of learning. We value highly our international links and manage them carefully in our admissions process. We recognise that applicants from outside Britain require individual assessment and care, and we encourage overseas applicants, wherever they live, to feel confident that we will take a serious view of their academic promise. 1 7 COLLEGE AND BOARDING HOUSES In its origins Winchester College consisted of seventy Scholars who made up College. Over the centuries ten Commoner Houses were added. The Scholars still live in the original medieval buildings (modernised to a high standard of comfort) continuing a tradition of academic excellence unbroken over six centuries. The Scholars are the academic pace-setters and are taught together with boys from the Commoner Houses, but they return to study in their Chambers and to take their meals in College Hall. The Master in College looks after them. 8 9 COLLEGE AND BOARDING HOUSES 10 The great majority of boys are The Houses are, in turn, a part of Commoners. They live in Houses, the greater School community in all within easy walking distance of which the Headmaster sets the the teaching areas, games fields tone and maintains overall and other facilities. A House is standards of discipline. Nearly all a family, a self-contained the dons live in or around the community to which the boys Houses. There are thus many return from classes or games to opportunities, formal and study, relax, eat and sleep. informal, for building the good professional and personal Our admissions process fosters relationships which are the basis close contact between parents of proper pastoral care. When the and prospective Housemasters. time comes for them to leave, the Housemasters select boys for boys will have not just good their Houses and are responsible academic qualifications but also for the pastoral, academic and the ability to work effectively on disciplinary well-being of the their own and in a group, with a boys. Each House also has the well-developed sense of values dedicated support of a resident and a strong respect for others. Matron and a team of Tutors. 11 TEACHING AND LEARNING Teachers at Winchester are known as dons. Our work depends ultimately on the quality of our teaching staff. It is not possible to explain the perfection of a poem, a work of art or music, the precision of a piece of Latin, the soundness of a mathematical proposition or the elegance of a piece of machinery, without trying to make these things attractive to those we teach. It is essential to the love of learning that teachers commend to their pupils a respect for the things they love themselves. Winchester dons are an exceptionally able group of men and women who are themselves committed to a life of learning. 12 13 TEACHING AND LEARNING 14 The origins of the School are a and his bearing. This sets the work of genius. The Founder, overarching tone for every aspect William of Wykeham, was twice of life and work. Wykehamists are Chancellor of England in the noted for both their open-minded second half of the fourteenth approach to learning and their century and Bishop of Winchester, consideration for others. then the richest see in England, for over forty years. His great We encourage a broad approach to project at the end of his life was to learning for life; a co-operative endow his double foundation, sense which develops a willingness Winchester College and New and enthusiasm to learn. Good College, Oxford to guarantee a relationships between boys and competent educated clerical dons ensure a high level of service for the government of the personal support and imbue social realm. In creating these two confidence. We take a serious places of residential learning, approach to public examinations meticulously planned in their with a commitment to reading and architecture and their regulations, discussion beyond the confines of he established the model of the examination syllabus. The School’s Oxbridge college. The Founder set several libraries of books, ancient Manners Makyth Man as the and modern, and its extensive School’s motto. It means that a collections of pictures and artefacts, man will be judged by his morals are used for teaching purposes. 15 DIVISION 16 Div is the hallmark of a Winchester In Sixth Book (our term for Sixth education. It expresses our Form) Div can lead almost principal objective to offer a anywhere, according to the broadly intellectual, well-rounded interests of the boys in the group education. and the Div Don himself, covering a very wide range of history and Up to six lessons each week are literature, from Ancient Egypt to the given to Division. A boy’s Div Don Gulf War, from Plato to Shakespeare, will see more of him than any other from the history of cricket or of his teachers, and it is the Div Mathematics to the fugues of Bach Don who takes him through or the plays of Tom Stoppard. courses designed to foster a love Members of a Div write a regular and respect for learning for its own task in order to organise their sake. For junior boys History, thoughts on topics touched on in Religious Studies and English the course, including philosophical Literature are taught as a cultural and ethical questions. A boy will entity that encompasses and goes often be asked to offer a beyond its constituent parts. presentation to his Div. 17 TRADITION 18 On the evening the School closes for the Christmas holidays, parents join their sons for Illumina. A bonfire is lit, candles are placed by the Scholars around the ancient walls which enclose Meads, and Chapel Choir sings carols beneath the stars. 19 MUSIC Music Music has always been central jazz group, rock groups, a flute to the life of Winchester. Our ensemble, four choirs, numerous Quiristers, the sixteen choirboys smaller ensembles and a regular who live in the College and sing for programme of chamber music. the services in Chapel, continue a There are several informal concerts unique tradition. Music is a part of every week which enable every the lives of most boys. Two-thirds boy to perform to an audience. of them learn a musical instrument The School is also active in – many learn two or three. Nearly commissioning new music for its seven hundred individual choirs and instrumental ensembles. instrumental lessons are taught each week by a visiting staff of The Music School was enlarged in over sixty. The School currently 2004, including fifty practice and has over sixty Music Scholars. teaching rooms, a fully equipped music technology classroom, a There are several orchestras, a recording studio, an editing suite, a symphonic wind band, a double- percussion studio and a rock room. reed ensemble, clarinet ensemble, 20 SPORT Sport A vigorous sporting programme There are then lots of options: complements academic work. It is aikido, archery, athletics, a vital component of what we offer.