Bryanston School
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Bryanston School is an independent public school in Blandford, north Dorset, near the village of Bryanston. It was founded in 1928. It occupies a palatial country house designed in the late nineteenth century by Richard Norman Shaw for Viscount Portman. It is set in 400 acres (1.6 km²) in the very heart of Dorset and has over 600 pupils.

The school originally opened on 24 January 1928 with 23 pupils and seven members of staff. In 2004, the school had around 650 pupils and 80 teachers.

Bryanston is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It has a reputation as being quite a liberal and artistic school (using elements of the Dalton Plan) that puts the student very much at the forefront of what they wish to pursue and achieve. This philosophy was largely backed up by the last headmaster, Tom Wheare. Wheare retired from the Head of Bryanston at the end of the 2005 school year to make way for Sarah Thomas, who started in September 2005.

A3 Festival

The festival is a collection of talent from through out the year lower sixth form, which takes place over one weekend in the spring term and involves the whole year to put on plays, concerts, and fashion shows. On the Saturday morning of the festival everyone goes to breakfast in fancy dress. Some of this years costumes included, almong others: Teletubbies, a toy soldier, a tub of marmite, three barbies in boxes, a clown, a sailor captain, and a slutty nurse.

The 2008 A3 festival is notable for having a short film "Jay's Day" and many great plays, including the daring "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", a rendition of "Mean Girls", and an unorthodox play "Scuba Lessons" and cheese. There are also displays of art work and informal concerts. This year the year group also covered the main hall in string.

Heads of Bryanston

• J. G. Jeffreys (1928–1932)
• Thorold Coade (1932–1959)
• Robson Fisher (1959–1974)
• David Jones (1974–1982)
• Bob Allen (acting head, 1982–1983)
• Tom Wheare (1983–2005)
• Sarah Thomas (2005–)

Notable Old Bryanstonians

• Prince Alastair of Connaught (1914–1943), member of the British Royal Family
• Frederick Sanger (born 1918), biochemist and only the fourth person to become a double Nobel Laureate
• Michael Yates (1919–2001), stage and television designer and executive
• Adrian Heath (1920–1992), painter
• Lucian Freud (born 1922), painter
• Peter Bridge (1925–1982), theatre producer
• Sir Tony Durant (born 1928), politician
• Sir Terence Conran (born 1931), designer, restaurateur and retailer
• Drummond Matthews (1931–1997), geologist and marine geophysicist
• Sir Howard Hodgkin (born 1932), painter
• Lara Cazalet(born 1971), actress
• Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy (born 1933), author
• Quinlan Terry (born 1937), architect
• Zoe Bray (born 1974), artist
• Nicholas Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers (born 1938), Master of the Rolls, 2000–2005, and Lord Chief Justice of England and *Wales from 2005
• Simon Napier-Bell (born 1939), pop group manager, writer and journalist
• Geoffrey Hoyle (born 1942), science fiction writer (son of Fred Hoyle)
• John Nissen (born 1942), founder of Cloudworld
• John Eliot Gardiner (born 1943), conductor
• Julian Vereker (1945–2000), electronic engineer
• Mark Elder (born 1947), conductor
• Robert Saxton (born 1953), composer
• Kwame Anthony Appiah (born 1954), philosopher and novelist
• Jonathan Bowen (born 1956), computer scientist
• Jasper Morrison (born 1959), designer
• Jasper Conran (born 1960), fashion designer
• Saira Shah (born 1964), journalist and documentary filmmaker
• Tahir Shah (born 1966), writer and television presenter
• Nigel Barker (born 1972), fashion photographer, judge on America's Next Top Model
• Ben Fogle (born 1973), television presenter
• Emilia Fox (born 1974), actress
• HRH Princess Haya of Jordan (born 1974), daughter of King Hussein I of Jordan
• William Herbert, 18th Earl of Pembroke (born 1978)
• [[Fernando Torres [Footballer Genius]]
• Amy Studt (born 1986), singer

The sculptor Sir Anthony Caro was a school parent in the 1970s and exhibited at the school in Sculpture, a spectator sport? to celebrate the school's 75th anniversary in 2003.

Trivia

• The school's motto is Et nova et vetera (Latin for "both new and old"), and the school's colours are yellow and blue.
• The school estate has Europe's tallest London Plane tree (48.16m). This tree may also be England's tallest deciduous tree.
• Each year, the JACT Ancient Greek Summer School is held at Bryanston; the school has thus played host to many of the United Kingdom's classicists, both as teachers and pupils.

See also

• Bryanston village
• List of independent schools in the United Kingdom
• Don Potter (1902–2004), sculptor, potter and teacher at the school 1940–1984
• R. Norman Shaw (1831–1912), architect of the main building
• The Coade Hall, a theatre at the school

References

1. The Burning Bow, Thorold F. Coade. London: Allen & Unwin (1966). ISBN 0-04-370001-2.
2. Bryanston Reflections: Et nova et vetera, Angela Holdsworth (editor). London: Third Millennium Publishing (2005). ISBN 1-903942-38-1.

External links

• Bryanston On-line
• Aerial photo of Bryanston School. Other map and aerial photo sources.
• UK Schools Guide entry
• Independent Schools Inspectorate report, 2001
• Dorset Life article on the history of the school building
• Leading sculptors mark school's 75th birthday, The Guardian, 2 June 2003