Castlethorpe School

**Castlethorpe School** is a public school in Castlethorpe, Buckinghamshire, England.

Founded in 1661 by Charles II as a school for the upper classes to educate their children. It educates children aged 13-18 and is one of the 'great' ten English public schools reported upon by the Clarendon Commission of 1861-64 along with Charterhouse School, Eton College, Harrow School, Merchant Taylors' School, Rugby School, Shrewsbury School, St. Paul's School, Westminster School and Winchester College.

## History

Castlethorpe School was founded by Charles II in 1663 as a way of providing an education to his friends in the upper-classes children and heirs. In its early days it was known for its relaxed attitude towards its pupils, and often had large dinners, in which Charles II occasionally attended. The most prominent being the King Charles Ball, at the end of the school year, which is a rite of passage for all of the schools departing pupils.

Although originally, primarily exclusive to English high-born and wealthy children, it does not currently follow the same extreme elitism. Yet it is a fee paying school and pupils attended must have parents able to afford the high costs of £30,000 a year. It does also have a scholarship foundation for pupils, which it awards to people from less-fortunate backgrounds who show talent in various forms i.e. academic, sport, art, drama and music.

### 18th Century

The 18th Century was a period of great reform in the school, most notably under headmaster, John Chichester. Chichester was headmaster from 1794-1800 and established the first individual house, Constable House. Chichester famously disapproved of the reputation the school was getting in its relaxed attitude to discipline and demanded a crack down by the masters, by increasing the number of floggings. The namesake of his new house, Sir William Constable, was known to be against the monarchy and sat on the Army Council in the events leading up to the King's treason trial. The masters at the school were unfavourable to Constable students and treated them more harshly than the other students of the school, which lived in what was known at the time as, the School House. A harsh rivalry grew between the students in Constable House and the School House students, so much to the point where in 1799, the School House students rebelled against the school and the new house.

#### The rebellion of 1799

The rebellion of 1799 was a school rebellion from the School House students against the Constable House students and the headmaster, John Chichester. The students in School House were unhappy about the new reforms Chichester was implementing on the school in attempts to rebrand it as an obedient, learning facility rather than a place for children to grow up in such a relaxed environment with few rules.

It initially began with the School House students refusing to cooperate in classes, and abusing the new masters put in place to crackdown on behaviour by Chichester. It later escalated into the School House students, led by ringleader, culman William Ryle. Ryle and his friends threw large stones through the windows of Constable House and placed a home-made petard (a small bomb used to blow open doors) at the front door, knocking it off its hinges. They then trashed the house, burning furniture and destroying paintings, with some lower school fags getting beaten up. The housemaster of Constable, Alfrid Millsop, hid in his private quarters with the 6th form students. After wrecking the house, Ryle and the other went to the school classrooms where they took desks and books onto the Mane and lit a bonfire. As the students watched the schools possessions burn, local soldiers arrived after Chichester had gone to find them, and surrounded the rebellious boys. Ryle, along with five other ringleaders, were expelled.

Chichester, decided his presence caused too much unease after the events and stepped down as headmaster a year later.

## Houses

There are currently 11 houses and 1 defunct house at Castlethorpe (6 boys and 5 girls), each of which has their own building and they all operate slightly differently. The Houses are as follows:

## Structure

#### Terms

The term names align with that of Oxford University and are named:

* Michaelmas Term
* Hilary Term
* Trinity Term

#### Years

Castlethorpe has unusual names for its years (as most traditional public schools do) and they date back centuries:

* Abecedarians (Year 9), known colloquially as Abies and informally by the older years as Babies.
* Quarticeps (Year 10), known colloquially as Quarties.
* Quinticeps (Year 11), known colloquially as Quinties.
* Dunmen (Year 12), known colloquially as Dunnies.
* Culmen (Year 13), known colloquially as Cullies.

#### Student roles

Castlethorpe has prefect system like most other schools and rewards the best and most ambitious students, only Culmen are permitted to be any of the following:

* Head Boy/Girl - The Heads of School wear the Head of School blazer but have five cuffs on their sleeve. The Head Boy also wears the Head Boy tie.
* Deputy Head Boy/Girl - The Deputy Heads of School wear similar uniform to the Heads of School only with four gold cuffs on the sleeve.
* School Marshal - There are eight School Marshals: academic, pastoral, sport and social, with one boy and girl selected for each position. They wear the School Marshal blazer with three gold cuffs on the sleeve and the School Marshal tie for boys.
* Head of House - The Heads of House are considered to be on the same level as a School Marshal and carries the similar responsibilities. They are distinctive by wearing the house blazer. Boys also wear the School Marshal tie. The Head of House is selected by the housemaster/housemistress and should be a leader as well as having achievements of some sort in a range of fields.
* House Marshal - each house has 2 House Marshals and the boys are distinctive by wearing the House Marshal blazer. House Marshal's are also selected by the housemaster/housemistress and their duties are minor.

#### Uniform

* School blazer - black with red rims and the school logo on the upper left pocket - worn by all except Marshals.
* White shirt - worn by all.
* Black trousers/skirt - worn by all.
* House tie - alternating colours of the house with the house logo at the bottom - worn by all boys except Head/Deputies of School, School Marshals and Heads of House.
* House blazer - in the primary house colour, with secondary on the rims (girls have black rims instead), it has the house logo on the upper left pocket instead of the school logo - worn by House Marshals and Heads of House (33 people).
* School Marshal blazer - black base layer but with red and white stripes worn by School Marshals. School Marshals have three gold cuffs on the sleeve (8 people).
* School Marshal tie - the same pattern to the house ties, only the school colours of black and red with the school logo at the bottom - worn by Deputy Heads of School, School Marshals and House Marshals (19 people).
* Heads of School blazer - plain black blazer with the school logo on the upper left pocket - worn by only the Deputy Heads of School and the Heads of School. the Deputy Heads have four gold cuffs while the Heads have five (4 people).
* Head Boy tie - plain black tie with the school logo at the bottom. Only worn by the Head Boy (1 person).

## Headmasters

* John Chichester 1794-1800
* Simon Redford 2010-at least 2019