Bristol Cathedral Choir School

Bristol Cathedral Choir School is a mixed gender non-selective musical Secondary Academy, located in the Cabot area of Bristol, England. Until 2008 it was Bristol Cathedral School, part of Bristol Cathedral, in the centre of the city. The choristers at Bristol Cathedral are educated at the school, which has a strong musical tradition. The new school is a day school and has no boarders. The school admits some pupils each year based on musical aptitude, as well as admitting probationary choristers. That is the school's only form of selection, all other pupils are chosen at random via a lottery system.

History

Founded in 1140 as part of what was then Bristol Abbey, Bristol Cathedral School was refounded by Henry VIII in 1542 after he dissolved the monastery.

A fee-paying school up until the Second World War, from 1944 to 1975 the school was a direct grant school. When direct grant schools were abolished, the school had to become an independent school once more to maintain its policy of selection by academic ability.

It began accepting girls into the sixth form in 1982 and became fully co-educational in 2005.

In April 2007, the school appointed a new headmaster, Hugh Monro. In July of that year, the school moved towards ending a 30-year period as an independent, fee-paying institution by applying to change its status to a publicly funded city academy with specialities in music and maths – the first choir school in the country to make such a move. The formal agreement clearing the way for the school to become an academy in September 2008 was signed on 3 March 2008. The school also changed its name to Bristol Cathedral Choir School.

In January 2009, the school appointed a new headmaster, Neil Blundell.

External facilities

Weekly assemblies, occasional services and school concerts are held in Bristol Cathedral.

The school has playing fields near Beggar Bush Lane in Failand. Games sessions for all years take place here, as well as forest school sessions for the primary school.

Buildings

The main school building were part of St Augustine's Abbey, which was founded in 1140. This contains the refectory and a 13th-century right-hand archway, with upper walls from the early 16th century. It was extensively altered and partly refaced in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II* listed building. The Abbey House and Deanery are also II* listed.

Following its conversion to Academy status, several new buildings were added to the school on the west side of College Square. In 2008 the Rectory building was completed at a cost of £3.5 million. This was followed by the Parsonage and then the Cresswell Centre, which was opened by Lord Adonis in September 2011.

In 2013, a primary school opened under the city library. It is known as Cathedral Primary School (CPS).

Together these new buildings expanded the School's facilities to enable pupil numbers to grow from 400 to over 700.

Academic achievement

The school has improved its results over the period from 2009 to 2011 and achieved its best ever GCSE scores in 2011 The table below shows the percentage of students achieving the key measure of 5 GCSEs at grades A*–C including English Language and Mathematics.

Uganda link

Since 1987, Bristol Cathedral Choir School has been linked with St. James's School, an independent co-educational secondary school in the centre of Jinja, Uganda. Each year a teacher from St. James's visits BCCS for two or three weeks, getting involved in School activities including expeditions, observing lessons and also giving lessons on topics such as AIDS, agriculture or African economics. In addition, two gap-year students from BCCS go to Jinja for six months each year. They act as classroom assistants at St. James's, as well as helping in a local primary school and in an orphanage or a street children's centre.

Cathedral Schools Trust

Since 2008 the school has been managed by the Cathedral Schools Trust, a multi-academy trust with roots in the Church of England in Bristol. The trust also manages two other secondary schools, Trinity Academy in Lockleaze and St. Katherine's School in Pill, and six primary schools, Cathedral, Headley Park, Hotwells, St Werburgh's, Stoke Park and Victoria Park.

Notable Old Cathedralians

Sophie Anderton (born 1977), lingerie model and reality television personality
James Averis (born 1974), cricketer
Mark Blenkarne (born 1957), archer who competed for Great Britian and England
Raymond L. Brett (1917–1996), professor of English at University of Hull and a friend of Philip Larkin
Julian Close of Red Box (born c.1960), musician and music industry professional
Chris Chivers (1967-), Anglican priest
Russ Conway (1925–2000), pianist and composer
Reginald Croom-Johnson (1879–1957), an English barrister and judge who also served as a Conservative Member of Parliament
Lieutenant-General Sir William Draper (1721–1787), British Army officer and cricketeer who led the expedition which captured Manila in 1762
John Fortune (1939–2013), comic and writer
Tom Dascombe (Born 1973), jockey and racehorse trainer
Racey Helps, (1913–1970), children's writer and illustrator
Simon Richard William Hicks, (1955–2007), production designer and filmmaker
David Hulin, (born 1975), director and animation director
Andrew Ibrahim (born 1989), terrorist suspect convicted of preparing terrorist acts
Dan Jones (born 1969), composer
David Jones (1941–2010), Flavelle Medal–winning biologist
Chris McNab (born 1980), author and computer hacker
Mark Newman (born c.1967), physicist
Tom Spilsbury (born 1976), journalist, Doctor Who Magazine editor
Tony Whitby (1930-1975), British BBC Radio producer; controller of BBC radio 4 from 1970 to 1975
Reece Winstone (1909–1991), photographer and local historian
Alan Geoffrey Woods (born 1942), Dean of Gibraltar 2003–2008

It has been alleged that the influential pseudonymous graffiti artist Banksy, whose identity is a closely guarded secret, is in fact a former pupil of Bristol Cathedral School named Robin Gunningham. Banksy himself has declined either to confirm or deny the allegation.