Bromsgrove School

Bromsgrove School stands on 100 acres in the Worcestershire town of Bromsgrove. Founded in 1553, it is one of Britain’s oldest public schools and helped start the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference in 1869. The main campus sits in the town centre, with later buildings added around the original grammar school. Sir Thomas Cookes gave money in 1693 that paid for the first school rooms and linked the school to Worcester College, Oxford. The Cookes coat of arms still appears on school documents and buildings. The school runs three sections: a nursery for ages two to seven, a preparatory school for seven to thirteen, and a senior school for thirteen to eighteen. About 1,660 pupils attend, including more than three hundred from forty-nine countries. The senior school holds Commemoration Day every year, a ceremony that began with Cookes’ wish for an annual sermon in St John’s Parish Church. The day ends with pupils shaking hands with staff and the headmaster on the parade ground between Kyteless and the chapel. Visitors find a mix of historic and modern buildings across the spacious grounds. The chapel and school rooms date from 1856, built under headmaster John Day Collis. The school flag is lowered each Commemoration Day by the heads of school, who then hand it to the headmaster. The annual rugby match against King Edward’s School, Birmingham, has been played since 1875. Pupils also choose between A-levels, the International Baccalaureate and BTEC courses in the sixth form.