The school was established in 1949 to serve as the choir school of St Mary's Church, Reigate, and still has that function. In 2003 it became affiliated to Reigate Grammar School and serves as its junior school, with some three-quarters of children leaving the school going on to RGS.[2]
History
St Mary's Church, Reigate
In 1918, Godfrey Searle, a Reigate stockbroker, established a fund to provide choral scholarships at Reigate Grammar School for the boy choristers of St Mary's Church. This arrangement came to an end as the result of the school becoming a non-fee-paying selective grammar school under the Education Act 1944, for boys who passed the Eleven-plus, with no provision for teaching junior boys.[5]
Reigate St Mary's School was founded in 1949 as a prep school for boys only,[6] with the initial purpose of educating the junior St Mary's choristers and recruiting new ones.[5] At the outset, the Rev. J. P. H. Hobson MA (Oxon) was appointed as headmaster,[7] and John Whitworth, a lay vicar and countertenor at Westminster Abbey, was employed to teach the boys music and singing.[8]
In its early days, boys were admitted to the school at the ages of eight or nine and left when they were about eleven or thirteen.[6] In 1950, the school was recognized as efficient by the Ministry of Education.[9] Hobson, also a magistrate, was a strict disciplinarian with a zero-tolerance policy towards swearing.[10] In 1961, Hobson married, and his wife joined him in a flat at the school.[11] Reigate St Mary's was noted as a successful English choir school in The Music Yearbook, 1973,[12] and in 1992 was recommended for its choral music in the Organists' Review.[13]
In 1998, the school was still for boys only, with an age range from five to thirteen, but with an attached Day Nursery for children between three and five.[15] In that year, a sports master at the school, Nick Drewett, killed himself shortly before he was due to appear in court charged with child abuse.[16] Another master had also been charged with him; they were subsequently acquitted. Drewett's death led to Crispin Blunt, member of parliament for Reigate, calling for anonymity for schoolteachers accused but not convicted of sexual misconduct.[17]
By 2004, the school was co-educational.[18] In 2012, the number of children was 290, of whom 190 were boys and 100 girls.[19] By 2016, the total had increased to 337, with 147 girls and 190 boys.[4]
In 2015, nineteen school-leavers won scholarships at Reigate Grammar School, Box Hill School, and Dunottar.[20]
School campus
Reigate St Mary's occupies a fifteen-acre campus of parkland and sports fields on Chart Lane, Reigate, on the outskirts of the historic town centre.[21]
Sunnyside, the oldest building
The three main buildings are Sunnyside, a Victorian house which belonged to Godfrey Searle, founder of the St Mary's Church Choir; Beech House, built about 2007, now the main classroom block, including a large sports hall; and Cedar House, with the kindergarten and the ICT rooms. A smaller science and arts building also contains the Year 6 classrooms. There is a dining hall and a separate building for the Green Shoots Nursery.[2]
A Garden of Remembrance commemorates choristers of St Mary's Church, Reigate, lost in both World Wars.[22]
Curriculum and character
The school provides a broad education, within a tradition of choral singing and Christian values.[19] There are specialist teaching facilities for music, ICT, and art, and an Early Years Foundation Stage centre for children up to the age of five.[4]
In the ICT classrooms, one suite uses AppleMac computers and another PCs, and children begin to attend ICT lessons there while in the kindergarten. From Year 4, each pupil has an iPad.[2] The foreign languages taught are French, Spanish, and German.[23]
Most children at the school come from business and professional families in its locality and reflect the cultural diversity of the population.[4] In conjunction with the Independent Association of Prep Schools, the school has developed a programme called "Education for Social Responsibility". In October 2019, the headmaster commented to The Daily Telegraph "We’ve seen the strength of feeling among the younger generation, as it’s their future we are jeopardising. The need for children to understand what it means to be socially responsible couldn’t be more important."[25]
Most Year groups have two classes, but the school is still growing. In September 2020, it is planning to launch a third Year 3 class.[2][26]
Choirs
Choristers are recruited up to the age of eleven.[27] The school has three choirs led by a Head of Choral Music and is a member of the Choir Schools' Association.[19] It is one of the few such schools not affiliated to a cathedral or college.[28] For a school to be a full member of the CSA, it must provide a choir that sings a minimum of four services a week in a particular cathedral, church, or chapel.[29]
In 2016, pupil standards in choral music at Reigate St Mary's were found on inspection to be "exceptional".[4] The school choir was regularly performing in local and national events, including singing at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.[34][35]
The singer Mike Christie began his musical career by winning a choral scholarship to the school.[36]
The school's archives contain letters written to Godfrey Searle, its founder, by former St Mary's choir boys serving overseas in the First World War.[37]
School day
The formal school day runs from 8:25 am to 3:30 pm, but children can arrive earlier for breakfast at 7:30 am, and there is an "Extended Day" programme until 6 pm, including a hot meal in the Dining Room at 5 pm.[38] "Wraparound" all-day childcare is available all round the year, apart from four weeks in the summer holiday period.[39]
Extracurricular activities
Many children play a musical instrument. In 2016, pupils were playing chess for the county team.[4]
The school has an indoor heated swimming pool, and additional sports include archery, fencing, and benchball.[40]
In 2017, the school organised a four-kilometre Hope Walk around Reigate to raise awareness of suicides among young people.[41] In the same year, a team from the school called Razor Sharp Minds won the regional final of the Lego League Challenge.[42][43] In 2018, Year 5 children carried out a project which made the school's nature-reserve area more bee and butterfly friendly, upgrading it to a standard for children from other schools to visit. In October, this won the London area competition of the national Make a Difference Challenge.[44]
Inspection
An Independent Schools Inspectorate report published in 2016 reported that children at the school had "highly developed numeracy skills" and that problem-solving was commonplace, especially in maths. Pupils showed high levels of independent learning and had good literacy skills, but writing ability was less developed, with limited opportunities for extended written work. Children had "strong thinking skills", asked probing questions, had good scientific understanding and excellent ability with ICT, were creative and imaginative in artwork, and achieved excellent results in external exams. They also had good physical development and sporting skills, thanks to high-quality sports coaching. School teams had done well in netball, rugby, and the biathlon, with five children winning places in county and national teams in karate and swimming, while others had been selected for training at major football academies.[4]
Fees
In 2020, school fees were £1,110 a term in Green Shoots, £1,850 in the kindergarten, £4,120 in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2, and £5,100 in the later years.[45] Choral scholarships are provided by the Godfrey Searle Choir Trust,[19] a charitable body formerly known as the Reigate St Mary's Choir.[1]
Westminster Abbey Choir School is a boarding preparatory school for boys in Westminster, London and the only remaining choir school in the United Kingdom which exclusively educates choristers. It is located in Dean's Yard, by Westminster Abbey. It educates about 30 boys, aged 8–13 who sing in the Choir of Westminster Abbey, which takes part in state and national occasions as well as singing evensong every day and gives concert performances worldwide. Recent tours include to America, Hungary and Moscow. Other tours have included Australia, America and Hong Kong. The school is one of only three choir schools that educate only the male trebles of the choir, the others being Saint Thomas Choir School in New York City and Escolania de Montserrat in Spain. The headmaster is Peter Roberts, former assessment co-ordinator of St George's School, Windsor Castle. The organist and master of the choristers is Andrew Nethsingha, former Director of Music at St John’s College Cambridge.
Reigate Grammar School is a 2–18 mixed private day school in Reigate, Surrey, England. It was established in 1675 by Henry Smith.
A preparatory school in the United Kingdom is a fee-charging private primary school that caters for children up to approximately the age of 13. The term "preparatory school" is used as it prepares the children for the Common Entrance Examination in order to secure a place at an independent secondary school, typically one of the English public schools. They are also preferred by some parents in the hope of getting their child into a state selective grammar school. Most prep schools are inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate, which is overseen by Ofsted on behalf of the Department for Education.
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It is considered one of today's most accomplished and renowned representatives of the great English choral tradition. It was created by King Henry VI, who founded King's College, Cambridge, in 1441, to provide daily singing in his Chapel, which remains the main task of the choir to this day.
Lincoln Minster School is an independent co-educational day and boarding school in Lincoln, England.
A choirboy is a boy member of a choir, also known as a treble.
The Cathedral Grammar School is an independent, Anglican preparatory day school in Christchurch, New Zealand. The school is situated on a site covering two blocks in mid-Christchurch next to the Avon River and adjacent to Hagley Park, which it uses for its playing fields. It is in close proximity to Christ's College, the Canterbury Museum, the Christchurch Art Gallery and the Christchurch CBD.
The Cathedral School, Llandaff is a coeducational private day school located in Llandaff, a district north of the Welsh capital Cardiff. Originally established as a choral foundation to train choir boys for the affiliated Llandaff Cathedral, it is now part of the Woodard Schools foundation and continues to provide choristers for the cathedral. It is the only surviving Anglican choir school in Wales and is a member of the ISC, IAPS and the Choir Schools Association. The Head is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference of leading independent schools.
Christ Church Cathedral School is an independent preparatory school for boys in Oxford, England. It is one of three choral foundation schools in the city and educates choristers of Christ Church Cathedral, and the Chapels of Worcester College and Pembroke College. It is a member of the IAPS and the Choir Schools Association.
Andrew Cantrill FRSA is a British-born organist and choral director. He has held cathedral positions in New Zealand and the United States, and was organist of the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook, Suffolk until September 2018. He is a Fellow, prize-winner and former Trustee Council member of the Royal College of Organists, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is a tutor for the RCO Academy Organ School, an examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, an active recitalist, and a sought-after broadcaster, writer and presenter.
Chinthurst School is an independent co-educational nursery, pre-preparatory and preparatory school in semi-rural surroundings in the village of Tadworth, Surrey, England, 15 miles south of the centre of London. As a member of the RGS Group, the school is associated with Reigate Grammar School and Reigate St Mary's School. Its pupils' ages range from two to eleven years.
RGS Prep, formerly Lanesborough School, is an independent, preparatory school in Guildford, Surrey, England. The school was established in 1930 and acted as the choir school for Guildford Cathedral. Formerly an important feeder school for RGS Guildford, the two schools merged in 2021 with Lanesborough becoming RGS Prep.
Sarah Elizabeth Arwen MacDonald is a Canadian-born organist, conductor, and composer, living in the United Kingdom, and currently holds the positions of Fellow and Director of Music at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and Director of the girl choristers at Ely Cathedral. She has been at Selwyn since 1999, and is the first woman to hold such a post in an Oxbridge Chapel. In 2018 MacDonald was given the honorary award of Associate of the Royal School of Church Music (ARSCM).
Richard Godfrey Seal was an English organist and conductor. From 1968 to 1997 he served as organist and master of the choristers at Salisbury Cathedral, which in 1991 established a separate girls choir in addition to the existing boys cathedral choir, the first cathedral to do so.
Lichfield Cathedral School is a private day school in the city of Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. It traces its lineage to the 14th century when Lichfield Cathedral made provisions to educate its choristers. The school in its current form now educates over 400 boys and girls from nursery to sixth form. While the school still serves its primary purpose of educating choristers of the cathedral, it is open to pupils of all faiths.
Truro Cathedral School was a Church of England school for boys in Truro, Cornwall. An ancient school refounded in 1549 as the Truro Grammar School, after the establishment of Truro Cathedral in the last quarter of the 19th century it was responsible for educating the cathedral's choristers and became known as the Cathedral School.
The Choir Schools' Association is a U.K. organisation that provides support to choir schools and choristers, and promotes singing, in particular of music for Christian worship in the cathedral tradition. It represents 44 choir schools attached to cathedrals, churches, and college chapels.
Polwhele House School is a day and boarding preparatory school at Polwhele House, near Truro, Cornwall.
Exeter Cathedral School (ECS) is a 3–13 mixed, Church of England, private day and boarding choir and preparatory school in Exeter, Devon, England. It has been closely associated with Exeter Cathedral since it was first recorded as existing in the 12th century.
References
1 2 The Godfrey Searle Choir Trust, formerly known as the Reigate St Mary's Choir: An Abridged History (Reigate: Godfrey Searle Choir Trust, 1986), p. 4
1 2 Alan Mould, The English Chorister: A History (Hambledon Continuum, 2007), pp. 220–221
1 2 "Reigate St. Mary’s Preparatory School" in Surrey Mirror, Friday 26 August 1949, p. 6
1 2 "HOBSON, John Philip Hilary" in Crockford's Clerical Directory: A Reference Book of the Clergy of the Church of England and of Other Churches in Communion with the See of Canterbury, Volumes 87-88 (Oxford University Press, 1977), p. 473: "HOBSON, John Philip Hilary. b 20. Keble Coll Ox BA 42, MA 46. Offic Dio Edin 46-50; Hd Master St Mary's Sch Reigate from 50: Publ Pr Dio Swark from 50; Perm to Offic Dio Chich from 56. St Mary's School, Reigate, (Reigate 44880)"
↑ "HOBSON John P H / STEVEN / Tonbridge 5b 2431: STEVEN Evelyn J / HOBSON / Tonbridge 5b 2431" in General Index to Marriages in England and Wales, 1961; Electoral Register for Reigate Constituency – Central (No 1) Polling District (1962), Chart Lane, Flat 1, St Mary’s School at ancestry.co.uk, accessed 26 June 2020 (subscription required)
↑ The Music Yearbook, Vol. 2 (Macmillan, 1973), p. 653
↑ John O'Mahony, "Worlds of his own" in The Guardian, 20 April 2001, p. 18
↑ Tom Chilton at morebooks.de, accessed 11 June 2020
↑ "HOBSON John Philip Hilary of 19 Arnhem Wy Woodhall Spa Lincs died 21 January 1993" in Probate Calendar for England and Wales, 1993, Grid D05, at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 26 June 2020
↑ "Fully entitled?" in The Times, 16 November 1984, p. 17; Which School? (Truman & Knightley Educational Trust, 1988), p. 136; British Music Education Yearbook (Rhinegold Publishing, 1998), p. 197
↑ Rhinegold Guide to Music Education (Rhinegold, 2005), p. 87
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