Queen Victoria School

Last updated

Queen Victoria School
Queen Victoria School logo.svg
Location
Queen Victoria School
,
FK15 0JY

Scotland
Information
TypeMOD boarding school
Motto In Defens
Religious affiliation(s)Church of Scotland services every Sunday (compulsory attendance)
Established1908
Local authorityStirling Council
HeadDonald Shaw
GenderCo-ed
Age5to 18
Enrolment260~
Former pupilsOld Victorians
Website www.qvs.org.uk

Queen Victoria School (QVS) is a non-selective, co-educational, boarding school predominantly for children of Scottish Servicemen/women (but see full admissions criteria, below) aged 10/11 to 18. It occupies a Scottish Baronial-style building on a rural campus just outside Dunblane, a short distance away from the city of Stirling, Scotland. It is the only school in the United Kingdom managed and funded by the Ministry of Defence (Duke of York's Royal Military School in Kent is now managed by the DfE). [1]

Contents

History

The idea of the school was originally proposed to Queen Victoria as a memorial to the Scottish dead of the Boer Wars, and after her death it was thought fit to name it in her memory. With the support of former politician Robert Cranston, money was raised from Scottish servicemen and the people of Scotland to complete the project. Queen Victoria School was opened on 28 September 1908 by King Edward VII. The chapel was completed in 1910 and is Scotland's memorial to Queen Victoria. Girls were admitted in the 1996–97 academic year into all years and the first female senior monitor, Victoria Harris, was chosen in 1999. [2]

Admissions

Originally only sons (and subsequently daughters) of Scottish Service personnel were eligible to apply for entry to QVS. Today the school is not only open to applications from children of regular UK Armed Forces personnel who are Scottish, but also those who have served in Scotland or are/have been part of a Scottish Regiment. Individuals without a formal Scottish link may also apply.

Curriculum

QVS uses the Scottish curriculum for excellence and pupils are prepared for National Qualifications (Nat 4–5), Highers and Advanced Highers.

Traditions

Queen Victoria School at the 2008 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Queen Victoria School, Dunblane at the 2008 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.jpg
Queen Victoria School at the 2008 Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo

Traditionally the school provided an austere but continuous education for Scottish war orphans, with a good deal of military training and sports. Since the Second World War, the school has provided an education to children whose parents or guardians have been travelling the world in the Armed Forces.

A strong military ethos is still maintained by a competing pipe band and Combined Cadet Force (CCF) section. The school has its own "colours" which are paraded nearly every Sunday during term times in the school chapel, its own cap badge, and pupils wear the Clan Stewart hunting tartan. The school pipe band used to play at every rugby home international at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh.

Houses

The house system is based on the boarding programme as all pupils are boarders. Boarding is available to pupils aged 10 (Primary 7) and above. There are four houses: [3]

HouseGenderYears
Cunningham BoysS1-S6
Haig BoysS1-S6
Wavell GirlsS2-S6
Trenchard Co-edP7-S1

Combined Cadet Force

The School has strong military links with attendance at the Combined Cadet Force timetabled weekly. The pupils elect to join one of the three sections, they are Royal Navy, British Army or Royal Air Force.

Commanding officers:

NameRankYears
Tom Shannon RDCommander2015 - 2020
David Acheson MBECaptain2020 - 2023
Russell NewhamLieutenantCurrent

Notable alumni

Former students of Queen Victoria School are referred to as Old Victorians. See also Category:People educated at Queen Victoria School, Dunblane.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military academy</span> Higher education institution operated by or for the military

A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Armed Forces</span> Unified military force

The Canadian Armed Forces are the unified military forces of Canada, including land, sea, and air commands referred to as the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Navy, and the Royal Canadian Air Force. The CAF also operates several other commands, including the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, the Canadian Joint Operations Command, and the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunblane</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Dunblane is a small town in the council area of Stirling in central Scotland, and inside the historic boundaries of the county of Perthshire. It is a commuter town, with many residents making use of good transport links to much of the Central Belt, including Glasgow and Edinburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wellington College, Berkshire</span> Private school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England

Wellington College is a private school in the village of Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. Wellington is a registered charity and currently educates roughly 1,200 pupils, between the ages of 13 and 18. The college was built as a national monument to the first Duke of Wellington (1769–1852), in whose honour it is named. Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone in 1856 and inaugurated the School's public opening on 29 January 1859.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheltenham College</span> Public school in Gloucestershire, England

Cheltenham College is a public school in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding classical, military, and sporting traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wellington School, Somerset</span> Public school in Somerset, England

Wellington School is a co-educational independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition for pupils aged 3–18 located in Wellington, Somerset, England. Wellington School was founded in 1837.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke of York's Royal Military School</span> Selective academy in Guston, Kent, England

The Duke of York's Royal Military School, more commonly known as the Duke of York's, is a co-educational academy with military traditions in Guston, Kent. Since becoming an academy in 2010, the school is now sponsored by the Ministry of Defence, and accepts applications from any student wishing to board. Before 2010, only those students whose parents were serving or had served in the armed forces were eligible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pangbourne College</span> Public school in Berkshire, England

Pangbourne College is a co-educational private day and boarding school located in Pangbourne, Berkshire. It is set in 230 acres, on a hill south-west of the village, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sedbergh School</span> Public school in Cumbria, England

Sedbergh School is a public school in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, North West England. It comprises a junior school for pupils aged 4 to 13 and the main school for 13 to 18 year olds. It was established in 1525.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rossall School</span> Public school in Rossall near Fleetwood, Lancashire, England

Rossall School is a public school for 0–18 year olds, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St Vincent Beechey as a sister school to Marlborough College which had been founded the previous year. Its establishment was "to provide, at a moderate cost, for the sons of Clergymen and others, a classical, mathematical and general education of the highest class, and to do all things necessary, incidental, or conducive to the attainment of the above objects." Along with Cheltenham, Lancing and Marlborough, Rossall was part of a flurry of expansion in public school education during the early Victorian period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College</span> Former British sixth-form college specialising in military technical studies

Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College, formerly named and often referred to as simply Welbeck College, was an independent, selective sixth form college in Leicestershire, England. While run as a sixth form college, the school was an institution of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), and part of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dean Close School</span> Public school in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England

Dean Close School is a Public school for pupils aged 3–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, South West England, UK. The school is divided into pre-prep, preparatory and senior schools located on separate but adjacent sites outside Cheltenham town centre, occupying the largest private land area in the town at 50 acres. The school is now co-educational, with both day and boarding pupils, who may be enrolled as young as 3 in the pre-preparatory school, and continue through to 18 at the senior school. Dean Close is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Hospital School</span> Public school in Holbrook, Suffolk, England

The Royal Hospital School is a British co-educational fee-charging boarding and day school with naval traditions. The school admits pupils from age 11 to 18 through Common Entrance or the school's own exam. The school is regulated by Acts of Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Officer Cadet School, Portsea</span> Australian Army training establishment

The Officer Cadet School, Portsea was an officer training establishment of the Australian Army. Established at Portsea in Victoria, Australia, in 1951 to provide training to officer cadets prior to commissioning, for many years OCS provided the Australian Regular Army with the bulk of its junior officers. However, following a review of military training establishments in Australia in the mid-1980s, the school was eventually closed in 1985, as the Royal Military College, Duntroon, assumed sole responsibility for training Army officers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">51st Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland</span> Military unit

HQ 51st Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland is a Regional Point of Command, Brigade of the British Army.

Queen Victoria School (QVS) is a school in Fiji. It was established in 1906 in Nasinu to provide education to the sons of Fijian Chiefs. It later moved to Nanukuloa in Ra when World War II broke out; then the school was moved to Lodoni where the two schools QVS and RKS operated side by side before eventually moving to its current site at Matavatucou, Tailevu. It then accepted students from Fijian villages based on their results in a secondary entrance examination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon's School</span> Academy in West End Woking, Surrey, England

Gordon's School is a secondary school with academy status in West End near Woking, Surrey, England. It was founded as the Gordon Boys' Home in 1885. It is now one of the 36 state boarding schools in England. It converted to an academy on 1 January 2013. It was ranked as the second-highest-achieving state boarding school in 2016 by The Daily Telegraph, but controversy arose over the school charging £8,209 a year for day-pupil places. It has been argued that makes the state school selective, along with others which charge similar fees. Under the Education Act 1996 it is illegal for state schools to charge for admission or education provided within normal hours. In June 2022, Gordon's was judged Boarding School of the Year by the TES.

In the Canadian Armed Forces, a Regular Force unit or person is part of the full-time military, as opposed to being part of the Primary Reserve which has more flexibility. There are many bases and wings across Canada, and factors like trade, career progression, and environment will affect where the person ends up. They receive more pay and benefits than members of the Primary Reserve and can be ordered into overseas deployments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Royal School, Wolverhampton</span> Free school in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England

The Royal School, Wolverhampton is a co-educational free school and sixth form for day and boarding pupils in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It is the only state school of its type in the UK to have a Royal Charter and it has been a free school since September 2016. The school was previously a fee paying private school and it is now one of a handful of state boarding schools in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military bands of the United Kingdom</span> Musical ensembles maintained by the British uniformed services

The military bands of the United Kingdom are musical units that serve for protocol and ceremonial duties as part of the British Armed Forces. They have been the basis and inspiration for many military bands in the former British Empire and the larger Commonwealth of Nations as well as musical organizations in other countries. Military musical units with British influence include United States military bands, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Music Corps and the Military Band of Athens. British military bands are controlled by the military music departments of the three services that compose the armed forces. These include the Royal Marines Band Service, the Royal Corps of Army Music, and the Royal Air Force Music Services. British style brass bands and carnival bands were then and are currently inspired by the British Armed Forces and its brass bands, especially of the Army's regular and reserve formations, as they follow a similar format as it relates to brass and percussion instruments.

References

  1. House of Commons Defence Committee (2006). Educating Service Children: Eleventh Report of Session 2005-06; Report, Together with Formal Minutes, Oral and Written Evidence. The Stationery Office. p. 34. ISBN   9780215030627.
  2. History & Ethos Archived 25 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Boarding Life