Davenant Foundation School
Encyclopedia
Davenant Foundation School is a coeducational, Christian Ecumenical School, founded in 1680, currently located in Loughton
Loughton
Loughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located between 11 and 13 miles north east of Charing Cross in London, south of the M25 and west of the M11 motorway and has boundaries with Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill...

, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The school is a specialist Sports College
Sports College
Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, PE, sports and dance. Schools that successfully apply to the Specialist Schools Trust and become Sports...

.

Foundation in Whitechapel

In February 1680 the Reverend Ralph Davenant drew up his will leaving all of his household goods and plate to his wife with the provision that it should eventually be sold and that the monies raised should be used to build a school for 40 poor boys of Whitechapel
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the...

.

Ralph Davenant was the son of the Rector of Gillingham
Gillingham, Dorset
Gillingham is a town in the Blackmore Vale area of Dorset, England. The town is the most northerly in the county. It is 3 miles south of the A303 lying on the B3092 and B3081. It is near to the town of Shaftesbury which lies 7 miles to the south east. Neighbouring hamlets included Peacemarsh, Bay...

 in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

. Mr Davenant became Rector of Whitechapel
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the...

 (St.Mary's) and was awarded the degree of M.A. by Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

 as a result of a directive from King Charles II. It is not known what the connection between Ralph Davenant
Ralph Davenant
Reverend Ralph Davenant founded Davenant Foundation School in 1680, when he left £100 in his will to start up a school for the poor boys of Whitechapel, London.Ralph Davenant was Rector of St Mary's in Whitechapel in the East End of London.-External links:*...

 and the King, but the King was clearly impressed.

In addition to the monies raised from the sale of plate and goods, a number of properties were also given over to the school so that rents and capital could be raised. These consisted of a farm at Sandon
Sandon, Essex
Sandon is a small village just off junction 17 of the A12 in Essex, adjacent to Great Baddow and close to Danbury. It was known for an ancient oak tree covering most of the village green...

 near Chelmsford
Chelmsford
Chelmsford is the county town of Essex, England and the principal settlement of the borough of Chelmsford. It is located in the London commuter belt, approximately northeast of Charing Cross, London, and approximately the same distance from the once provincial Roman capital at Colchester...

, the site where Tilbury Fort
Tilbury Fort
Tilbury Fort is on the north, Essex, bank of the River Thames in England and was built to defend London from attack from the sea, particularly during the Spanish Armada and the Anglo-Dutch Wars...

 is built and much of the land upon which the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway
London, Tilbury and Southend Railway
The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway is an English railway line linking Fenchurch Street railway station in the City of London with northeast London and the entire length of the northern Thames Gateway area of southern Essex. It is currently known as the Essex Thameside Route by Network Rail...

 is built. Funds raised thereby went towards the additional educating of 34 poor girls. Boys were to learn reading, writing and arithmetic whilst the girls were to learn reading, writing and sewing.

A site for the proposed school was found in the Whitechapel Road
Whitechapel Road
Whitechapel Road is a major arterial road in the East End of London, England. It connects Whitechapel High Street to the west with Mile End Road to the east and forms part of the A11 road. It is a main shopping street in the Whitechapel area of Tower Hamlets and has a street market...

 on the Lower Burial Ground, the site is still occupied by the old school buildings and can be clearly seen when passing along the Whitechapel Road.

In 1813, a dramatic change took place when Davenant earned itself the title of 'Cradle of the National Schools of England'.

Monitorial system

Dr Andrew Bell invented a system for educating hundreds of children with only one Master assisted by senior boys. This became known as the monitorial system. 1,000 children (600 boys and 400 girls) were educated by this system in a new building which was erected in Davenant Street.

The Charity School continued to function in the original buildings which were eventually enlarged in 1818 to accommodate 100 boys and 100 girls. The school by now maintained two institutions educating 1,200 children — extraordinarily large for 1818. The third strand of the school came into being in 1858 when a Commercial or Grammar School was built in Leman Street under the direction of the Reverend Welden Champneys, the then Rector of Whitechapel
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the...

. In 1888 the two charities of Whitechapel
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the...

 and Davenant merged to become 'The Foundation School'.

New buildings

In 1896, the new Renaissance Building was erected behind the 1818 building providing additional up to date classroom space and a magnificent assembly hall which remains to this day. In 1939 the school was evacuated and the buildings were taken over by the Heavy Rescue Service who did irreparable damage to the buildings and destroyed many of the documents and honours boards - which were used to board up broken shop windows. In 1944 the school became Davenant Foundation Grammar School for Boys, a title which it retained until 1980. By now it educated only some 200 boys.

Move to Loughton

In 1966, at the invitation of the Essex County Council, the school moved to the leafy suburb of Loughton
Loughton
Loughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located between 11 and 13 miles north east of Charing Cross in London, south of the M25 and west of the M11 motorway and has boundaries with Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill...

. Many East End families had in any case moved out to the suburbs by this time. The population in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 was in decline and there was a need for grammar school provision for boys in Loughton
Loughton
Loughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located between 11 and 13 miles north east of Charing Cross in London, south of the M25 and west of the M11 motorway and has boundaries with Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill...

. There were, in 1966, many fine grammar schools in the East End including Raine's, George Green
George Green
George Green was a British mathematical physicist who wrote An Essay on the Application of Mathematical Analysis to the Theories of Electricity and Magnetism...

, Coopers Coborn
Coopers' Company and Coborn School
The Coopers' Company and Coborn School is a 11-18 school in Upminster, in the London Borough of Havering, and is part of Essex.-Admissions:The school is a non-selective voluntary aided state comprehensive school describe by Ofsted as "an exceptional school of real excellence". The school excels at...

 and Parmiter's
Parmiter's School
Parmiter's School is a co-educational school in Garston, Hertfordshire on the outskirts of North West London, England with a long history. Although the school admits pupils of all abilities it is partially selective...

. Davenant's best chance of survival was to move.

The new buildings at Loughton
Loughton
Loughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located between 11 and 13 miles north east of Charing Cross in London, south of the M25 and west of the M11 motorway and has boundaries with Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill...

 are located at the beautiful Debden Estate and were opened in 1966 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...

.

Comprehensive and coeducational school

The school continued as a two form entry boys' grammar school until 1980. It was then that, after much deliberation, the Governors and Trustees decided that the time was right to further develop the work which Ralph Davenant
Ralph Davenant
Reverend Ralph Davenant founded Davenant Foundation School in 1680, when he left £100 in his will to start up a school for the poor boys of Whitechapel, London.Ralph Davenant was Rector of St Mary's in Whitechapel in the East End of London.-External links:*...

 had put into motion some 300 years before and so it was that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...

 made her second visit to the school to mark the restoration of the co-educational nature of the school and its ongoing development as a Christian Ecumenical School for 1,000 girls and boys.

House system

A House System
House system
The house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in the Commonwealth. Historically, it was associated with established public schools, where a 'house' refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school...

 was introduced in 2005 with the school being divided up into six houses, one for each form in each year. The houses are named after places in the surrounding area of the school.

The houses are:
  • Debden
    Debden, Epping Forest
    Debden is a suburb of the town of Loughton, in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. It takes its name from the ancient manor of Debden, which lay at its northern end. The area is predominantly residential, but is also the location of Epping Forest College, East 15 Acting School and the De...

     - Mascot: Dragons - Colour: Red
  • Abbey (after Waltham Abbey
    Waltham Abbey, Essex
    Waltham Abbey is a market town of about 20,400 people in the south west of the county of Essex, in the East of England region. It is about 24 km north of London on the Greenwich Meridian and lies between the River Lea in the west and Epping Forest in the east. It takes its name from The Abbey...

    ) - Mascot: Angels - - Colour: Blue
  • Valley (after Roding Valley
    River Roding
    The River Roding is a river in England that rises near Dunmow, flows through Essex and forms Barking Creek as it reaches the River Thames in London....

    ) - Mascot: Lions - Colour: Yellow
  • Epping
    Epping
    Epping is a small market town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England. It is located north-east of Loughton, south of Harlow and north-west of Brentwood....

     - Mascot: Tigers - Colour: Orange
  • Nazeing
    Nazeing
    Nazeing is a parish of 3,952 lying about four miles north of Waltham Abbey, England and bounded on the west by the River Lea. Most of it is still rural, but during the past 40 years there has been a considerable development of market gardening, light industry, holiday fishing, and boating...

     - Mascot: Shark - Colour: Purple
  • Theydon (after Theydon Bois
    Theydon Bois
    Theydon Bois is a large residential village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England. It is located 1.4 miles south of Epping, 0.85 miles northeast of Loughton and 6 miles south of Harlow.Theydon Bois is within the bounds of the M25 motorway and is situated...

    ) - Mascot: Phoenix - Colour: Green


The first initials of each house spell out D, A, V, E, N, T; which are the letters that make up the school's name - Davenant (minus the repeated letters). Each house has a member of staff as head of house, a house colour and mascot. They also all have sixth form house prefects. However, the House system is taken seriously by students (particularly on sports day)

Rugby

The school has been on 4 rugby tours so far; Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and South America. The tour to South Africa was a successful tour where the team won 3 matches out of 5 - while on this tour Davenant played a team which came from the local townships. The Canada tour in 1994 was more successful as all 5 tour games were won. The school have had many players who have represented at county level (Mainly Essex but also Middlesex). Every year the school is entered for the Daily Mail cup at both Under 18 and Under 15 levels.

The current Davenant 1st XV squad has recently taken on a new coach in the form of notable Blackheath Flanker, former Wales Rugby League and Head of Business studies Dave Brown. He succeeds long time servant Richard Vaughan who left after the 2007/2008 season after 9 glory-filled years as head coach at the school.

In the past years the school 1sts have consistently reached the 3rd or 4th round of the Daily Mail Schools' Cup and last year was knocked out by eventual winners St Benedict's School, Ealing. There is a great rivalry between Davenant and schools close by in the area such as West Hatch and Debden Park.

Davenant Foundation School

  • Richard Alvin, Founder of Capital Business Media which amongst others owns Business Matters (magazine) from 1989-1996
  • Prof Eric Barnard, Professor of Neurobiology at the Royal Free and University College Medical School from 1992-8
  • Jonathan Barrick, Chief Executive of The Stroke Association
    The Stroke Association
    The Stroke Association is the only British charity solely concerned with combating stroke in people of all ages.The charity funds research into prevention, treatment, and better methods of rehabilitation, and helps stroke patients and their families directly through its community services...

     since 2004
  • Liam Bergin
    Liam Bergin
    Liam Bergin is a British actor of Irish descent. He trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 2008. He is currently best known for playing Rupert in Trinity...

    , actor playing rôles such as Danny Mitchell in the British
    Great Britain
    Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

     soap EastEnders
    EastEnders
    EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...

    .
  • James Brokenshire
    James Brokenshire
    James Peter Brokenshire is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Old Bexley and Sidcup and Minister for Security at the Home Office that grants him a seat on the National Security Council.-Early life:He was educated at Davenant Foundation Grammar School, the...

    , Conservative MP for Hornchurch
    Hornchurch (UK Parliament constituency)
    Hornchurch was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

     since 2005
  • Leia Clancy, Anthropologist
    Social anthropology
    Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...

  • Prof Stacey B. Day, Surgeon and W.H.O. Professor of International Health, Nashville, Tennessee from 1984-1990
  • Sir Samuel Goldman
    Samuel Goldman
    Sir Samuel Goldman KCB was Second Permanent Secretary at Her Majesty's Treasury and later an international banker....

     CB
  • Sir Samuel Winborne
  • David Langdon
    David Langdon (cartoonist)
    David Langdon was an English cartoonist. Born in London, he worked from 1931 in the Architects Department of London County Council, working on his professional qualifications while drawing cartoons as a sideline. In 1937 he was invited to contribute to Punch.He joined the London Rescue Service in...

     OBE, cartoonist for the Sunday Mirror
    Sunday Mirror
    The Sunday Mirror is the Sunday sister paper of the Daily Mirror. It began life in 1915 as the Sunday Pictorial and was renamed the Sunday Mirror in 1963. Trinity Mirror also owns The People...

     from 1948-93
  • Prof William Mushin, Professor of Anaesthetics at the Welsh National School of Medicine (now the University of Wales College of Medicine
    University of Wales College of Medicine
    The University of Wales College of Medicine was a medical school based in the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, that formed a part of the University of Wales...

     since 1984) from 1947-75
  • Phil Piratin
    Phil Piratin
    Philip Piratin , known as Phil Piratin, was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and one of their few Members of Parliament....

    , Communist MP for Mile End
    Mile End (UK Parliament constituency)
    Mile End was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Mile End district of the East End of London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

     from 1945-50
  • Prof Harold Rose, Chairman of the Institute of Economic Affairs
    Institute of Economic Affairs
    The Institute of Economic Affairs , founded in 1955, styles itself the UK's pre-eminent free-market think-tank. Its mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social...

     (IEA) from 1995-8
  • Prof Sir Martin Roth
    Martin Roth
    Professor Sir Martin Roth FRS was a British psychiatrist.He was Professor of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, 1977–85, then Professor Emeritus, and was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge from 1977. He was one of the pioneers in developing Psychogeriatrics as a subspecialty.-References:...

    , Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge
    University of Cambridge
    The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

     from 1977-85 and President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists
    Royal College of Psychiatrists
    The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom responsible for representing psychiatrists, psychiatric research and providing public information about mental health problems...

     from 1971-5
  • Leslie Solley
    Leslie Solley
    Leslie Judah Solley was a British politician and barrister.Solley was born in London and attended the University of London. He worked as a scientist and then a barrister...

    , Labour MP for Thurrock
    Thurrock (UK Parliament constituency)
    Thurrock is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...

     from 1945-50 (expelled from the Labour Party in 1949)
  • John Wyman, anaesthetist and Dean of Westminster Hospital Medical School
    Westminster Hospital Medical School
    The Westminster Hospital Medical School was formally founded in 1834 by George Guthrie, an ex-military surgeon - although students had been taken on at Westminster Hospital almost from the hospital's foundation in 1719 .The hospital and medical school moved to larger buildings several times in the...

     from 1964-81
  • Carl Jenkinson
    Carl Jenkinson
    Carl Daniel Jenkinson is a footballer with dual English and Finnish nationality who plays for Arsenal as a defender. He has a British father and a Finnish mother, and has represented both England and Finland at youth international level....

    , Charlton and Arsenal footballer, 2003-10
  • Naomi Scott
    Naomi Scott
    Naomi Scott is an English actress, singer and musician. She is best known for her role as Mohini "Mo" Banjaree in the Disney Channel Original Movie Lemonade Mouth, and as Megan in the Disney Channel UK series Life Bites. She currently co-stars in the Steven Spielberg-produced series Terra...

    , Actress and Singer

See also

  • Reverend Ralph Davenant
  • Davenant International
    Davenant International
    Davenant International is the innovative student forum on global issues launched by the students of Davenant Foundation School in Loughton, Essex, England. This new forum was launched in September 2005 and received widespread media coverage. Davenant Foundation School was founded in 1680 by the...

  • Davenant Centre
    Davenant Centre
    The Davenant Centre, situated in Whitechapel in the East End of London is known as a 'centre of excellence' for youth services in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Davenant Centre was built to remember the community work of the Reverend Ralph Davenant, Rector of Whitechapel, who left a...

  • Loughton
    Loughton
    Loughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located between 11 and 13 miles north east of Charing Cross in London, south of the M25 and west of the M11 motorway and has boundaries with Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill...

  • Whitechapel
    Whitechapel
    Whitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the...

  • Education in the United Kingdom
    Education in the United Kingdom
    Education in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter with each of the countries of the United Kingdom having separate systems under separate governments: the UK Government is responsible for England, and the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive are...

  • List of schools in the United Kingdom
  • The History of the Davenant Foundation Grammar School by Roland R. Reynolds, M.A., Former Headmaster
  • The Davenant Foundation Grammar School: The War Years 1939 - 1945. Edited by Arnold A. Zimmerman. ISBN 0-934314-49-7. (LCCN 00-13242)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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