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Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, private, boarding school and day school in the public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England.
Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school which was then established at the Repton Priory. For its first 400 years, the school accepted only boys; girls were admitted from the 1970s, and the school was fully co-educational by the 1990s.
Notable alumni, also known as "Old Reptonians", include C. B. Fry, Harold Abrahams, Christopher Isherwood, Jeremy Clarkson, Andy Wilman, Roald Dahl, Adrian Newey and Archbishop Michael Ramsey.
Through this private endowment, Repton School was set up as a charity, with early boarding pupils coming from Repton and the neighbouring villages.
The social mix of the early school was very broad. Among the first twenty-two names on the register of Repton there are five gentlemen, four Husbandman, nine yeoman, two websters, or weavers, a carpenter and a tanner. During the 17th century, the school educated the sons of Earl of Chesterfield and Earl of Ardglass, Samuel Shaw and John Woodward, who was apprenticed as a linen draper before he took up medicine, eventually being appointed Gresham Professor of Physic.
Buildings at the site of Repton Priory were granted for the school in 1559 by Gilbert Thacker. Not long after this, relations between the school and the Thacker family began to deteriorate due to a conflict of interest in accessibility. In 1642, the school commenced an action against the Thacker family, and, in 1670, a wall was built to keep the two parties apart.
Within the first hundred years, student body numbers rose to 200, but they had fallen by 1681 to twenty-eight boys.
In a letter from George Denman in the 1830s, there was a pupil-conferred role called "Cock of the School". A boy would be identified as the holder of this office after competing against likely candidates; once a boy was incumbent in this role, the younger boys deferred to him to do his work; writing in 1907, G. S. Messiter described the practice as an "ancient custom."
In 1858, a chapel was constructed on campus and later opened in 1859.
In 1865, a commission presided over by Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton investigated all endowed secondary schools in England, including Repton. The Schools Inquiry Commission published its findings in 1868. The research compiled helped aid the Endowed Schools Act 1869.
When public schools were attempting to reform, Repton's headmaster at the time lamented the shared tensions from all schools between local boys and boarders, stating that despite a sincere attempt to break down the barriers between them, he had had little success, and a substantial number of applications from "persons of good standing... and good fortune" had been withdrawn when told the boys were "of all classes down to the sons of blacksmiths and washerwomen". Due to this conflict, local village boys stopped attending Repton, which the headmaster at the time said was "mainly for the sake of the village boys... to constant fear of their being ill-treated."
The first Committee of the Headmasters' Conference, appointed in December 1870, included the headmaster of Repton.
Geoffrey Fisher (later to become Archbishop of Canterbury) became headmaster in 1914. In the early 1900s, a reforming master, Victor Gollancz, established classes in political education for the boys. The classes were open to Upper School members and enlistment was voluntary. Gollancz and D. C. Somervell conducted the lessons on “topics of parliamentary reform, the position of women, the future of the Empire, trade unions, individualism and co-operation in industry, the organisation of peace and a League of Nations, conservatism, liberalism, modern Ireland, Alsace-Lorraine and the Russian Revolution.” Repton was considered one of the first schools to offer civics classes in its curriculum. However, certain staff members opposed these classes, considering them as being radical. When H. J. Snape was invited to address the Civics Class on conservatism, the tension between Gollancz and Snape's opposing beliefs led to a “flaming row between them.” As a result of the affair, the War Office considered withdrawing its recognition of Repton's school Corps. This led to Fisher dismissing Gollancz and retaining Snape; yet, Fisher blamed Snape's misconduct as “a very discreditable campaign of personal abuse and violent language…against Mr. Gollancz.”
1,912 former pupils of the school served in the First World War, of whom 355 died in service. A war memorial was unveiled on major general Sir John Burnett-Stuart, director of military operations and intelligence, and dedicated by Edwyn Hoskyns, Bishop of Southwell on 1 November 1922.
, pictured here at the 1924 Olympics, joined the school in 1914]] Harold Abrahams, winner of the 100m sprint in the 1924 Paris Olympics, joined the school in 1914. Recalling his time at the school, Abrahams said he encountered antisemitism from other boys, often feeling Bullying and alone.
In 1917, the writers Christopher Isherwood and Edward Upward began their time at Repton. They formed a friendship which continued when they both attended Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Around the same time, Arnold Cooke, Bunny Austin and David Cochrane also attended Repton.
In September 1920, the poet Vernon Watkins was sent to Repton. His gentle character initially provoked bullying in his early years; yet, in a 1923 letter sent from Watkins to Eric Falk, he expressed his fondness for Repton as well as a school crush on poet Rupert Brooke: “I can’t think of anyone except Rupert Brooke.” Upward reflected that “everyone was homosexual, up to a point, at Repton.” While at the school, Watkins was granted the Howe Verse Prize, the Lancelot Sayes Prizes for French & German, and the Schreiber Prize for his writing. Upon his departure, Watkins stated: “Leaving Repton was what I had expected it to be; - a ghastly affair which left me in tears.” The school has claimed him as "perhaps the best poet Repton has had".
In 1924, George Gilbert Stocks, a director of music at the school, set the hymn Dear Lord and Father of Mankind to the tune Repton for use in the school's chapel. He took the melody from Hubert Parry's 1888 contralto aria "Long since in Egypt's plenteous land" in his oratorio Judith.
The writer Roald Dahl attended in the 1930s.He later stated that he "couldn't get over it" and has "never got over it." His semi-autobiographical Boy describes his negative experience with physical altercations between students, and of a pupil by headmaster Fisher. But Dahl's biographer, Jeremy Treglown, has pointed out he was mistaken: the beating was in May 1933, a year after Fisher had left Repton, and the headmaster concerned was John Christie, Fisher's successor. (1994). 9780571165735, Faber & Faber. ISBN 9780571165735 In his 1984 autobiography, Dahl states that when he was a young fag, he was instructed to warm for older boys at the school. He was also, along with other boys at the school, used as a product tester for Cadbury chocolate bars. Dahl claims that this was the inspiration for his book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
In the Second World War, 188 former members of the school died serving in the armed forces. Airmen were billeted in Mitre House during the war. In 1948, a tablet extension was commissioned for the Derbyshire WWI Memorial in order to include WWII casualties. The extension was inaugurated in a ceremony led on 10 July 1949, unveiled by lieutenant general Charles Gairdner and dedicated by former Geoffrey Fisher, by then Archbishop of Canterbury.
Numbers attending the school recovered in the late 1940s, such that The Cross was able to reopen in 1945 and Latham House in 1947. By 1957, the school was in better health: full with 470 pupils.
1957 saw the 400 year centenary of the school, celebrated with a royal visit from Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. A new chemistry block and workshops were added within the precinct, as well as extensive alterations to the science block. John Gammell took office as headmaster in 1968 and during his tenure girls began to be educated at Repton. It started with the arrival of two girls in 1970. By 1979, the first purpose-built girls' boarding house was opened. Hazing is recorded as having taken place at Repton into the late 20th century. Jeremy Clarkson attended the school, later noting that he had suffered extreme hazing by other students, including being plunged into an ice pool and having his trousers cut in half. He was later expelled for "drinking, smoking and generally making a nuisance" of himself. He has stated that this conduct included doing car stunts on the sports pitches, smoking in the chapel, filling all the locks on the premises with Polyfilla, and attending lessons naked from the waist down.
Likewise, fagging continued in the 1980s when cricketer Chris Adams was at the school; he subsequently observed, "The ingrained hierarchy whereby the older boys would subject the younger pupils to a lot of misery through the system of fagging. It was basically a system of slavery and I hated seeing the young lads literally trembling with fear".
In the early 1980s, the old Sanatorium was converted into a Music School. Due to increasing numbers of female pupils in the 1990s, headmaster Graham Jones spearheaded the construction of girls' houses. Two boys boarding houses (Brook House and The Hall) were closed and their occupants were reconfigured into a single new house, School House.
In 2011, the 400 Hall theatre (originally built in 1957) was remodelled by Avery Associates Architects, following a £3.3 million upgrade. In 2013, a £9 million science block was built. During the preparations for the building work, archaeological digs were undertaken which indicated the site had been occupied in the Roman Britain.
- Around this time, the old Squash Courts were made into a new gallery and textiles studio for the Art department.
A new teaching block, the Lynam Thomas Building, in the precinct and a major refurbishment programme was being undertaken. In November 2019, Adam Peaty opened a newly redeveloped £6 million sports centre at the school. The sport centre building has since been nominated for Excellence in Design by the East Midlands Bricks Awards.
Alastair Land was headmaster from 2016 to 2019 and was succeeded as headmaster by Mark Semmence.
In September 2019, the school began using an AI service called AS Tracking in order to monitor students' mental health. The software was also used in 150 schools, assessing over 50,000 students' wellbeing. In November 2019, Libby Lane, Lord Bishop of Derby was appointed visitor of Repton School.
In 2013, six former pupils played together in an international hockey match.
In October 2018, Repton announced a complete £6 million renovation of the school's sporting facilities, including a new sports hall and a new strength and conditioning gymnasium. Repton's football team also won The 2018 ISFA Barry Burns Northern Eights Competition.
In January 2019, Repton announced Chris Read, former England cricketer, as the school's director of cricket. In 2019, the first all-girls Lord's Taverners "Wicketz Festival", three days of celebration, education and cricket was held at the school. The U18 girls (outdoor), U16 girls (outdoor and indoor), U16 boys (outdoor) and U14 girls (outdoor) won national titles that same year.
In February 2020, Repton announced Scott Talbot, former Olympian and coach for the New Zealand and Australian national swim squads, as the school's director of swimming.
Repton opened their 400 Hall theatre in 1957. In 2011, the theatre reopened after a £3.3 million renovation. A studio theatre was added in 2003 and the complex extended and fully refurbished in 2011 by architect Bryan Avery.
The school has been hosting a literary festival in October for some years. There is an annual Plowright lecture, with the 2020 lecture being on serial killers. One of the students won Ayn Rand Essay Competition prizes in consecutive years. In 2022, this event was branded "a flop", with organisers stating "audience for many of the speakers were woefully small...Everywhere was completely thin. It was such a shame".
The school's theatre was used for various performances during a time of closure of a theatre space in the Derby Guildhall, operated by the local authority in Derby.
The school also has an on-site tuck shop called 'The Grubber'.
There are scholarships available for drama, sport, art, music, academic capacity and "all-rounder talent"; these do not exceed 20% of the school's fees. There is also some bursary assistance.
The school is inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate. An integrated inspection took place in March 2014, finding the school to be "exceptionally successful in achieving its aims... the quality of the pupils' achievements is excellent".
An emergency inspection in January 2015 was ordered by the Department for Education reviewing welfare and safeguarding compliance under the Independent School Standard Regulations (ISSRs) and the National Minimum Standards for Boarding (NMSB). The school failed to meet a number of the regulations, namely those dealing with pupil safeguarding; the promotion of good behaviour; suitability of staff and governance, leadership and management of the school.
A regulatory compliance inspection took place in 2018 which found that the school met all of the minimums and associated requirements. The subsequent integrated regulatory compliance and educational quality inspection in 2020 found that Repton met all regulatory compliance standards and was awarded the highest rating in each area.
The portfolio of overseas schools comprises:
In early 2020, it was announced that Repton School would be merging with Foremarke Hall School from September 2020 into a single school called Repton Prep. Shortly after, St Wystan's School joined the Repton group of schools.
The "The Stig" character in Top Gear is said to have been named after the school's pejorative slang term for new boys, a private reference with the producer Andy Wilman, who attended Repton with Clarkson. is also a steam locomotive called "Repton" named after the school in 1934: Southern Railway, Class V, Schools No 926, today based at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
The school's motto, Porta Vacat Culpa ("the gate is free from blame"), is a quotation from Ovid's Fasti. Ovid's Fasti, book 2, line 204 "The gate" (Porta) refers to the school's arch and, by a synecdoche of pars pro toto, the school itself, whilst also being a pun on the name of the school's founder, Sir John Port.
The school has twice, in the 1930s and 1980s respectively, represented the fictional Brookfield School in a 1939 film and a 1984 BBC version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Movies made in the Midlands. Retrieved March 2011
- Repton, Derbyshire . Retrieved March 2011 One of the screenwriters of the 1939 film, Eric Maschwitz, attended Repton. Around 200 pupils were extras in the 1939 film. "1930s: A year of tragedy and war worries" . Retrieved March 2011 Similarly, pupils appeared as extras in the 1984 BBC version.
a href="http://www.upcscavenger.com/wiki/Robert Bigsby/" itemprop="url" title="Wiki: Robert Bigsby">Robert Bigsby Historical and Topographical Description of Repton Woodfall and Kinder 1854
Female staff members were paid 56–57% less than their male coworkers at the school in 2018, and 50% less in 2019.
In the summer of 2023, a 14-year-old girl died on the school campus at an event organised by Graham Daniels, a third-party religious group.
Criminal barrister of the Queen's Counsel Tim Hannam, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone, and former Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Susannah Fish were identified in press reports as the three governors who quit their roles. Fish's resignation letter to the chairman of the governors, Mark Shires, said the decision to allow the teacher to remain in post means the school had not taken seriously:
"an appalling catalogue of.... safeguarding of pupils past, present and future is now in jeopardy and lacks credibility’.
They include:
During the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic the school's DT department made PPE for key NHS workers.
Repton School and Repton village combine every year for a charity event known as Sale of Work. Funds raised are distributed to a range of local and national charities chosen by representatives of both communities.
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