Liverpool Blue Coat School

Liverpool Blue Coat School

Motto	Non Sibi Sed Omnibus (Not for Oneself but for All)
Established	1708
Type	Academy
Headmaster	Mr. M.A. Pennington
Chaplain	Revd. Canon Janet Eastwood
Deputy Headmasters	S. Yates N. Roberts
Chair of Governors Provost	J.M. Shaw S.W. Elliott
Founders	Bryan Blundell and Rev. Robert Styth
Location	Church Road Wavertree Liverpool L15 9EE England
DfE number	341/5404
DfE URN	137916 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Students	963
Gender	Coeducational (since 2002)
Ages	11–18
Colours
Publication	The Squirrel
Houses	Bingham      Blundell      Graham      Shirley      Stythe
Former pupils	Old Blues
School Song	Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
Website	Liverpool Blue Coat School

The Liverpool Blue Coat School is an academy school located in Wavertree, Liverpool, England. It was founded in 1708 by Bryan Blundell and the Reverend Robert Stythe as 'The Liverpool Bluecoat Hospital'. The school was for many years a boys' boarding school but as of September 2002 it reverted to its original coeducational remit.

The Blue Coat School holds a long-standing academic tradition; examination results consistently place the school top of the local, and national GCSE and A-level league tables. In 2016 Blue Coat was ranked as the best school in the country based on GCSE results. Blue Coat was also named as The Sunday Times State School of the year in 2015. The acceptance rate for admissions is usually around 15%.

In 2004 the school received a government grant of almost £8 million, together with more than £1 million from the school's foundation governors, facilitating a major expansion and redevelopment of the school site.

History

Foundation

An engraving of the original school in the city centre

The school was founded in 1708 by Bryan Blundell and the Rev Robert Styth, a theology graduate of Brasenose College, Oxford as "a school for teaching poor children to read, write and cast accounts". The original charity school expanded rapidly and a new building, the present Bluecoat Arts Centre, opened in 1718. By the time of Blundell’s death in 1756 there were 70 boys and 30 girls at the school, many apprenticed to local trades, especially maritime ones connected to the port. Some Old Blues became mates or masters of their ships, many emigrating to the colonies. After Blundell’s death his sons further expanded the building to accommodate 200 pupils, with a new workroom, sick room, chapel and refectory. A reminder of the building’s school days is some graffiti dating from the 18th century, carved into cornerstones in a secluded part of the front courtyard.

Relocation to Wavertree

At the start of the 20th century it was decided that the school needed to move from the polluted town centre to somewhere quieter, and the village of Wavertree was the site chosen. The architects chosen for the design of the new building were Briggs, Wolstenholme & Thornely, most notable for the design of the Port of Liverpool Building. In 1906 the school took possession of the building and was later designated a Grade II* listed building. Later additions include a clock tower and the Fenwick Memorial Chapel: used for assemblies by the school.

Redevelopment

In 2004, work commenced on a substantial redevelopment of the Wavertree site. The original buildings remained intact, but the southern wing of the school was converted into private accommodation and sold to part-fund the development. The school chapel, clock tower, board room, and former music room, together with administrative rooms and the formal entrance to the original building, were transferred to a new school foundation and made available to hire for weddings and other private functions.

A number of buildings that had been added to the northern side of the site during the second half of the 20th century - including the swimming pool, sixth form centre, sports hall and squash courts - were demolished to make way for new facilities. The North Wing of the original school was renovated, and a new building extended the wing into the area previously known as the North Yard. New facilities within this redevelopment included modern laboratories, a new school entrance and administration block, music rooms, a recording studio and dance studio, plus dining and sports halls. The remainder of the former North Yard was upgraded to provide improved outdoor sports facilities.

The old dining hall, beneath Shirley Hall in the centre of the original building, was converted into a new library, with a mezzanine ICT suite. The previous library space, itself a former dormitory, was refurbished as a sixth form facility.

Uniform

The school uniform consists of:

• navy blue blazer with school badge
• V-neck grey school pullover or cardigan with school crest
• white shirt/blouse
• school tie
• knee-length grey skirt for girls
• grey trousers for boys
• grey socks/tights and black shoes

Ties

The school is also known for its wide variety of school ties, the most common of which is the royal blue tie with an embroidered school coat of arms (fig. 1). Sixth Form Prefects may wear a navy blue tie with alternating blue and gold stripes (fig. 2), and those who are in the first XI may wear the school sports tie, a navy blue tie with gold school coats of arms criss-crossing it (fig. 3). The Old Blues tie, a navy blue tie with alternating squirrels (the school's crest) and blue stripes, is worn by those pupils whose father was once a student at the school (and therefore members of the Old Blues Society)(Fig. 4). Other ties occasionally seen include a navy blue with two gold stripes (Fig. 5), and a navy blue tie with stripes in the four school form colours (awarded for being in the first XI for 3 separate sports teams)(Fig. 6).

Fig.1- Royal Blue Tie

Fig. 2- Sixth Form Prefect Tie

Fig. 3- First XI Tie

Fig. 4- Old Blues Tie

Fig. 5- Navy Blue Tie with Two Gold Stripes

Fig 6. Tie for Members of the First XI in Three Sports

House system

The school currently has five houses. Upon entrance in Year 7, pupils are allocated a form which they will be a member of throughout their time at The Blue Coat School. As well as the students, teachers at the school are often members of a house. There are approximately thirty students in a form and approximately 250 students per house. The houses are governed by a House Council which are composed of Heads of House, House Deputies, Form Captains and a member of staff. There are regular inter-house competitions, ranging from the inter-house hockey competition to inter-house debating competitions, in which the houses can gain house points which are then added to a running total and published in league tables, culminating in the annual inter-house league table. The newest house is Stythe which was founded in September 2015 to accommodate the 30 new additional first year students, and named after one of the founders Reverend Robert Stythe, and there will be another house created at the start of the 2016-2017 academic year. There are also a number of boarding houses that were discontinued when the school ceased to be a boarding school in the late 20th century.

School Houses

•      Bingham
•      Blundell
•      Graham
•      Shirley
•      Stythe

Boarding Houses

•      Earle
•      MacAuley
•      Stythe
•      Tinne

Brotherly Society

The school's alumni association is the Brotherly Society, founded in 1838. Alumni are known as "Old Blues". The society was set up to provide help, advice and in some cases financial assistance to students for at least two years after leaving the school. Since the Second World War there has been less need for such assistance so the Society has turned its efforts towards objects that would benefit the School in general.

The generosity of the Society can be found throughout the Blue Coat School’s history. In 1938, to celebrate the Society’s centenary, the Society provided the oak pews in the chapel. In 1963 the Society provided the stained glass south window of the Chapel to celebrate its 125th anniversary, and in 1952 the Old Blues’ Memorial Library was presented in remembrance of the Old Blues who gave their lives in the two World Wars.

Headmasters and Headmistress

Headmaster/Headmistress	Start year	End year
Rev Robert Styth, MA (Oxon)	1708	1713
Mr William Trenton	1717	1723
Mr Theophilus Price	1723	1725
Mr Horton	1725	1775
Rev John Shakleton	1776	1779
Mr John Smith (Old Blue)	1779	1799
Mr Robert Parkes	1800	1800
Mr George Chambers	1801	1811
Mr John Fallows	1812	1816
Mr R.W. Bamford	1817	1819
Mr William Forster	1820	1848
Mr Thomas Wood, BA (Cantab)	1849	1862
Mr Thomas Haughton	1863	1867
Mr George Tinker	1868	1869
Mr Thomas Haughton	1870	1888
Mr Arthur Mercer	1889	1920
Mr Harry C. Hughes	1920	1926
Rev R. Bruce Wilson, BA (Oxon)	1927	1944
Rev T.C. Heritage, MA (Oxon)	1944	1945
Mr G.G. Watcyn, BA	1945	1968
Mr H.P. Arnold-Craft JP, MA (Oxon)	1968	1989
Mr John C. Speller BA, MA (Ed), FRSA	1989	1997
Mr Michael R. Bell BA (Hons) FIMgt	1997	2001
Mr Michael George 'Sandy' Tittershill CertEd. NPQH	2001	2008
Mrs Debbie Silcock BSc PGCE NPQH	2008	2015
Mr Michael Pennington BSc Hons PGCE NPQH	2015

Provosts

Provost	Start year	End year
Rev. Robert Stythe, M.A.	1709	1713
The Rt. Hon. Bryan Blundell	1713	1756
Richard Blundell	1756	1760
Jonathan Blundell	1760	1796
Nicholas Ashton	1796	1797
The Rt. Hon. Clayton Tarleton	1797	1798
John Bolton	1798	1799
Edward Houghton	1799	1800
James Gerrard, M.D.	1800	1802
William Cubbin	1802	1805
John Keay	1805	1808
William Leigh	1808	1809
George Brown	1809	1811
Edward Sephton	1811	1812
William Beckwith	1812	1813
Matthew Gregson	1813	1814
Bryan Blundell	1814	1815
The Rt. Hon. Henry Blundell-Hollinshead	1815	1817
James Bourne	1817	1818
Rev. William Blundell B.A.	1818	1819
Richard Dobson	1819	1835
The Rt. Hon. James Aspinall	1835	1838
Anthony Swainson	1838	1848
Joseph Langton	1848	1849
Richard Gibson	1849	1854
Edward Guy Deane	1854	1857
William Langton	1857	1870
Hugh Perkins	1870	1885
John Ernest Tinne	1885	1926
Louis Cappel	1926	1928
John J. Verdin-Cooke	1928	1932
John A. Tinne	1932	1933
John Bingham	1933	1950
F.J. Williams	1950	1955
Sir Alan Todd, C.B.E., L.L.D.	1955	1968
J. Malcolm Harrison	1968	1976
T.I.F. Tod, F.C.A.	1976	1991
Peter Healey, J.P., B.A.	1991	2006
Rodney V. McDermott	2006	2007
Gerard A. Jolliffe	2007	2014
Stephen W. Elliott	2014

Notable former pupils

See also: Category:People educated at Liverpool Blue Coat School

• Martin Atherton, OBE, Royal Navy officer
• Richard Ansdell, noted oil painter and engraver
• Mitch Benn, musician and comedian
• Stephen Broadbent, sculptor
• Daniel Brown, Designer of the Year 2004
• Philip Clarke, CEO of Tesco between 2011-2014
• Craig Curran, Footballer currently playing for Ross County F.C.
• Stuart Ford founder and CEO of IM Global
• Tom Greggs, Marischal Professor of Divinity, University of Aberdeen
• Jonathan Harvey, playwright
• The Rt. Hon. Evan Harris, former Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon between 1997-2010
• Brian R. Knowles, acclaimed choral composer
• Alfred Lennon, father of Beatle John Lennon, musician
• Alan McGuinness, Choirmaster at St Asaph Cathedral and chair of the Royal School of Church Music in Wales
• Kevin Nolan, footballer (Bolton, Newcastle, West Ham)
• Stephen Parry, Olympic swimmer
• Baron Christopher Rennard, former Liberal Democrat chief executive
• Thomas Ripley, founder of Ripley Hospital School, itself modelled on Blue Coat
• Paul Roderick, head coach of the Long Island Rough Riders professional soccer team
• Neil Sang (Licensed Football Agent, Radio pundit and former professional footballer)
• James Serafinowicz, writer and director- starred in Look Around You wearing the uniform of the Blue Coat School
• Andrew Norton, Chairman of the US Pirate Party
• Colin Vearncombe, musician (aka Black)
• Steve Dainton, CBE, Royal Navy Officer
• Georgia Stevens, footballer (Blackburn Rovers Ladies, England)

Notable people associated with the school

• David Alton, Baron Alton of Liverpool, ex-Member of Parliament, was a trustee of the school, and has a quad named in his honour.
• the Blundell-Hollinshead-Blundell family, descendants of Bryan Blundell, the founder, many have been trustees at the school. The family have gone on to produce notable military men and members of the Austrian royal family.
• David Houlder, former sub-organist at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and former organist at York Minster. Houlder was the school's Director of Music between 1981 and 1999.
• W. H. Jude, composer and organist. Jude was the school's organist in the late 19th century.
• The Rt. Hon. Norman Pannell finance manager, politician and conservative MP. Pannell was a governor of the school.

External links

• Official school website
• BBC Education League Tables listing
• Ofsted inspection report (June 2004)
• Extract from Discovering Historic Wavertree
• Blue Coat Arts Centre
• South Wing Apartments Development
• Leavers Ball 2006 Pictures