Bablake School
 |
|
| Motto |
Spiritus Vicis (The Spirit of Opportunity) |
|---|---|
| Established | 1344 |
| Type | Independent school |
| Headteacher | Mr J. Watson MA |
| Founder | Isabella of France |
| Location |
Coundon Road Bablake Coventry West Midlands CV1 4AU England Coordinates: 52°24′49″N 1°31′17″W / 52.4137°N 1.5214°W |
| Local authority | Coventry |
| Students | 893 |
| Gender | Co-educational mixed |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses | Bayley, Crow, Fairfax, Wheatley |
| Colours | Maroon and gold |
| Website | www |
Bablake School is a co-educational Independent school located in Coventry, England and founded in 1344 by Queen Isabella, making it one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom (List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom). Bablake is part of the Coventry School Foundation, a registered charity, along with King Henry VIII School, King Henry VIII Preparatory School and Cheshunt School. The current headmaster is John Watson, who succeeded Dr Stuart Nuttall following his retirement in 2006. Today Bablake is a selective, fee-paying independent school and a member of the HMC.
Started by Edward II's widow Isabella in 1344, Bablake (or Babbelak in Middle English) was a public school first sited at Hill Street in Coventry. Isabella endowed the Guild of St John with the Babbelak land on which was founded the St John's chapel and the Bablake school linked to it. Bablake church, now known as St John's, still stands adjacent to the school's original buildings. The Bablake Carole service is still held in the church, a custom which has continued since medieval times. Many of the pupils were originally choristers of the church. The relationship continued through the figure of Edward Jackson, who from 1734 was both vicar of the church and headmaster of the school. The expansion of the Bablake site continued throughout the 14th century with the aid of further land granted by the Black Prince. In 1563 the school's principal benefactor, Thomas Wheatley, who had been mayor of Coventry in 1556, endowed it with much of his estate.
Wheatley had ordered some steel wedges from Spain. In their place, he received by mistake a chest of silver ingots. Unable to discover to whom this cargo rightly belonged, Wheatley decided to bestow it upon the school.In 1833 a new schoolroom (now the headquarters of the Coventry School Former Pupils’ Association) and a house for the master were added. Two years later, after much mismanagement and extravagant spending, administration of the charities was removed from the Corporation, and Bablake came under the control of the General Charity Trustees. At this time there were twenty boys in the school. In 1855 this number increased to seventy. Even under the great F. W. Humberstone, who took over as headmaster in 1870, Bablake boys were largely confined to the premises and a most monotonous routine. Shortly after this Bablake expanded rapidly, incorporating three other local schools: Baker, Billing and Crow’s School (Black Gift), Katherine Bayley’s Charity School (Blue Gift) and Fairfax Charity School (Green Gift) These, along with Wheatley, comprised the school's six principal benefactors, and gave their names to its six houses thereafter. In the 1890s, Bablake began to move to its current site in Coundon Road, where it continued as a public school with six all-boys boarding houses.
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