Shrewsbury School: Difference between revisions

Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School Crest
Motto	Intus Si Recte Ne Labora (Latin: "If Right Within, Trouble Not")
Established	1552
School type	Independent
Headmaster	Jeremy W.R. Goulding MA (Oxon)
Second Master	Michael J. Tonks BA
Senior Master	Peter A. Fanning MA (Cantab)
Location	Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK
Chairman	Sir David Lees FCA
Affiliations	Church of England
Chaplain	Rev. Gary Dobbie
Enrollment	circa. 690 students
Faculty	circa. 100 (full-time)
Badges	Rampant Lions Fleur-de-lis
Founder	King Edward VI
Colours	Blue and Gold
School song	Carmen Salopienses
Homepage	www.shrewsbury.org.uk

King Edward VI Grammar School, Shrewsbury, normally known simply Shrewsbury School is one of the leading British Independent Schools located in Shrewsbury, the county of Shropshire. It is one of the original nine English public schools as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868 and is now a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. It is mainly a boarding school for boys aged between 13 ("Year 9") and 18 ("Year 13"), although day pupils are also accepted.

At the moment, the current enrollment is around about 670 boys, each of whom are spread over 11 houses. Two of these are for day-pupils. The boarders, who accommodate the other nine, pay in excess of £23,000 p.a.

Shrewsbury has a long list of notable alumni, including DJ John Peel, Monty Python creator, Michael Palin and, most notably, English naturalist, Charles Darwin, who was born just a few miles from the school.

At present, the school accepts only boys. However, in November 2005, the Governors of the school made a historic decision to allow girls to enter in the sixth form, initially aiming to admit 30 girls, then increasing this to 100. This will bring Shrewsbury's 455-year-long tradition of being an all-boys school to an end. However, in March 2006, the Headmaster announced in a letter to parents that their arrival would be delayed for a year due to construction delays in the new boarding house.

In 2003 Shrewsbury International School, Bangkok was opened in Bangkok, Thailand, in a prime location on the banks of the Chao Phraya River.

History

Shrewsbury School ("The Free School") was founded in 1552 by King Edward VI, and in 1571 was augmented by Queen Elizabeth I. In 1868 the school was named one of the nine ‘great’ schools of England (along with Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Merchant Taylors' Rugby, St Paul's, Westminster and Winchester) in the Public Schools Act passed by the British Parliament. Headmasters include Sir Thomas Ashton, Samuel Butler, Benjamin Hall Kennedy, C.A. Alington, Lord Wolfenden and Sir Eric Anderson. Sir Thomas Ashton, the first headmaster, gave the school a classical and humanistic tone that has been retained, though sciences and other studies are now also prominent in the curriculum.

Charles Darwin wrote, of his time at the school:

Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind than Dr. Butler's school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else being taught, except a little ancient geography and history. The school as a means of education to me was simply a blank. (The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, 1887)

Houses

There are 11 boarding houses at Shrewsbury (nine boarding houses and two for Dayboys), each with its own Housemaster, tutor team and matron. Each house also has its own colours and the many inter-house competitions play an important role school life. For example, in football alone each house competes in four different leagues (two senior, two junior) and three knock-out competitions (two senior, one junior). A single house will hold around 60 boys, although School House and each of the Dayboy houses hold slightly more. The houses are as follows:

• Churchill's Hall
• Ingram's Hall
• Moser's Hall
• Oldham's Hall
• Port Hill (formerly Dayboys' with Radbrook)
• Radbrook (formerly Dayboys' with Port Hill)
• Ridgemount
• Rigg's Hall
• School House (formerly two houses - Doctor's and Headroom)
• Severn Hill (formerly Chance's)
• The Grove (Head of House - W T H A Bracewell)

Alumni

Ex-pupils are named 'Old Salopians', and famous OS's include:

• Charles Darwin (Naturalist)
• Paul Foot (journalist)
• Nick Hancock (Actor, TV presenter)
• Michael Heseltine (Politician)
• Lord Hutton (British Law Lord)
• Richard Ingrams (Journalist)
• Andrew Irvine (Mountaineer)
• Lord Lane (Lord Chief Justice)
• William Oakley (Footballer, Captain of England National Football Team)
• Nick Owen (TV presenter)
• Michael Palin (Comedian, Actor, TV presenter)
• John Peel (né Ravenscroft) (DJ, Journalist)
• Willie Rushton (Comedian, Actor)
• Nevil Shute (Writer)
• Sir Philip Sidney (Poet, Courtier, Soldier)

See also: List of Old Salopians

School Slang

Like most British public schools, Shrewsbury boys have come to use their own slang. The following is a list of some terms and their meanings:

Shrewsbury School Slang	Term	Pronunciation	Meaning
Baited	bay-tud	To be annoyed or irritated
Bald	bow-lud	A person without pubic hair
Banter	ban-tur	Jokes or satire
Barry	ba-ree	A person of exceptional height
Beave(r)	beev(-ur)	Attractive girl or girls
Beef (Chop)	beef (chop)	To not care about or not do something or someone
Boosh	boosh	A lie or unbelievable tale
Gated	gay-tud	Confined to the school site
Grot (shop)/Grotters	grot (shop)/grot-us	Junk Food and the school shop
Hero	hee-row	An extraordinarily nice or funny person of higher status than a legend.
Lead	led	An unfunny joke (often silencing the room)
Legend	ledge-und	A particularly nice or funny person
Lifty	lif-tee	To be rude or cheeky to older boys or staff
Munter	mun-tur	The opposite of Beaver
'poster (Praeposter)	pos-tur (pry-pos-tur)	Prefect
Quat	quaat (varies)	'What a load of rubbish' or 'not'
Schwaz	sh-oo-az	Bad or unattractive shoes
Shween	shoo-ee-n	A small or short person, thing or male reproductive organ
Top Schools	top skools	Homework
Trojan	trow-jun	A massively nice or funny person of higher status than both Hero and Legend
Tucks	tux	The annual cross-country run which takes place in the Michaelmas Term
Yik	yik	A local towny or chav (short for "Youth(s) in Kingsland")
Yoy (Yoi)	yo-ee	As for Boosh

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Common Alterations to Everyday Language

Any word can be satirised or made redundant using a number of Shrewsbury slang devices. This usually involves the lengthening or otherwise changing of vowel sounds. The following is a rough guide; these are entirely interchangable:
A ==> ow [as in car ==> cowr]
E ==> oo [as in endoscope ==> oondoscope]
I ==> ah [as in 'I do geography' ==> 'ah do geography']
O ==> oo [as in alot ==> aloot]
U ==> oo [as in much ==> mooch]

The extent to which a person or thing is satirised can be increased by multiple alterations. E.g: I like you ==> ah laake yeeow! This may also be accompanied by a falsetto voice for further exaggeration.

It is important to bear in mind that with each vowel sound change the meaning of the word is reversed and therefore a double negative could be introduced unintentionally.