Royal Hospital School
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The Royal Hospital School is a co-educational independent boarding school which takes pupils from age 11 to 18 (years 7 to 13).
Location
Located in the village of Holbrook, near Ipswich, Suffolk in the United Kingdom, where it has been since 1933. The land on which the school is now situated was bequeathed to the school by Gifford Sherman-Reade, along with the sum of £1 million. Previously the school was based in what is now the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London where it was founded by royal charter in 1693.
Royal charter
The aim of the royal charter was to provide assistance and education to the orphans of sea-farers in the Royal and Merchant Navies. Thus, until relatively recently, entry to the school was limited to the children or grandchildren of seafarers. Until the 1950s, boys of the school were also required to join the Royal or Merchant navies and as such the education was very much maritime focused. However, this requirement has not been in force for some time, but the school has retained certain naval traditions such as number 1 dress, divisions and an element of marching as well as the names of its boarding houses.
Holbrook Coastguard
Holbrook Coastguard is a unique coastguard unit run entirely by students, founded in 1996. While there is a student operated coastguard in Wales and Scotland, it is the only one of its kind in England. The Holbrook Coastguard is based at the Royal Hospital School on the Shotley Peninsular near Ipswich. There are adult team members who take charge during the school holidays. The student team has members up to 18 years old and some members as young as 14. Holbrook Coastguard has a fully operational watch station and CRV.Pupils
The school currently houses approximately 680 pupils. The school removed all female pupils at one stage in its early history due to their "demonic influence". However, they were allowed back into the school in the 1990s and girls now occupy 4 of the 10 junior houses. The boarding houses are named after famous admirals: Anson, Blake, Collingwood, Cornwallis, Drake, Hawke, Hood, Howe, Raleigh and St. Vincent (those in italics are now girls' houses). The eleventh house, Nelson, is for those in upper sixth year and is a mixed house.
The school has a marching and condert band, a choir, an orchestra, a ceremonial guard and a Community Action Team, composed almost entirely of pupils.
Notable connections
Former pupil Admiral Arthur Phillip was the founder of Sydney, Australia and the governor of the first European colony on the continent, New South Wales.External links
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