'Lancing College' is a co-educational
English Independent school, founded in
1848 by
Rev. Nathaniel Woodard, whose aim was to provide education ''based on sound principle and sound knowledge, firmly grounded in the Christian faith.'' Typical of Public Schools, the College places emphasis on what might be described as traditional strengths - Anglican
Christianity (
chapel attendance is compulsory for all pupils, regardless of their religious beliefs), sporting prowess (notably football, squash, tennis and sailing), and preparation of pupils for entry to the
Russell and
1994 Group of Universities.

The College from the East
The college is based in 550 acres of countryside in
West Sussex near the village of
Lancing, west of the city of
Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. The College is situated on a hill which is part of the
South Downs and the campus dominates the local landscape. The school is a member of the
Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Girls were first admitted in 1971. The school is dominated by a huge
Gothic revival chapel, and follows a
high church Anglican tradition. The College of St Mary and St Nicholas (as it was originally known) was intended for the sons of upper middle classes and professional men; in time this became Lancing College, moving to its present site in 1857.
The school's buildings of the
1850s were designed by the architect
Richard Cromwell Carpenter, with later ones by
John William Simpson.
Lancing College boards boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 18 at a cost of about £24,000 a year. A small number of the pupils attend Lancing on academic and musical scholarships provided by the school; of the other pupils, some may receive some kind of bursary. The College has many notable past pupils. Former pupils are referred to as ''OL's''.
School life
The School day begins with 'callover' early in the morning, ending around 6pm with sports during the afternoons of alternate days. At 7pm there are two hours of 'evening school' where pupils can make use of the new libraries, the music and art schools and technology facilities. Pupils are also expected to attend lessons on Saturday mornings.
The school's academic performance is well above average: in 2007, Lancing College received record A-level results, with 85.6% of A-levels being graded A or B.
[1] In 2007, The Times ranked Lancing College's A Level results 30th in the UK.
[2] In 2006, the Daily Telegraph ranked Lancing College's A-Level results as 107th for independent schools with 81% rated A or B and in 2005 it was ranked 76th.
[3] The College claims to be particularly strong in classics and mathematics.
The College is divided up into
houses, each house resident to around 70 pupils.
| House | Colours | Number | Gender | Type | Housemaster/mistress | Named after |
|---|
| Head's | Red/Rose | 1 | M | Day | Mr A Arnold | formerly The Head Master's House |
| Second's | Silver/Maroon | 2 | M | Boarding | Mr D Connolly | formerly The Second Master's House |
| School | Purple/Silver | 3 | M | Boarding | Dr A Betts | consists of the former Old's and Sanderson (New) Houses |
| Field's | Rose/White | 4 | F | Boarding | Mrs H Dugdale | The Rev. Edmund Field |
| Gibbs' | Silver/Purple | 5 | M | Boarding | Mr M Smith | Henry Martin Gibbs |
| Sankey's | Green | 6 | F | Day | Miss N Dragonetti | John Sankey |
| Teme | Green/blue | 7 | M | Boarding | Dr S Norris | The River Teme |
| Manor | Grey | 8 | F | Boarding | Mrs A Stone | Manor house, a house of the school in the first half of the 20th century |
| Handford | Blue | 9 | F | Boarding | Mrs C Palmer | Basil Handford |

Lancing Lower Quad
Each house has a distinctive set of 'colours' which are awarded to students for merit and/or commitment for representing the house. The award allows male student to wear a house tie.
Besides academic study pupils are involved in activities that include football, rugby, tennis, squash, badminton, lacrosse, basketball, fives, hockey, running, debating, farming, riding, clay pigeon shooting,
Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme, sailing, and the
Combined Cadet Force. Current competitive sporting success lies within the Football and Squash teams. The school has a 200 strong
Combined Cadet Force with Army and
Royal Air Force sections.
Music and drama also play very important roles in school life. Besides boasting two theatres (one open-air) and regular productions, Lancing has a strong tradition of choral and orchestral development. Large numbers of pupils receive instrumental tuition and house music competitions help to foster this part of College life.
Academic faculty
Senior management and departmental heads include:
★ Second Master: Mr Richard Biggs
★ Senior Master: Mr Christopher Doidge
★ Senior Mistress: Mrs Hilary Dugdale
★ Director of Studies: Dr Stephen Cornford
★ Director of Boarding: Mr David Austin
★ Director of IT: Mr Neil Allen
★ Head of English: Mr Oliver Ridley
★ Head of Maths: Mr Richard Tanner
★ Head of Classics: Dr Duncan Barker
★ Head of History: Mr John Wilks
★ Head of Modern Languages: Dr Mark Palmer
★ Head of French: Mr Glenn Sampson
★ Head of Physics: Dr Roger Wheeler
★ Head of Biology: Mr Phillip Dale
★ Head of Chemistry: Mr Andrew Williamson
★ Head of Psychology: Mr Phillip Dale
★ Head of Geography: Mr Christopher Foster
★ Head of Economics: Mr Jim Sherrel
★ Head of Business studies: Mrs Jan Hayward-Voss
★ Head of Sport: Mr Richard Pithey
★ Head of PE: Mr David Mann
★ Head of Music: Mr Ian Morgan-Williams
★ Head of Chapel Music: Mr Neil Cox
★ Head of Art: Miss Caroline Pringle
★ Head of Drama: Mr Matt Smith
Music
Lancing has rich and prolific links to all performing arts, particularly music. With numerous school ensembles, instrumental tuition and former pupils such as
Peter Pears, the College is able to support talented young musicians through extensive instrumental scholarships. Pupils regularly win organ and choral scholarships to both
Oxford and
Cambridge Universities and participate in national ensembles. The current HoD is Ian Morgan Williams and the Director of Chapel Music is Neil Cox.
College Farm
Lancing College Farm Project provides for students wishing to develop their agricultural, veterinary and conservation interests. The daily working farm of sheep, rabbits, poultry, goats and pigs gives students practical experience as well as teaching farm administration.
Chapel

College Chapel
The foundation stone of the College Chapel was laid in 1868, but the Chapel itself was not finished in Woodard's lifetime. In fact, the Chapel remains unfinished. It stands at about 50 metres(with foundations going down 20 metres into the ground), but the original plans called for a tower at the West end which would raise the height to 100 metres. One reason that the Chapel ended up as high as it did was that Woodard, insisted that it be built to its full height at one end first, so that even if he died before completion the height could not be cut down to save money. The Chapel is built in the English gothic style of the 14th century, with 13th century French influences. It was designed by R. H. Carpenter and William Slater, and is built of Sussex sandstone from Scaynes Hill.
The Chapel was dedicated to St Mary and St Nicholas in 1911, although the College used the finished Crypt (which now houses the art school) from 1875. Inside can be found, amongst other things, the tomb of the founder, two organs and a huge rose window designed by Stephen Dykes Bower said to be the second largest rose window in the country, after York Minster. The Chapel is open to the public every day, Monday to Saturday from 10.00 until 16.00, and Sunday from 12.00 until 16.00. Full school services are held every Wednesday morning during term time at 08.35, and on certain Sundays throughout the year. There is also a Eucharist every morning at 07.40, and Benediction on a Friday evening.
Campus

Upper
quad, Lancing College
Most school buildings and boarding houses are positioned around the central quads with the chapel dominating the local landscape. The school has an operational farm, river access, squash courts, fives courts, swimming pool, a multigym, weightroom, two all weather astro-turfs, twenty-eight tennis courts, two theatres, two libraries and extensive classrooms.
The school is one of only a small number in the country to have
Eton fives courts. The Upper Field's cricket square is highly regarded.
Jonathan Gillespie became the headmaster of the school in September 2006, moving from his position as a housemaster at
Fettes College; Gillespie studied Languages at
Cambridge University.
Southern Railway School's Class
The School lent its name to the fifth steam
locomotive (
Engine 904) in the
Southern Railway's Class V of which there were 40.This Class was also known as the Schools Class because all
40 of the class were named after prominent English public schools. 'Lancing', as it was called, was built in
1930, along with the rest of the initial ten locomotives in the class. The locomotive bearing the School's name was withdrawn in the early 1960s.
Developments

Upper quadrangle from the great school
Despite the principles of Victorian austerity on which the school was founded, Lancing has recently completed a number of developments that include a new Design Centre. A new Art School is to be built, due for completion in 2008.
A stained glass window has been commissioned in memory of Trevor Huddleston OL.
A Development Council is operating under the chairmanship of Sir Tim Rice. It acts in an advisory capacity on development and fundraising matters, and members include:
★ Sir Tim Rice, multi award-winning Lyricist and President of The Lancing Club
★ Charles Anson, PR Consultant and former Press Secretary to HM The Queen
★ Nigel Bennett, Governor Lancing College and Head of Investment Strategy for property at Deutsche Bank
★ Lady Conway, Governor Lancing College, Artist and former Adjunct Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Parsons, New School University, New York
★ Roger Dancey MA, Former Chief Master, King Edward’s School, Birmingham
★ Sir Michael Darrington, Chairman and founder Greggs Bakeries
★ Christopher Hampton, Academy Award winning playwright
★ Barnabas Hurst-Bannister, Chairman, St Pauls Traveler Syndicate Management
★ Frederick Johnston, Former Chairman, Johnston Press
★ Sir Christopher Meyer, Chairman Press Complaints Committee and former Ambassador to Washington
★ Robin Reeve, Chairman of Governors Lancing College and former Head Master, KCS Wimbledon
★ Capt. Graham Robinson, Chairman Lancing Club and former Captain, Royal Navy
★ Christopher Weston, Business Consultant and Director and former Chairman, Phillips Auction House
★ Ian McLean, Director of Development, Lancing College
Lancing terminology and jargon

Lower quadrangle
Much of Lancing slang is the same as other public school slang. However, there are numerous Lancing-specific phrases, including:
★ Alleys - Wooden cubicles with desk etc., workplaces for Third Formers
★ Blue Book - Diary of events (formerly a list of all members of College)
★ Classifications - Three-weekly assessment of work
★ College Extra Duties - Sanction involving manual work, Monday and Friday afternoons (formerly known as Hard Labour)
★ College Sergeant - Head of security and organiser of College Extra Duties; based in the CCF offices near the Sports Hall
★ Congo (Congers) - Congregational (hymn) Practice, Tuesday mornings, in Chapel
★ Daily Yellow Sheet - Daily information sheet, distributed at lunch time
★ Distinctions - Award for excellent work; pupil sees the Head Master
★ Evening School - 7pm to 9pm (or later for older students) homework session
★ Head Master's Assembly (Head Man's) - Friday morning assembly, in Chapel
★ House Tutor - A teacher who supervises a House on some nights during the week and has a number of tutees from the house
★ Long Weekend - Boarders can leave on Saturday afternoon and return on Sunday evening
★ Short weekend - All boarders stay in; disco on Saturday, Chapel Service on Sunday. Usually first weekend after holidays
★ Pitt - Bedroom
★ Quad Bashing - socialising in the Upper
Quad
★ Rollcall - Registration in Houses
★ The Cavity - Tuck shop in Gibbs' house
★ The Grubber - Tuck shop
★ Yellow/Orange/Green/Light Blue/Red Book - Homework diary, also for recording grades etc. (Only "Red Book" until 2002)
Notable alumni: Old Lancing (OL's)

The College Drive
Notable alumni include
Arts
★
Sir Tim Rice, lyricist
★
Henry Hardy, editor and composer
★
Sir Peter Pears, tenor and life-long partner of the composer
Benjamin Britten
★
Christopher Elkington, Educationalist and Jazz Pianist Christopher Elkington
★
Major Frederick John Pym Gore CBE, Vice-President of
St Martin's School of Art, London
★
Peter C. Warden RBA, artist and Illustrator
★
Tim Battersby,composer,musician and lyricist
Literature
★
Jan Morris, author and noted
Transgender
★
Tom Sharpe, Anti-apartheid satirical novelist, banned from South Africa
★
Evelyn Waugh novelist, author of
Brideshead Revisited.
★
Stuart Cloete, novelist
Theatre & cinema
★
Christopher Hampton CBE, playwright
★
Alex Horne, comedian
★
Sir David Hare, playwright
★
Jeremy Sinden, actor
★
Jamie Theakston, TV and radio presenter, actor
Politics and law
★
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Ghana
★
Greg Barker, Conservative MP for Bexhill and Battle
★
Lord Browne-Wilkinson, former
Senior Law Lord (
1998-
2000)
★
Tom Driberg, Baron Bradwell, Labour MP,
★
Sir Christopher Meyer KCMG, Chairman of the
Press Complaints Commission and former British Ambassador to the United States (1997-2003)
★
John Sankey, 1st Viscount Sankey, former
Lord Chancellor
★
David Lloyd OBE, former British Ambassador to
Slovenia
★ The Rt. Hon.
Sir Robert Megarry,
Vice-Chancellor of the Supreme Court,(
1982-
1985)
★
Robert Wilson, Conservative MP for Reading East
Sciences and engineering
★
Dr Peter Ball, urologist and vice chairman of
NORM-UK
★
Sir Roy Calne FRS, former Professor of Surgery at the
University of Cambridge, pioneer of
liver transplantation
★
Basil William Sholto MacKenzie, 2nd
Baron Amulree,
Member Royal College of Physicians
The Church
★
Michael Ball, suffragan Bishop of Jarrow and later
Bishop of Truro
★
Trevor Huddleston, Archbishop of Tanzania and President of the Anti-Apartheid Association
★
Peter John Ball, brother of Michael Ball, monk, suffragan Bishop of Lewes and later
Bishop of Gloucester
★
Brigadier Alastair I. H. Fyfe, High Commisionar Wells Cathedral
★
Very Reverend Michael McCausland Gibbs, Archdeacon of Matebeleland, Dean of Chester
Journalism
★
Nigel Andrews, film critic,
The Financial Times
★
Guy de Jonquieres, Asia commentator,
The Financial Times
★
Christopher Silvester, journalist, author and reporter for
Private Eye
★
Lawrence Smallman, journalist, Head of Planning,
Al-Jazeera
Armed forces
★
General Sir Neil Ritchie GBE,
KCB,
DSO,
MC,
Second World War General who was replaced by
Montgomery as head of the
Eighth Army
★
Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Woodard KCVO DL, former Commander of the
Royal Yacht Britannia
★
Major Galbraith Lowry-Corry, 7th Earl Belmore
★
Brigadier Alastair Ian Hayward Fyfe DL, Military Attache to the British Embassy in Moscow; Honorary ADC to HM The Queen (1989-1991),
High Sheriff of Somerset (2006-2007)
★
Air Vice-Marshal Sir Stanley Flamank Vincent, only RAF pilot to shoot down the enemy in both world wars
★
S/Ldr William Shaw Baddeley,
MBE
★
Lieutenant General Sir Alan Reay, distinguished soldier and former commander of the
RAMC
Miscellaneous
★
Basil Handford, housemaster and author
★
Professor Henry Nettleship, classics scholar
★
Jeffrey Quill,
Spitfire test pilot
★
Roger Dancey, Headmaster of
King Edwards School
★
Sir Michael Darrington, Chairman and founder
Greggs Bakeries
★
Professor Michael J. Kennedy, Dean of Faculty of Science and Professor of Geology,
University of Dublin
★
Andrew Hadley MBE, Director of the British Council in Macedonia
★
John Lowry-Corry, 8th Earl Belmore, Art Collector
★
Charles Anson LVO, former Press Secretary to HM the Queen
★
Sir John Beresford Baddeley, 3rd Bt, Managing Director of Baddeley Brothers Ltd
★
Emeritus Professor Brian Manning, leading British Marxist historian
★
Thomas Percy Henry Touchet-Jesson, 23rd
Baron Audley MBE
★
Sir Hugo Robert Brooke Boothby, 14th Bt, Lord lieutenant of South Glamorgan 1974-1986
★
Lord Patrick George Douglas-Hamilton, 3rd son of
Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton
★
Stephen Green, Chairman of
HSBC
★
Sinclair Beecham, founder of
Pret a Manger
Notable former staff members include
★
Martin Bentley MBE, former House Master of Second's House and current Head Master of
Greensteds School, Kenya
[1]
★
Sir William Gladstone, former Head Master and
Chief Scout of the United Kingdom
★ Ken Shearwood, twofold FA Amateur Cup winner (1951, 1953) as member of the
Pegasus F.C., consisting of players from both
Oxford and
Cambridge universities. Then long-time housemaster and registrar and founding patron of the 1848 Society.
★
G.O. Smith, sportsman rated the greatest footballer of the nineteenth century
Hoe Court

South West side of the College
The college owns a number of properties based along the College Drive and all the properties in Hoe Court, a road extending from the rear of the College towards the village of Lancing.
Lancing College Preparatory School at Mowden
Lancing College, in 2002, purchased Mowden Preparatory School in
Hove. The school had been for many years a principal feeder school for the College. The current Headmaster is Mr Alan Laurent. The school's headmaster is a member of IAPS.
Lancing Prep Website
Headmasters of Lancing College
★ The Rev Henry Jacobs (Aug - Dec 1848)
★ The Rev Charles Edward Moberly (1849 - 1851)
★ The Rev John Branthwaite (1851 - 1859)
★ The Rev Henry Walford (1859 - 1861)
★ The Rev Robert Edward Sanderson (1862 - 1889)
★ The Rev Harry Ward McKenzie (1889 - 1894)
★ The Rev Ambrose John Wilson (1895 - 1901)
★ Bernard Henry Tower (1901 - 1909)
★ The Rev Canon Henry Thomas Bowlby (1909 - 1925)
★ Cuthbert Harold Blakiston (1925 - 1934)
★ Frank Cecil Doherty (1935 - 1953)
★ John Christopher Dancy (1953 - 1961)
★
Sir Erskine William Gladstone (1961 - 1969)
★ Ian David Stafford Beer (1969 - 1981)
★ James Stephen Woodhouse (1981 - 1993)
★ Christopher John Saunders (1993 - 1998)
★ Peter M. Tinniswood (1998 - 2005)
★ Richard R. Biggs (acting, 2005-2006)
★ Jonathan Gillespie (Sept 2006 - )
Head Boys
2004/5 Michael Johnson, Timothy Robson
2005/6 Aaron Pattison
2006/7 Oliver Tritton
Head Girls
2004/5: Ros Worcester
2005/6: Polly Graham
2006/7: Laura Thomas
External links
★
Lancing College school website
★
The Woodard Corporation - A Group of Public Schools
★
Old Lancing: OL's
★
Lancing Old Boys Football Club
★
Lancing Old Boys Tennis
★
The Old Lancing Lodge (FreeMasons)
★
Lancing Prep school website