SIR ROGER MANWOOD'S SCHOOL

Contents

Information

Facilities

Combined Cadet Force

Old Manwoodians

References

Information

Sir Roger Manwood's School is a grammar foundation school located in Sandwich, Kent, England, the 96th oldest school in the UK. It is also a language college, meaning that it specialises in teaching modern foreign languages.
The school was founded in 1563 by Sir Roger Manwood, an eminent barrister, jurist and supporter of the reformation of the Church in England. Manwood's intention was to create a Free Grammar School to make education more accessible to the local townspeople. The original location of the School was at Ash Road in Sandwich but was moved to its current location at Manwood Road in 1895.
In creating his new Free School in Sandwich, Sir Roger Manwood ensured that it would have firm foundations. The present School is hugely indebted to his foresight - there are four Foundations which still today appoint Governors: the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Lincoln College, Oxford, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and the Diocese of Canterbury.^[1]
The school today mainly consists of day pupils, although there are approximately 50 boarders and the school is now mixed, after a long running tradition of being an all boys school girls were first admitted in 1982.
The school has a sporting rivalry with Dover Grammar School for Boys.

Facilities

The facilities at the school are always being upgraded, thanks largely to sponsorship from the local community. Currently the school sports department benefits from a swimming pool, three sports fields including a pavillion on the main field. There is also a recently (built in 1999) Sports centre which has two sports halls, and a gym. The sports halls can be used for a variety of sports including gymnastics, badminton, indoor football, basketball and trampolining.
There are also has an astro turf area and a tarmac playing area. The astro turf is mainly used to play tennis and hockey and was opened by Mel Clewlow, England womens' international hockey player who is an Old Manwoodian.

Combined Cadet Force

The school has a Combined Cadet Force (CCF) group which operates after school on a Wednesday. The CCF at Manwood's takes the form of the Army, with some CCFs being of an Air Force or Naval leaning. The CCF is open to any pupil from year 8 onwards (second year) and these days is an optional after school activity. In the past, it was compulsory for the boys to attend CCF.
CCF members take part in a variety of activities including the assault course, rifle training, shooting and safety training, drill practice among many others. There are also a number of annual events on the CCF calendar such as the Founders day parade, the annual camp and possibly the biggest date in the year for the CCF, Inspection day.

Old Manwoodians

The Old Manwoodians Association is an alumni group for ex pupils of the school. They are reasonably active and play a part in the school on a day to day basis. The OMs help out the school sports by playing regular fixtures in many of the sports. Three of the most notable OM fixtures on the calendar are the OM v 1st team girl's hockey, OM U21s v 1st XI Cricket and OM v 1st XI Cricket which are all popular fixtures. The two cricket fixtures usually take place in "Cricket Week" which is usually after the busy A Level exam period.
Notable Old Manwoodians include Mel Clewlow, England international hockey player.

References

1. http://www.srms.kent.sch.uk/About.html