Oundle School is situated in the quintessentially English market town from which it takes its name, about 90 km north of London. Its buildings, dating from the seventeenth to the twenty first centuries, are dispersed throughout the town, so that the town itself, with a population of about 6,000 people, is to a large extent the School’s campus.

The School’s history dates back to 1556 when Sir William Laxton, Master of the Worshipful Company of Grocers’ and Lord Mayor of London, endowed and re-founded the original Oundle Grammar School, of which he was a former pupil. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, Oundle was a small country grammar school.

Oundle was put firmly on the map of leading English public schools with the arrival of its most famous Headmaster, F.W. Sanderson, in 1892. In the space of thirty years he more than quadrupled the size of the School and created Oundle’s reputation as one of the great science and engineering schools – a reputation which has lasted up to the present day. In 1990 Oundle admitted girls for the first time: they now constitute 40 percent of the pupils.

Oundle is now the third largest independent boarding and day school in England, with 830 boarders and 230 day pupils. The boarders come from all over the United Kingdom with a small number coming from overseas. Each pupil is a member of a boarding or day house. The House system is at the heart of life at Oundle. It is in the community of the House that most pupils find the confidence and sense of purpose that lead to fulfilment in the larger community of the School. Oundle has thirteen senior boarding houses – eight for boys and five for girls. They are specifically designed to have accommodation for a married housemaster or housemistress and about sixty pupils.

Oundle has a well earned reputation for academic, musical and sporting excellence. Over the last two years sixty pupils have gained places at Oxbridge and over half play musical instruments. Sport has always been an integral feature of life at Oundle – none more so than Rugby. About eighteen teams are regularly fielded against other leading rugby-playing schools throughout England. Current coaches include two former England internationals, John Olver and Simon Hodgkinson. Over the years the School has produced thirteen internationals and thirty one Oxford and Cambridge blues in Rugby.

Website: www.oundleschool.org.uk