The Middle School
All pupils study English (Language and Literature), Mathematics, a dual-award Science course (taught as three separate subjects), RE short course and a foreign language (French, German or Spanish) to GCSE, as well as at least two of History, Geography and French, which is offered as an alternative to a second humanities subject. Pupils are then expected to choose two subjects from a varied selection, which includes a second foreign language, Drama and Theatre Studies, Art and Design subjects, Food Studies, Sports Science and a combined Greek and Latin course. "Gratin", as it is nicknamed, is taught in one slot of the timetable, and pupils receive two full GCSEs at the end of the course. Students in the higher sets for Mathematics are given the opportunity to study for an FSMQ in Further Mathematics.
All pupils throughout the school also take part in Physical Education and Sport, but not as an academic subject.
There is plenty of provision for the Creative and Performing Arts, with a number of Old Oakhamians now starring in professional music and drama (see below); in recent years the school's choral activities have gained an outstanding reputation.
Structure: There are ten houses in the Middle School, six boarding and four day houses, split evenly between boys and girls. The day houses are located at the north end of campus, in the grounds of the old Rutland Hospital. The main building houses the two girls houses, Gunthorpe and Hambleton, while the boys houses, Barrow and Clipsham, are in a much newer house alongside. Together they are termed Schanschieffs.
Read more about this topic: Oakham School
Famous quotes containing the words middle and/or school:
“What progress we are making. In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books.”
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
“The first rule of education for me was discipline. Discipline is the keynote to learning. Discipline has been the great factor in my life. I discipline myself to do everything—getting up in the morning, walking, dancing, exercise. If you won’t have discipline, you won’t have a nation. We can’t have permissiveness. When someone comes in and says, “Oh, your room is so quiet,” I know I’ve been successful.”
—Rose Hoffman, U.S. public school third-grade teacher. As quoted in Working, book 8, by Studs Terkel (1973)