Canford School

Canford School
Address
Canford Magna Wimborne , Dorset , BH21 3AD England
Information
Type	Public school Private boarding school
Motto	Latin: Nisi Dominus Frustra Unless the Lord in Vain
Established	1923
Department for Education URN	113922 Tables
Head Master	Ben Vessey
Staff	c. 100
Gender	Co-educational
Age	13 to 18
Enrolment	660
Houses	10
Colour(s)	Blue & White
Publication	The Canfordian The Week
Alumni	Old Canfordians
Website	www.canford.com

Canford School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18). Situated in 300 acres of parkland near to the market town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, south west England, it is one of the largest schools by area.

The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Called a public school, Canford's fees for the 2023/24 academic year were £15,173 per term for boarders. The school is rated outstanding by Ofsted and is consistently ranked among the best co-educational independent schools nationally. In 2014, and again in 2016, Canford was among four runners-up for "Public School of the Year" in the Tatler School Awards and received the top award in 2019.

The school has an enrolment of 660 students, the highest in its history, aged between 13 and 18 spread across seven boarding and three day houses. Canford School counts among its alumni high-ranking military officers, pioneers in industry, computing, and economics, as well as senior figures in the Arts and Sciences.

History

Canford School emblem

Canford Manor was particularly associated with John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster - the third of five surviving sons of Edward III of England. The Duke exercised great influence over the English throne during the minority of Richard II's reign, and the ensuing periods of political strife. Records suggest the Canford Manor was used as a principal residence of John of Gaunt for some time. Of that early period, only the Norman church and 14th century refectory known as John O' Gaunt's Kitchen remains. The main building, constituting the nucleus of the school, was designed by Edward Blore and later by Sir Charles Barry in the early and mid 1800s. The school itself was founded in 1923, having been "provided with a nucleus of boys and staff from a small private school in Weston-super-Mare".

Assyrian frieze

In 1992, a lost Assyrian stone relief was rediscovered on the wall of "the Grubber". Although it is at first sight rather unlikely that such a valuable item should be found on the wall of a school tuck shop, the history of the school explains how the relief came to be there. It had been brought back from the site of Nimrud in northern Mesopotamia (Iraq) by Sir Austen Henry Layard along with other antiquities which were displayed at Canford before it was a school. Originally Canford had been a private country house (known as Canford Manor), designed by Edward Blore and improved by Sir Charles Barry, and the residence of Layard's cousin and mother-in-law, Lady Charlotte Guest and her husband, Sir John Josiah Guest. At that time, the building now known as the Grubber had been used to display antiquities and was known as "the Nineveh Porch". It was however believed by the school authorities to be a plaster copy of an original which had been lost overboard during river transit and little attention was paid to it after the school was established. A dartboard was even hung in the Grubber close to where the frieze was displayed. It was John Russell of Columbia University who identified the frieze as an original, one of a set of three relief slabs taken from the throne room of Assyrian King Assurnasirpal II (883–859 BC). A new plaster copy now stands in the foyer of the Layard Theatre at Canford and a number of "Assyrian Scholarships" are available, funded from the sale proceeds which also helped pay for the construction of a new sports facility.

The original relief is now part of the collection of the Miho Museum in Japan.

The Layard Theatre

The Layard Theatre is situated inside Canford School and is open to the public.

The Bourne Academy

Since September 2010 Canford School is the sponsor of The Bourne Academy, a state-funded school in Bournemouth.

Sport

Real Tennis

The school is one of four in the United Kingdom with a real tennis court (the others being The Oratory, Radley and Wellington College). It is unique among these schools in that its court dates back to 1879 when it was a country house, whereas the others have all been newly built for the schools since 1990.

Rowing

The school has an active rowing club called the Canford School Boat Club which is based on the River Stour. The club is affiliated to British Rowing (boat code CAN) and has produced three British champion crews at the 2002 British Rowing Championships, 2008 British Rowing Championships and 2010 British Rowing Championships.

Old Canfordians

See also

• Bryanston School, Dorset
• Sherborne School, Dorset