The School
Downside is run by lay staff and the Benedictine monks of Downside Abbey. The Headmaster, Dom Leo Maidlow Davis OSB, and several other monks work in the school as teachers and chaplains. Currently one Housemaster in the school is a monk. The school is controlled by trustees who are the Abbot and six monks from Downside Abbey.
The school is divided into seven houses; five senior houses and two junior houses, with both day pupils and boarders in the same houses. Each house takes its name from the Community's martyrs or benefactors:
Plunkett House is the Junior House for 11 to 13 year olds. It is named after St Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh. The boys in Plunkett are housed in Ullathorne House (named after Bishop William Bernard Ullathorne) and the girls in Ramsey House (named after Dom Leander Ramsay). Powell House although in the senior school is a Junior House for all boys in Third Form before they join their senior house in Fourth Form. It is named after the Martyr Blessed Philip Powell, a monk of St Gregory’s at Douai.
Barlow House (Boys) is situated on the south-side of the main quad. It is named after the Martyr, Ambrose Barlow who was also a monk of St Gregory’s at Douai. The house colours are black and white.
Caverel House (Girls) was formerly a boys' house but was re-furbished and changed to a girls' house following the admission of girls to Downside in September 2005. Caverel is named after the Benefactor, Abbot Philip de Caverel. The house colours are green and white.
Isabella House (Girls) was founded in 2007 as a second girls' house in the senior school. The house is situated in a purpose built building in the south-east of the school grounds. Isabella is named after a Benefactor, Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain and Portugal. The house colours are gold and blue.
Roberts House (Boys) is situated in the north and west sides of the main quad. It is named after the Martyr and monk of St. Gregory's in Douai, St. John Roberts. The house colours are red and white.
Smythe House (Boys) is situated in the east side of the main quad, and is named after the major Benefactor Sir Edward Smythe. The house colours are yellow and black.
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Famous quotes containing the word school:
“... the school should be an appendage of the family state, and modeled on its primary principle, which is, to train the ignorant and weak by self-sacrificing labor and love; and to bestow the most on the weakest, the most undeveloped, and the most sinful.”
—Catherine E. Beecher (1800–1878)
“A sure proportion of rogue and dunce finds its way into every school and requires a cruel share of time, and the gentle teacher, who wished to be a Providence to youth, is grown a martinet, sore with suspicions; knows as much vice as the judge of a police court, and his love of learning is lost in the routine of grammars and books of elements.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)