Recent History
The turn of the millennium brought about a change in the school's buildings and facilities. In succession, two new boarding houses were built, in September 1999 Kendall House opened its doors and the Kendall Quad was formed. At the same time, Corfe became the first girls' boarding house to be located on the playing fields side of the school. In 2000, the Esporta/St. Edward's Health and Raquets Club opened, this development saw major redesigning and landscaping take place as St. Edward's arguably obtained the best gym and sport centre facilities of any school in the UK. In 2001, the second new boarding house was opened, when Avenue House became the second girls' house to be on the field side of school. A 2nd all-weather astroturf pitch was opened in 2002.
In September 2004 Andrew Trotman became the 12th Warden of the school and Seagars moved out of the building it shared with Cowell's into a brand new boarding house, located on the site of the old Oakthorpe Road entrance.
In 2005 St Edward's School was one of fifty independent schools which were found guilty of running an illegal price-fixing cartel which enabled the schools to inflate fees artificially. Each school was required to pay a nominal penalty of £10,000 and all agreed to make ex-gratia payments totalling three million pounds into a trust designed to benefit pupils who attended the schools during the period in respect of which fee information was shared.
July 2007 marked the official opening of The North Wall Arts Centre. The centre has been built on the site of the old school swimming pool, which was the oldest swimming pool in the country. The North Wall Arts Centre is run by Lucy Maycock and is a producing theatre. The North Wall is central to the school, strengthening its links with the local community, which has been seen by many as vital given the current political debate on the charitable status of public schools.
The North Wall Arts Centre won several major architectural awards for its design, including a RIBA award.
In August 2008 The £4m Life Sciences block was opened. Architecturally, it fits in well with the adjacent Tilly's and Macnamara's houses, and its glass green house can be seen from the Quad. Also in 2008 the school's inventory of computers exceeded 1,000; the majority of which are pupil-facing. The school has advised parents that it is not educationally necessary to purchase laptops as there are enough school computers for the pupils to use.
In 2009 the pupil accommodation was enhanced and Field House and Sing's House were extended to provide six new bedrooms and a new staff flat. The new Martyrs' cricket pavilion, designed by architect John Pawson, was opened in September by Lord Sandberg of Passfield (OSE).
The newly-built Martyrs' Pavilion won the 2010 Oxford Preservation Trust award in the New Buildings category.
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